9 October 2009

50,584 OUNCE Q1 PRODUCTION FROM TRIDENT AT A$428 CASH OPERATING COSTS¹

Highlights

?         Strong September quarter production of 50,584 ounces from the Trident underground gold mine.

?         Site cash operating costs at Higginsville of A$428 per ounce¹.

?         Avoca remains on target for 190,000+ ounce production in FY2010 at estimated cash operating costs of A$452 per ounce¹.

ASX 200 mid-tier gold producer, Avoca Resources Ltd (ASX:AVO), is pleased to announce that it produced 50,584 ounces from its Trident underground gold mine during the September quarter.  Trident lies within Avoca?s 100% owned Higginsville Gold Project located 130km south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia?s Eastern Gold fields.

Cash operating costs for the Trident production during the September quarter amounted to A$428 per ounce¹.  Revenue for the 49,517 ounces sold during the quarter was A$1,158 per ounce.

Total plant throughput for the September quarter was 314,463t @ 5.2 g/t gold for 50,584 recovered ounces.  Plant recovery remained very high at 97.3%.   High grade mined production from Trident during the quarter was 281,801 tonnes at 5.7 g/t gold.  The difference between total plant throughput and mined production from Trident was due to treating 32,662 tonnes of stockpiled low grade material.

Avoca?s Managing Director, Mr Rohan Williams, said ?the September quarter was another very strong quarter for Avoca following the 52,803 ounce June quarter.  Both the Trident mine and the Higginsville treatment plant are operating above the 1 million tonne per annum design rates with the plant significantly exceeding design with current rates of 1.25 million tonnes per annum.  We remain confident that Avoca will achieve its production guidance of 190,000+ ounces at a cash operating cost of A$452 per ounce.?

Avoca will release its September quarterly report detailing all activities and results later in October.

For further information please contact:

Avoca Resources: Rohan Williams, 08 9226 0625

Purple Communications: Warrick Hazeldine, 08 6314 6300 / 0417 944 616

Footnotes:

1. Cash operating costs reported are exclusive of royalties which for the September quarter amounted to A$128 per ounce.

Avoca Background

Avoca is an ASX 200 gold mining and exploration company based in Perth, Western Australia. Avoca has grown rapidly since its listing in 2002, and its acquisition of the Higginsville exploration project in 2004, located 130km south of Kalgoorlie.

In the period of just four years following its acquisition of Higginsville, Avoca discovered the Trident ore deposit, completed a feasibility study, commenced mine development, constructed and commissioned  a new 1 million tonne per annum CIL treatment facility (built on time and under budget) and poured its first gold bar. 

Presently, Trident is Western Australia?s third largest underground gold mine and is forecasting gold production of 190,000+ ounces in FY2010 at an operating cash cost of A$452 per ounce (not including royalties).

Avoca has a highly credentialed management team with considerable expertise in exploration, project development and underground mining.  Avoca?s managing director, Rohan Williams, has more than 15 years experience in the region.

The Avoca Board is confident that its management team will continue to expand and develop the existing 1.45 million ounce Higginsville resource base into realising its goal of a +10 year mine life for Higginsville.