Results for Q2 2008
Stratoni Production Up 38%
Certej Definitive Feasibility Study
14 August 2008 � European Goldfields Limited (AIM: EGU / TSX: EGU) (�European Goldfields� or the �Company�) today reports its results for the quarter to 30 June 2008. Highlights are:
Financial highlights:
-
Revenues of $18.5m, versus $12.7m in Q1 2008
-
Cost per tonne falls 6% at Stratoni compared to Q1 2008
-
Working capital of $216.9m at 30 June 2008, compared to $225.7m at 31 March 2008
-
Overall profitability impacted by lower metal prices
Operational highlights:
-
Stratoni: Ore production up 38%, record metal production in June 2008
-
Skouries: Basic engineering complete
-
Olympias: Continued gold shipments, EIS for tailings reprocessing submitted
-
Certej: Positive feasibility study and public hearings progress
-
Exploration in Greece: Magnetic modelling confirms large porphyry complex
-
Turkey: Team in place and exploration has commenced
Corporate highlights:
Commenting on the results, David Reading, Chief Executive Officer of European Goldfields, said: �The quarter ended 30 June 2008 has again demonstrated our ability to deliver significant milestones from our strength in depth. Our Certej project continues to progress both through the permitting process and as we substantiate its viability in detail through a definitive feasibility study. Ramping up of production at Stratoni exemplifies our strength in both operations and project development in Greece. We remain focused and on track to secure further permits and make our next steps forward.�
Conference Call & Webcast � 14 August 2008 at 10am ET / 3pm BST
European Goldfields will host a conference call on Thursday 14 August 2008 at 10:00 a.m. ET / 3:00 pm (London, UK time) to update investors and analysts on its results.
Participants may join the call by dialing one of the three following numbers, approximately 10 minutes before the start of the call.
From North America:
(Local) 416-644-3425 or (toll free): 1-800-732-9307
From the UK, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden & Switzerland:
(toll free): 00-800-2288-3501
A live audio webcast of the call will be available on:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/webcast/viewEvent.cgi?eventID=2361260
For those unable to join the live conference call, a replay will be available until Thursday August 21, 2008 at midnight by dialing (toll free) 1-877-289-8525 or 1-416-640-1917, Passcode 21279664#.
SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
|
|
Three months ended 30 June
|
|
(in thousands of US dollars,
except per share amounts) |
2008
$ |
2007
$ |
|
Statement of loss and deficit |
|
|
|
Sales |
18,461 |
24,944 |
|
Gross profit |
3,470 |
14,949 |
|
Profit before income tax |
242 |
10,925 |
|
Profit after income tax |
886 |
8,129 |
|
Non-controlling interest |
(74) |
(2,794) |
|
Profit for the period |
812 |
5,335 |
|
Earnings per share |
0.00 |
0.04 |
Base metal prices in Q2 2008 were substantially lower than in prior periods, which had a major impact on the Company�s revenues and profitability. In Q2 2008, zinc, which represents the Company�s primary product from the Stratoni operation was trading over 40% lower than in Q2 2007. For the same period, lead traded over 30% lower. In addition, final pricing of Q1 2008 sales which took place in Q2 2008 resulted in a net reduction in Q2 sales of over $2.5 million. A strengthening Euro against the US dollar also added almost 20% to US dollar denominated unit costs from Q2 2007 to Q2 2008.
|
(in thousands of US dollars) |
30 June 2008
$ |
30 June 2007
$ |
|
Balance sheet |
|
|
|
Working capital |
216,822 |
211,637 |
|
Total assets |
796,537 |
729,774 |
European Goldfields� unaudited consolidated financial statements and management�s discussion and analysis for the three-month periods ended 30 June 2008 and 2007 are filed on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com.
CORPORATE ACTIVITY
Highlights:
New executive appointment
On 8 July 2008, the Company was pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Rachovides as Executive Vice President of the Company. He retains his existing directorships of European Goldfields Limited and Hellas Gold SA, and became a member of the senior executive team. He will directly support the activities of the Company�s Greek business and his role will also cover business development, investor relations and corporate governance matters.
