Alacer announces attributable gold production of 90,951 ounces for third quarter 2012 & on track to meet 2012 guidance

TORONTO, Oct. 23, 2012 /CNW/ - Alacer Gold Corp. ("Alacer" or the "Company") [TSX: ASR] and [ASX: AQG] is pleased to announce third quarter 2012 mine production for its operations in Turkey and Australia. Third quarter 2012 financial statements and the related management's discussion and analysis are planned to be released on November 14, 2012 (North America) and November 15, 2012 (Australia).

Third Quarter 2012 Highlights

• Attributable gold production totalled 90,951 ounces and attributable gold sold totalled 99,355 ounces for the quarter.
• Attributable Çöpler gold production of 32,674 ounces for the quarter was in line with the revised mining plan to pursue more competent and harder rock in the Manganese and Marble Pits. Mining progressed through lower grade areas of Manganese and Marble Pits during the quarter with higher grade areas scheduled to be mined during Q4 2012.
• Gold production from Higginsville of 32,357 ounces for the quarter was slightly lower than forecast primarily as a result of the cessation of mining low grade pits and lower grade ore than forecast being mined from the Trident underground mine.
• Chalice underground mine development proceeded ahead of schedule, with the initial stope mined in the Atlas Lode during September 2012.
• Gold production from South Kalgoorlie Operations ("SKO") for the quarter increased to 25,920 ounces, largely due to higher mined grades from both the Triumph open pit and the Frog's Leg underground mine.

David Quinlivan, President and CEO of Alacer, stated "Improving production performance at the Australian mines and expected higher grades at Çöpler in the last quarter of 2012 means we should be on track to meet our full-year 2012 production guidance. We have also implemented the first of a number of cost savings initiatives in Australia by demobilizing two mining fleets at South Kalgoorlie and laying off all workers associated with the operation and maintenance of those fleets.  We expect to implement additional cost-savings measures in Australia over the course of the coming months." 

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1}Attributable gold production reflects Alacer's 80% ownership in 2012 and 95% in 2011 of the Çöpler Gold Mine.

Operations

Çöpler Gold Mine

• Attributable Çöpler gold production decreased to 32,674 ounces for the quarter (Q2 attributable: 40,970 ounces) in line with the revised mining plan to pursue more competent and harder ore from the Manganese and Marble open pits and less clay-rich ore from the Main open pits.
• Mining of higher-grade ore from the 1120 to 1130mRL benches in the Manganese open pit and the 1250mRL bench in the Marble open pit commenced in September 2012 and, in line with the revised mining plan, is scheduled to continue during Q4 2012.
• During the quarter, ore was mined from the Manganese open pit (1,008,687 tonnes), the Marble open pit (328,626 tonnes) and the Main open pits (431,988 tonnes). Crusher throughput increased during the quarter as the clay-rich ore from the Main pit being fed into the crusher at the start of the quarter was progressively substituted with more competent and harder ore from the Manganese and Marble open pits. 
• A total of 1,110,774 tonnes of ore at 2.0g/t gold were crushed and stacked on the leach pad during the quarter (Q2: 926,361 tonnes crushed at 2.1g/t). Ore crushed and stacked during the month of September totaled 436,143 tonnes at 3.2g/t gold.
• The increased amount of ore crushed from the Manganese and Marble open pits also contributed to the modeled gold recovery increasing to 61.1% for the quarter (Q2: 57.3%).  The majority of gold from the higher grade ore stacked in late Q3 2012 is expected to be recovered in Q4 2012.
• Run-of-mine ore placed directly on the heap-leach pad totaled 637,042 tonnes at 0.8g/t gold (Q2: 691,867 tonnes at 1.1g/t).
• Detailed design work for a new clay-sizing circuit, that will operate in parallel with the existing crushing circuit and a new larger capacity agglomeration circuit at Çöpler continued during the quarter. The new crushing and agglomeration facilities will allow ore to be sized, crushed and agglomerated at a targeted throughput rate of 20,000 tonnes per day. Projects to increase the capacity of the carbon-in-column tanks are also being evaluated.
• The Çöpler Sulfide Feasibility Study remains on track for completion in late 2012. The outcomes from this study will be released in Q1 2013.
• An updated Çöpler resource estimate was released during the quarter. The Measured and Indicated Resources increased to 182.6 million tonnes at a grade of 1.4g/t gold, containing a total of 8.0 million ounces (inclusive of reserves) as at June 30, 2012.

Higginsville Gold Operations (100% owned)

• Higginsville gold production decreased to 32,357 ounces of gold for the quarter (Q2: 35,227 ounces), primarily due to lower grade ore being processed.
• Ore mined from Trident was 241,214 tonnes (Q2: 254,736 tonnes) at an average grade of 3.5g/t gold for the quarter (Q2: 3.8g/t). The lower Trident grade was due to mining lower grade stopes in the Apollo Lode within the mining schedule, excessive dilution of one large Athena Lode stope as a result of failure of the ultramafic hangingwall and localized negative grade reconciliations.
• The Trident decline reached the 640mRL at the end of the quarter, with the first ore from the Helios and Artemis Lodes being expected on the 600mRL.
• At Chalice, mining of the initial Atlas Lode stope commenced in September 2012.  Chalice contributed a total of 25,888 tonnes (Q2: 4,936 tonnes) mined at an average grade of 2.1g/t gold for the quarter (Q2: 2.3g/t).  Chalice tonnes and grade are planned to increase in Q4 2012 with more stoping ore being mined.
• The focus for Chalice mine development is now on advancing the main decline in order to access the higher grade Olympus and Grampian Lodes during 2013.  The Chalice decline reached the 1,055mRL at the end of the quarter.
• Construction of surface infra-structure for the Chalice mine was completed during the quarter.
• Ore will be sourced entirely from the Trident and Chalice underground mines during Q4.
• A detailed review of several initiatives to control costs and better manage cash flow were undertaken at Higginsville during the quarter, including the deferral of the exploration decline to access the Corona deposit.

