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Re: News Release - Wednesday, January 09, 2008
Additional Caving Expertise Added David Nicholls Joins New Afton
Development Team
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January 9 2008, Vancouver, British Columbia - New Gold Inc.
(NGD:TSX/AMEX) is pleased to announce the appointment of David Nicholls
to the position of Head of Technical Services for the New Afton
Gold-Copper (Au-Cu) Project located near Kamloops, British Columbia,
Canada. In this role he will manage the Technical Services Department
at New Afton with the responsibility for the mine engineering,
geotechnical engineering, and mine geology, departments. He will be
responsible for optimizing the mine design, schedule and costs.
The New Afton Project is being developed to achieve a maximum
production rate of 4 million tonnes per year (11,000 tonnes per day).
At this rate, the project will be one of Canada's largest underground
metals mines, producing both Au and Cu. Mill commissioning is forecast
for the second half of 2009.
David has a B.Eng in Mining Engineering with more than 20 years of
underground mining experience in Australia and North America, working
for established international mining companies including Rio Tinto, BHP
Billiton, and Newcrest Mining Ltd. For the past 7 years he has worked
exclusively on mining projects which are, or will be, using block cave
and sub-level cave mining methods. Most recently he was Manager
Engineering of the Koala Underground Project at the Ekati
Diamond Mine
of BHP Billiton in the Northwest Territories of Canada. In this role
he oversaw the engineering of the development of an underground
sub-level caving operation beneath the existing open pit operations
with conveyor access to surface. Prior to this he was the Senior Mine
Design and Project Engineer at the Argyle
Diamond Mine of Rio Tinto in
Western Australia. In this role he participated in the feasibility
stage of assessing the potential to develop the mine into a 7.5 million
tonne per year block cave operation beneath the existing open pit
operation. The block cave mining is scheduled to commence production
after open pit operations cease later this year. Preceding this he was
Manager Mining for the first stage of block cave operations at the
Northparkes mine of Rio Tinto, in New South Wales, Australia. The
initial block cave operation was at a rate of 4.8 million tonnes per
year, with the extraction level 500 metres below surface.
In making this announcement, Chris Bradbrook, President and CEO,
stated: "We are extremely pleased to welcome David to our operational
team at New Gold. He will report to our new General Manager, Ron
Allum. David's experience in the successful analysis, development,
and operation of block cave and sub-level cave operations, beneath open
pits, is directly applicable to our New Afton Project. With Ron Allum
and David in place we have, in very short order developed the
foundation of a very strong development and mining team, and we look
forward to adding more talent as we move forward.
We believe that our ability to attract someone with David's experience,
to the project once again illustrates the potential for it to develop
into a significant long term mining operation."
New Gold has 37 million shares outstanding.
For further information on New Gold Inc. and the New Afton Project,
please contact:
Chris Bradbrook
President and Chief Executive Officer
New Gold Inc.
601 -- 595 Howe Street, Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2T5
Tel: 877-977-1067 or 604-687-1629, Fax 604-687-2845
Email: invest@newgoldinc.com
Website: www.newgoldinc.com
Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is
"forward- looking information" within the meaning of the Securities Act
(Ontario) and Securities Act (Alberta) or "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934 of the United States. Forward-looking statements are subject to a
variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or
results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking
statements, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties
relating to the interpretation of drill results and the estimation of
mineral resources and reserves, the geology, grade and continuity of
mineral deposits, the possibility that future exploration, development
or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's
expectations, metal recoveries, accidents, equipment breakdowns, title
matters and surface access, labour disputes or other unanticipated
difficulties with or interruptions in production, the potential for
delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of
feasibility studies, the inherent uncertainty of production and cost
estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses,
commodity price fluctuations, currency fluctuations, failure to obtain
adequate financing on a timely basis and other risks and uncertainties,
including those described under Risk Factors Relating to the Company's
Business in the Company's Annual Information Form and in each
management discussion and analysis. Forward-looking information is in
addition based on various assumptions including, without limitation,
the expectations and beliefs of management, the assumed long term price
of copper and gold, that the Company will receive required permits and
access to surface rights, that the Company can access the total
required financing, appropriate equipment and sufficient labour and
that the political environment within British Columbia and Canada will
continue to support the development of environmentally safe mining
projects so that the Company will be able to complete the development
of the New Afton project. Should one or more of these risks and
uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove
incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in
forward-looking statements. Accordingly, readers are advised not to
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
WARNING: The Company relies upon litigation protection for
"forward-looking" statements.
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Copyright (c) 2008 NEW GOLD INC. (TSX/AMEX:NGD) All rights reserved.
For more information visit our website at http://www.newgoldinc.com/ or
send mailto:invest@newgoldinc.com
Message sent on Wed Jan 9, 2008 at 7:30:36 AM Pacific Time
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