Lead hedges start to offset weaker commodity prices
Revenues from Stratoni base metal sales were impacted by the fall in both zinc and lead prices at the end of June, as highlighted above. All shipments with provisional pricing had to be marked to market at the end of the quarter and lower prices were used than those billed on a provisional basis to customers during the period. Partially offsetting this was the receipt of $391,000 during Q2 under the Company�s current lead option contracts. Additional contracts become effective from 1 July 2008, so that a total of 900 tonnes of lead per month will be protected at an average price of over $2,400 per tonne.
STRATONI OPERATIONS (GREECE)
Highlights:
-
Major step up in ore production
-
Unit operating costs fall 6%
-
Improved mine infrastructure
-
Process plant operated at full capacity in May and June
-
Record metal production in June 2008 and 21% up on Q2 2007
-
Life of Mine Tailings Strategy in place
-
Encouraging drill results from orebody extension
Major step up in ore production
The Stratoni mine consists of a lead-zinc-silver deposit and lies approximately 4 km from the coastal town of Stratoni in northern Greece. In Q2 2008, the Company�s 95%-owned subsidiary Hellas Gold mined a total of 73,137 wet tonnes of ore (2007 � 53,088) and processed a total of 73,280 tonnes of ore (2007 � 48,179) at Stratoni. This represents a production increase of 38% in ore mined and 52% in ore processed over Q2 2007. Hellas Gold sold 8 shipments of base metal concentrates during Q2 (2007 � 8), being four each of zinc and lead/silver.
Summary production and sales were as follows:
|
|
Q2 2008 |
Q2 2007 |
|
Production |
|
|
|
Ore mined (wet tonnes) |
73,137 |
53,088 |
|
Ore processed (dry tonnes) |
73,280 |
48,179 |
|
Zinc concentrate
- Containing: zinc metal (tonnes)
Lead concentrate
- Containing: lead metal (tonnes)
silver (ounces)
|
14,139
7,004
6,443
4,201
316,354 |
10,485
5,170
5,955
4,109
328,879 |
|
Sales |
|
|
|
Zinc concentrate (tonnes) |
11,224 |
14,007 |
|
- Containing payable: Zinc (tonnes)* |
4,633 |
5,855 |
|
Lead concentrate (tonnes) |
7,418 |
5,651 |
|
- Containing payable: Lead (tonnes)* |
4,628 |
3,636 |
|
Silver (oz)* |
355,298 |
285,349 |
|
Inventory (end of period) |
|
|
|
Ore mined (wet tonnes) |
1,003 |
4,603 |
|
Zinc concentrate (tonnes) |
5,660 |
2 |
|
Lead/silver concentrate (tonnes) |
1,238 |
2,150 |
* Net of smelter payable deductions, before deduction of smelting and refining charges
Ore production rates from underground increased to an average of 1,100 tonnes per day in Q2 2008, and the mine now operates effectively at over 1,200 tonnes per day. The rate of ore production is expected to be sustained in Q3 and to increase again in Q4 to achieve 2008 production in line with our expectations.
Unit operating costs fall 6%
In contrast to the cost pressures being felt by the mining industry as a whole, unit costs at Stratoni fell 6% in Q2 2008 to �103 per tonne of ore processed, from �110 per tonne in Q1 2008. This reflects the combined benefit of a fixed price mining contract capping increases in mining costs and higher operational throughput rates at the mill reducing plant and mine overhead unit costs.
Improved mine infrastructure to increase mine productivity
The connection of the new Decline at Mavres Petres to the lower levels of the main workings was completed in late March resulting in much improved ventilation and access for materials and equipment. The main fans are installed and tested and will be put into operation once ventilation doors and an electrical sub-station are complete.
Access for equipment and materials through the Decline has enabled trial �large stope� drifting with dimensions of over 5m by 5m in the lower mine levels, using bolts and shotcrete as support. The larger stope sizes increase efficiencies resulting from higher tonnages per blast. An assessment of the use of this configuration in other production areas is in progress.
A new portal at the 360 level is complete and a roadheader was commissioned and started excavating a new decline which will connect from surface to the upper mine workings, providing additional access, ventilation and backfill services for the upper levels of the orebody.