South Kalgoorlie Operations (100% owned except for 49% interest in Frog's Leg Mine)

• Gold production from SKO (including Frog's Leg ore) increased to 25,920 ounces for the quarter (Q2: 19,787 ounces) due to improved head grade and gold recovery.
• Gold production from processing Frog's Leg ore increased to 14,666 ounces (Q2: 10,858 ounces), due to processing 97,209 tonnes (Q2: 76,076 tonnes) at a higher grade of 5.1g/t gold (Q2: 4.9g/t).
• Alacer's 49% share of ore mined at Frog's Leg during the quarter totalled 74,461 tonnes (Q2: 88,584 tonnes) at an average grade of 6.2g/t gold (Q2: 5.0g/t).
• Gold production from processing South Kalgoorlie open-pit ore increased to 11,254 ounces (Q2: 8,929 ounces), as a result of processing lower tonnage of 230,243 tonnes (Q2: 257,883 tonnes) at a higher grade of 1.7g/t gold (Q2: 1.2g/t).
• Ore mined from the Triumph and Pernatty open pits totalled 228,595 tonnes at 1.8g/t gold (Q2: 175,249 tonnes at 1.5g/t) during the quarter. Grade improved from these pits as less peripheral low-grade ore was mined and the high-grade core of these orebodies was accessed.
• Mining of the Triumph open pit is planned to be completed in late October 2012. SKO now has only one active open-pit mining fleet at Pernatty, thus reducing ongoing fixed costs.

Third Quarter 2012 Production Statistics

Financial Results and Conference Call

Third quarter 2012 financial statements and management's discussion and analysis are planned to be released on Wednesday, November 14 (North America) and Thursday, November 15 (Australia). Alacer will host a conference call on Wednesday, November 14 at 6:00 pm (North America Eastern Standard Time) and Thursday, November 15 at 9:00 am (Australian Eastern Standard Time).

You may participate in the conference call by dialing:

If you are unable to participate in the call, a recording of the call will be available on Alacer's website at www.AlacerGold.com or through replay until November 28, 2012 by using passcode 7488352 and calling:

About Alacer

Alacer Gold Corp. is a leading intermediate gold mining company with interests in multiple mines which provide ore to three processing facilities in Australia and Turkey:

• 80% interest in the Çöpler Gold Mine;
• 100% interest in the Higginsville Gold Operations;
• 100% interest in the South Kalgoorlie Gold Operations; and
• 49% interest in the Frog's Leg Gold Mine.

Alacer's operations produced a total of 411,193 attributable ounces of gold during 2011.

Alacer Gold is executing a growth strategy through the use of cash flows to grow production and cash margins to generate strong capital returns. While the primary objective is organic growth, the Corporation also identifies and evaluates strategic transactions that will add shareholder value.

Qualified Persons

The information in this report which relates to Mineral Resources is based on information prepared by Lisa Bascombe, a full-time employee of Alacer and a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists.

The information in this report which relates to Mineral Resources has been reviewed by Chris Newman, a full-time employee of Alacer, who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists.

Ms. Bascombe and Mr. Newman have sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which is being undertaken to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the "Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves" and a qualified person pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators.  Ms. Bascombe and Mr. Newman consent to the inclusion in this release of the matters based on this information in the form and context in which it appears.

Cautionary Statements

Except for statements of historical fact relating to Alacer, certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information, future oriented financial information, or financial outlooks (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking information may be contained in this document and other public filings of Alacer. Forward-looking information often relates to statements concerning Alacer's future outlook and anticipated events or results and, in some cases, can be identified by terminology such as "may", "will", "could", "should", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "projects", "predict", "potential", "continue" or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts.

Forward-looking information includes statements concerning, among other things, matters relating to proposed exploration, communications with local stakeholders and community relations, status of negotiations of joint ventures, weather conditions at our operations, commodity prices, mineral resources, mineral reserves, realization of mineral reserves, existence or realization of mineral resource estimates, the development approach, the timing and amount of future production, timing of studies and analyses, the timing of construction of proposed mines and process facilities, capital and operating expenditures, economic conditions, availability of sufficient financing, exploration plans and any and all other timing, exploration, development, operational, financial, budgetary, economic, legal, social, regulatory and political factors that may influence future events or conditions. Such forward-looking information and statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions, including, but not limited in any manner to, those disclosed in any other of Alacer's filings, and include exploration results and the ability to explore, the ultimate determination of mineral reserves, availability and final receipt of required approvals, titles, licenses and permits, sufficient working capital to develop and operate the mines, access to adequate services and supplies, commodity prices, ability to meet production targets, foreign currency exchange rates, interest rates, access to capital markets and associated cost of funds, availability of a qualified work force, ability to negotiate, finalize and execute relevant agreements, lack of social opposition to the mines, lack of legal challenges with respect to the property of Alacer and the ultimate ability to mine, process and sell mineral products on economically favorable terms. While we consider these factors and assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to us, they may prove to be incorrect.

You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information and statements.  Forward-looking information and statements are only predictions based on our current expectations and our projections about future events.  Actual results may vary from such forward-looking information for a variety of reasons, including but not limited to risks and uncertainties disclosed in Alacer's filings at www.sedar.com and other unforeseen events or circumstances. Other than as required by law, Alacer does not intend, and undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking information to reflect, among other things, new information or future events. 

SOURCE: ALACER GOLD CORP.

Lisa Maestas - North America at +1-303-292-1299
Roger Howe - Australia at +61-2-9953-2470