Process plant throughput
Plant throughput was a record 33,437 dry tonnes in June 2008 at almost 1,200 dry tonnes per operating day compared to the average 1,100 tonnes per operating day for Q2 2008 as a whole. During May and June, an equivalent annualised throughput of over 400,000 tpa was achieved continuously. Zinc and lead metal recoveries are being maintained over budget at a consistent 92%. The overall result was the combined production of zinc and lead metal totalling 11,205 tonnes in the quarter (9,279 tonnes in Q2 2007) and a record 5,310 tonnes of combined zinc and lead metal production for the month of June 2008. The on-stream analyser has been operational for over a month and will continue to optimise the metallurgical performance of the operation.
Life of mine tailings strategy in place
The installation of two filter presses means that Stratoni produces filter cake instead of higher volume fine tailings slurry and water treatment sludge. Existing coarse tailings at surface have been excavated for use as backfill, creating additional volume at the Karakoli and Chevalier tailings facilities. The combination of lower volume filter cake and increased surface storage volumes in the existing tailings facilities ensures that sufficient capacity exists for the foreseeable future. The use of the filter presses has also optimized materials handling and is beginning to reduce costs. The coarse tailings fraction from the mine production will continue to be used as backfill in Mavres Petres and Madem Lakkos.
Encouraging drill results from orebody extension
Infill drilling of inferred resources to the east of current reserves within the Stratoni mine and drilling further to the east, in a zone of mineralisation encountered in the new decline, has commenced. Drill intercepts to date from these zones are as follows:
|
Hole |
From |
To |
Length |
Pb |
Zn |
Ag |
|
SDD15 |
127.5 |
141.2 |
13.7 |
4.5 |
14.7 |
135 |
|
SDD1040-1 |
0.6 |
10.1 |
9.5 |
9.8 |
14.8 |
194 |
|
SDD1040-2 |
7.9 |
11.6 |
3.7 |
4.8 |
8.1 |
94 |
|
SDD1050-1 |
2 |
5.6 |
3.6 |
4.3 |
8.3 |
93 |
|
SDD1050-2 |
30 |
30.85 |
0.85 |
4.5 |
35.5 |
101 |
|
SDD1050-3 |
2.9 |
10.1 |
7.2 |
6.0 |
10.6 |
118 |
|
SDD1050-4 |
5.8 |
7.5 |
1.7 |
9.4 |
17.8 |
132 |
|
SDD1050-7 |
7.8 |
12.5 |
4.7 |
21.7 |
23.9 |
397 |
|
SDD1050-11 |
6 |
7.2 |
1.2 |
5.8 |
11.3 |
110 |
Mine development to the west of the defined measured and indicated resources on the 268m level has confirmed the extension of the mineralisation in an area currently defined as inferred resources. Drilling down the orebody from this level has confirmed that the mineralisation continues to the 250m level. Intercepts to date are as follows:-
|
Hole |
From |
To |
Length |
Pb |
Zn |
Ag |
|
MP623/628_1 |
0 |
8 |
8 |
2.7 |
9.7 |
73 |
|
MP623/628_1 |
12 |
16 |
4 |
5.4 |
10.6 |
135 |
|
MP624/628_2 |
0 |
18 |
18 |
7.0 |
9.3 |
179 |
|
MP626/628_4 |
0 |
16 |
16 |
6.3 |
10.3 |
179 |
|
MP627/628_5 |
0 |
8 |
8 |
5.7 |
3.8 |
165 |
Grades from the new intercepts on both the east and west sides of the current reserves compare well with the run of mine grades and they are expected to add to the resources and reserves at Stratoni by year end.
Hellas Gold is considering the option of acquiring a core drilling rig in order to continue drilling of the Stratoni orebody. The rig would be used to continue drilling the eastern extensions to the existing reserve and, on the completion of necessary development, would be used to delineate resources along the western extension to the mine including the drilling out of inferred resources.
SKOURIES PROJECT (GREECE)
Continued progress on engineering
The Basic Engineering package for the Skouries project has been submitted to the company by Outotec.The fabrication of the SAG and ball mills, also by Outotec, is progressing to schedule: the shells of both units are nearing completion and have been inspected. The remaining components are all due for delivery to site in Q3 2009.
Orders for the long lead items outside of Outotec�s scope are being prepared by local engineering consultants, ENOIA, for placement in Q3 this year and include a primary crusher, transformers and switch gear. Detailed fabrication engineering drawings for the flotation tank cells and paste thickeners are well advanced in readiness for order placement.
Hellas Gold, ENOIA and Outotec have progressed the process plant layout and optimised the overall arrangement. Improvements in the location of various plant units have provided an opportunity to reduce construction costs, primarily by lowering the volume of excavation necessary for their installation. A geotechnical assessment of the plant area has been completed and a confirmatory drilling programme is planned.
The Greek Civil Engineering Company, MHXME S.A,, has been selected to carry out the civil design of the Skouries Project. The relevant contract is expected to be signed during Q3.
Greek geotechnical consultants Omicron Kappa have completed the detailed design of the open pit and submitted their engineering work for the roads network, although the latter requires some further optimisation.
Continued progress on project engineering and design allows for the scheduled start up of the Skouries project in 2010.
OLYMPIAS PROJECT (GREECE)
Highlights:
-
Continued sale of gold bearing concentrates
-
Olympias refurbishment plan underway
-
Submission of EIS for re-treatment of existing tailings
Continued sale of gold concentrates
The Company�s 95%-owned Olympias project benefits from an existing stockpile of gold-bearing pyrite concentrates which represented, at 31 December 2007, a reserve of approximately 172,000 tonnes grading 23.5 g/t gold (containing 130,000 oz of gold), in addition to substantial underground reserves of gold, lead, zinc and silver.
Sales of pyrite concentrates in the quarter were as follows:
|
|
Q2 2008 |
Q2 2007 |
|
Sales |
|
|
|
Gold concentrate (dry tonnes) |
22,479 |
12,686 |
In Q2 2008, 22,479 tonnes of gold bearing pyrite concentrate was sold, almost doubling our performance in Q2 2007. Industrial action by port workers at Thessaloniki persists which has had a negative impact. The Company understands that the situation at the Thessaloniki Port will improve in Q3 2008.
Hellas Gold has now secured the sale of the entire stockpile to six different purchasers, thereby effectively creating a market for its gold concentrates which did not exist prior to 2007.
Olympias refurbishment plan underway
An inspection of the condition of the underground workings at Olympias has confirmed that mine can be brought back into production. Dewatering pumps have been operating since the mine was placed on care and maintenance and the shaft and winder are operable. Ventilation fans will require replacement.
A contract for the rehabilitation of the Olympias process plant is expected to be awarded in Q3. This entails repairing damaged structural concrete, replacing missing equipment and purchasing new process units for treating the existing stockpiled tailings. As at Stratoni, the coarse fraction of the concentrator residue can be used for backfill underground, and the fines processed by filter press technology for solid disposal. Inert by-product sand from the planned treatment of existing tailings to produce further gold concentrate is suitable to improve the appearance of the beach at Stratoni.
Submission of EIS for Olympias Mill refurbishment and re-treatment of existing Olympias tailings
On May 16th 2008, an EIS was submitted to the Ministry of Environment for the refurbishment of the existing Olympias Mill and the re-treatment of the existing Olympias tailings. A public hearing in respect of the submitted EIS is expected to take place in Q3 this year. The treatment of the 3.4 million tonnes of existing Olympias tailings is expected to produce a further 350,000 tonnes of gold concentrate for sale to current customers.
PERMITTING PROCESS (SKOURIES & OLYMPIAS PROJECTS)
Progress in permitting process
In July 2007, the Company received a formal letter confirming that the Greek Ministry of Development had completed its review of the Company�s business plan, and re-confirmed its positive opinion of the Company�s preliminary environmental impact study (�PEIS�) which had already been submitted, and formally requested the Ministry of Environment to issue its official approval of the PEIS.
As reported previously, approval of the PEIS had been delayed due to specific delays in other ministerial input into the final report. This affected a large number of projects, public and private, in Greece. The Company is pleased to report that progress has resumed and the specific procedures that remained outstanding to finalise approval have now been initiated. The Company remains confident of a positive outcome to the process.
Approval of the PEIS by the Ministry of Environment will be expressed as an invitation to the Company to submit its full environmental impact study ("EIS") based on clearly defined parameters. On approval of the EIS, the environmental permits for Skouries and Olympias are expected to be issued.
The Company will then submit to the Greek government a final technical report on the Skouries and Olympias projects, which will restate the principles of the business plan and take into account any conditions detailed in the environmental permit. The mining permits are expected to be issued on approval of the technical report by the Greek government.
EXPLORATION IN GREECE
Update on Piavitsa and Fisoka targets
An airborne geophysical survey, comprising aeromagnetic, radiometric surveys and EM surveys, was completed by Fugro Airborne Surveys in December 2007 in order to delineate magnetised porphyritic intrusives and their alteration haloes, to define conductive bodies relating to massive sulphide mineralisation and to elucidate the geological structure which has controlled emplacement of mineralisation. The survey has been very successful in meeting these objectives with the following highlights:-
-
A 17 kilometre by 6 kilometre belt of porphyry intrusives has been identified, over which a three dimensional model has been completed defining two other major targets, at Fisoka and a previously unrecognised target comprising a complex of porphyries that coalesce at depth.
-
Follow-up reconnaissance mapping on the ground has confirmed the presence of porphyry style veining and intense alteration over the defined porphyry targets and allowed initial holes to be targeted with further ground work planned to define more drill targets.
-
Confirmation of the continuity of mineralisation at the Piavitsa massive sulphide target along two kilometres of known strike plus a further six kilometres strike length defined by conductive anomalies at the site have been revealed. Drilling of this exciting target is planned for later in the year.
-
Further post processing of the geophysical data continues to define other targets in the concession area.
CERTEJ PROJECT (ROMANIA)
Highlights:
Feasibility study results
Certej is an epithermal gold/silver deposit located in the �Golden Quadrilateral� area of the Apuseni Mountains of Transylvania in Western Romania, 12km from the regional town of Deva.
European Goldfields owns 80% of the project through its subsidiary Deva Gold. There is an existing open pit that was operated by the Romanian State mining entity Minvest until 2006, for which Deva Gold holds a valid operating permit.
Following detailed technical and economic studies on Certej culminating with the definitive feasibility study announced on July 23 2008, the Company was pleased to report that the project continues to be on track for permitting. We have concluded that key technical milestones can be achieved and that a fully viable development of the project can now be established within key operational criteria.
Scope
The Certej definitive feasibility study is based on conventional open pit mining of the Certej gold/silver project, processing of 3Mt of ore a year with production of dor� on site and tailings storage in an adjacent facility.
Reserves
|
Tonnes |
|
32.8Mt |
|
Gold Grade |
|
2.0 g/t |
|
Silver Grade |
|
11.4 g/t |
|
Strip Ratio |
|
3.1 |
|
Annual Throughput |
|
3Mt |
|
Overall Gold Recovery |
|
81% |
|
Overall Silver Recovery |
|
74% |
|
Base Life of Mine |
|
11.2 years |
The Certej orebody is well defined based on an extensive drilling and exploration programme which defines a Measured and Indicated Resource comprising 41.5 Mt of ore with grades of 2.0 g/t Au & 11 g/t Ag at a 0.8 g/t Au cut-off. The main mineralised zone is some 1,500 meters long by 500 meters wide and occurs as sub-horizontal, to moderately dipping zones.
The mineable reserve comprises 32.8 million tonnes of ore grading 2.0 g/t gold and 11.4 g/t silver, representing 2.1 million ounces of gold and 12.0 million ounces of silver mined by conventional open pit methods with a strip ratio of 3.1:1.
Mine Planning and Scheduling
|
Production |
Years 1-3 |
Life of mine |
|
Average gold production, oz pa |
172,000 |
156,000 |
|
Average silver production, oz pa |
720,000 |
814,000 |
The study is based on owner operated mining of 3 million tonnes of ore per annum over at least eleven years by a conventional open pit, drill/blast and shovel/truck method. The mining will extend the existing open pit at Certej and the mine will eventually comprise a main pit and a west pit.
Processing
The run of mine (�ROM�) ore will be processed in three distinct stages:
-
Flotation of ROM material to produce a pyrite, gold-silver concentrate
-
Ultra fine grinding and ambient pressure leaching of the concentrate using Xstrata�s Albion process, to liberate the gold and silver
-
A standard CIL circuit to process the oxidised concentrate and produce gold and silver dor� on site
Annual metal production will average approximately 160,000 ounces of gold and 800,000 ounces of silver. The process route is based on extensive metallurgical sampling and testwork, including a full programme of locked cycle flotation tests, large scale laboratory Albion Process tests, two continuous pilot scale runs of the Albion Process and a continuous CIL pilot plant test. Material for the testwork was obtained from diamond drill core and was representative of the entire mineable reserve.
Tailings management
The proposed TMF is located in a valley roughly 1.5 kilometres to the northeast of the mine site. The flotation tailings, comprising approximately 80% of the total tailings, will be stored in the main dam. The CIL tailings will be held in a separate dam located immediately upstream of the flotation dam and will re-circulate water back to the CIL plant.
The Company also has a second option for the TMF located closer to the mine. This second option has sufficient capacity to store life of mine tailings and a study is being undertaken to define the engineering design and establish the expenditure for this alternative.
The costs of the first option have been incorporated into the capital estimate.
A waste management plan has been incorporated in the recently submitted Environmental Impact Study.
Infrastructure
The area has experienced a substantial economic revival in the past four years with major investments from international and local corporations. It is served by good infrastructure with 110kV power supply and water pipelines arriving within two kilometres of the mine. The project has paved roads directly to site and the region has a large road-building programme to improve these further. The Certej project also benefits from two rail loading facilities at the major rail-head at Deva. Deva is connected to the main Black Sea port of Constantia by the Romanian highway and rail network and is serviced by three international airports, all within two hours drive of the project.
The project will employ over 300 people from the Certej area, whose recent mining history ensures a good skills base is available in the local labour force.
Environment
There are no settlements in the vicinity of the proposed mine and TMF sites. Detailed field work has established that there are no archaeological remains on the site. Both the mine site and the TMFs are shielded by topography and there is no visual impact on settlements. All the necessary studies to comply with Romanian and EU legislation and international best practice have been completed.
Capital Costs
|
Capital |
� million |
� million |
|
|
Initial |
Sustaining |
|
Mining Fleet |
19.0 |
7.4 |
|
Pre-strip |
8.5 |
- |
|
Plant |
91.5 |
- |
|
Infrastructure |
11.0 |
2.9 |
|
TMF |
6.5 |
14.4 |
|
Rehabilitation |
|
6.5 |
|
TOTAL |
136.5 |
31.2 |
Capital costs comprise the estimates produced by each contributing consulting group. Aker Solutions made a series of recommendations regarding plant optimisation which were subsequently actioned by Deva Gold. The current capital cost estimate for the plant incorporates the following optimisation measures:
-
Improved site layout following geotechnical investigations
-
Competitive up to date quotations for equipment
-
Use of local construction rates based on local quotes
-
Use of Romanian contractors
-
Other in country cost opportunities
Additional opportunities are being investigated, but have not yet been incorporated, into the cost estimate, including:
-
Use of second hand grinding mills
-
Use of waste rock for the new highway project in the district that will reduce waste rock disposal quantities and costs
-
Increasing the project life to 15 years through the processing of existing dump material and lower grade material that falls within the current pit design and would be economic above a gold price of $700 per ounce
Financial returns
|
Cash Operating Cost |
� per tonne |
US$/oz* |
|
Mining |
1.23 (mined) |
111 |
|
Processing (inc TMF) |
10.53 (processed) |
234 |
|
G & A |
0.36 (processed) |
8 |
|
TOTAL |
|
353 |
|
* Net of silver by product credits |
|
|
|
Financial |
|
|
|
Gold Price ($/oz) |
|
650 |
|
Silver Price ($/oz) |
|
12 |
|
Post tax IRR |
|
20.3% |
The financial returns achieved by the project show that it is robust at metal prices of $650 per ounce for gold and $12 per ounce for silver and the IRR exceeds the company threshold of 20%.
The internal rate of return of 20.3% is post taxation and royalties. In addition, project finance has been assumed on the basis of a conservative 50:50 debt: equity ratio.
Progress on Permitting
The permitting process is now well advanced and Deva Gold has already submitted a Technical Feasibility Study, an Environmental Impact Study and a Zonal Urbanisation Plan (PUZ) to the relevant Romanian authorities.
Deva Gold already holds an operating permit for Certej, by virtue of the small scale production and sale of concentrates carried out from an existing open pit. The EIS and the Technical Feasibility Study address a proposed increase in mine production at Certej and the processing of ore on site. The environmental permit and an updated mining permit are expected in Q4 2008 following completion of the public consultation process.
Deva Gold has advanced the planning procedures for the Zonal Urbanisation Plan approval including two public meetings with the affected local communities. The regional Environmental Department from Timisoara has received an official letter from the local Council of Certej giving its full support to the project, recognising the sustainable development and benefits the project brings to the local economy.
Following receipt of the necessary Environmental and Construction permits the Company will work toward raising the necessary project finance. The project will then progress to detailed engineering, procurement and construction.
Exploration
The potential to increase the life of the Certej project is being pursued. The current reserve is defined at metal prices of $425 per ounce of gold and $7 per ounce of silver. The open pit shell used to define the reserve has a natural depth limit due to the shape of the orebody, however there is considerable material within the designed open pit that would be economic at higher metal prices and the possibility of a low grade stockpile to be fed through the mill at the end of mine life is being investigated. In addition there are numerous old dumps within the company�s concessions that are within trucking distance and many of these contain potentially economic grade material. A programme of sampling and, where appropriate, drilling of the dumps is underway with the aim of defining measured and indicated resources within this material. It is believed that the mine life can be extended to some 15 years with the combined dump and in -pit lower grade material.
TURKEY
Exploration and administration teams in place
Administration and exploration teams are now in place with a Chief Geologist from the Company now appointed. Control systems have been implemented and a budget for the initial work programme agreed.
An exploration programme has commenced in northeast Turkey. The Ardala porphyry target area has been completely remapped and available core re-logged and selectively sampled.
Mapping and sampling of other targets within the JV portfolio has also started together with a generative programme to define areas for new permit applications and to compile a regional geological model for the Eastern Pontides belt of Turkey.
For further information please contact:
Resources & reserves parameters
For additional information on the resource and reserve estimates quoted in this news release, please refer to the Company�s Resources & Reserves Declaration at www.egoldfields.com/goldfields/resources.jsp. Patrick Forward, General Manager, Exploration of the Company, was the Qualified Person under Canadian National Instrument 43-101 responsible for reviewing the disclosure of resource and reserve estimates quoted in this news release.
Forward-looking statements
Certain statements and information contained in this document, including any information as to the Company�s future financial or operating performance and other statements that express management's expectations or estimates of future performance, constitute forward-looking information under provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws. When used in this document, the words �anticipate�, "expect", "will", "intend", "estimate", �forecast�, �planned� and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the estimation of mineral reserves and resources, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs and timing of development of new deposits, permitting time lines and expectations regarding metal recovery rates. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable b y management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. The Company cautions the reader that such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual financial results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from its estimated future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements and the forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to: changes in the price of gold, base metals or certain other commodities (such as fuel and electricity) and currencies; uncertainty of mineral reserves, resources, grades and recovery estimates; uncertainty of future production, capital expenditures and other costs; currency fluctuations; financing and additional capital requirements; the succes sful and timely permitting of the Company�s Skouries, Olympias and Certej projects; legislative, political, social or economic developments in the jurisdictions in which the Company carries on business; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities; the speculative nature of gold and base metals exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; the risks normally involved in the exploration, development and mining business; and risks associated with internal control over financial reporting. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and material factors or assumptions underlying these forward-looking statements, see the Company�s Annual Information Form for the year ended 31 December 2007, filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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