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Monument
to Increase Gold Production
Expansion of Selinsing plant to
1,000,000 tons per annum
Vancouver, B.C. Monument Mining Limited (TSX-V:
MMY and FSE: D7Q1) "Monument" or the "Company"
announces it will proceed with the Phase III expansion plan for its Selinsing mine and gold treatment plant. This
expansion will include an additional milling, gravity and leach circuit.
Production Increase Planned
Having successfully reached commercial
production with its 400,000 tonne per annum
gold treatment plant and building cash reserves, the Company will
commence construction of its planned Phase III expansion to lift the gold
treatment plant capacity to 1,000,000 tonne per
annum.
This 250% expansion in production capacity will
be funded from current cash reserves, is expected to cost less than
C$8,000,000 and will result in a projected pay-back of 3 months from
operating cash flow. The expansion is scheduled to reach practical
completion by the end of calendar year 2011 and be in full operation by
April 2012.
There will be some disruption to the present
operations during construction and commissioning of the new equipment,
however the Company projects gold production will remain at 40,000 ounces
of gold for year ended 30th June 2011 and increase to no less
than 50,000 ounces per year for the year ending 30th June
2012. The company will make further announcement on the projected gold
production targets from June, 2012 onwards pending plant commissioning
and the 2011 exploration program resulting in a new reserve and resource
statement.
The development and construction of the current
mine and processing facility has shown the Company has built the
capability to design, permit and construct low cost and efficient treatment
facilities. This owner capability will be utilized to project manage the
Phase III expansion.
General Manager, Kevin Wright who oversaw the
construction of the existing mine and mill stated "this plant will
not only provide an increase in production capability and operating
efficiency but will also provide necessary operating flexibility for
processing blended feed as the operations mature. Extensions to the ore
zones identified by our exploration efforts along strike and down dip are
likely to produce an increase in variability of ore types and our
in-house design team has taken this into account".
Accelerated 2011 Exploration Program
The overall objective of the current exploration
program is to convert existing inferred resources to reserves, add replacement
ore and increase reserve and resource ounces with a target to exceed
1,000,000 ounces to demonstrate at least a 10 year mine life. This
will be facilitated through the drilling of approximately 19,000 meters
of drilling (mostly diamond drilling) in the next 12 months with four
in-house rigs and one contract diamond drill rig.
The Company has an approved exploration budget
of $4,400,000 for this year (including two new Diamond drill rigs) and
has been ramping up exploration capacity. In addition to the in-house
team comprising an experienced VP of Exploration, an exploration manager
and a team of four field geologists and five pit production geologists,
the company is currently assembling additional drilling crews so that its
four in-house drill rigs can operate on a two-shift per day basis.
The company will continue to use the oversight
of Snowden International Mining Consultants of Perth, Western Australia
for its QA/QC program and their QP for production and review of the
NI-43-101 Report. The next reserve and resource report presently
underway is due for announcement in Q4, 2011.
Details of the exploration program were
previously released on September 22, 2010 and are available on SEDAR.
About Monument Mining Limited
Canadian based Monument Mining Limited has two wholly-owned principal
properties: Selinsing Gold Mine Project ("Selinsing");
and Damar Buffalo Reef Prospect ("Buffalo Reef");
which are located in Pahang State in the Central Gold Belt District of
Malaysia. In addition, the Company recently acquired the Famehub properties comprising 32,000 acres of
prospective exploration land.
In conjunction with extensive exploration
programs at Selinsing, Buffalo Reef and the Famehub properties, the Selinsing
Gold Mine is scheduled to produce approximately 40,000 ounces of gold in
its first full year of commercial production to June 30, 2011 at an
estimated average operating cash cost of approximately $317 per ounce
with an initial five year mine life.
Please visit our website at http://www.monumentmining.com/ for more information.
Robert F. Baldock, President and CEO
Monument Mining Limited
Suite 910- 688 West Hastings Street
Vancouver B.C. Canada V6B 1P1
For further information contact:
"Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of
the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release."
Forward-Looking
Statement
This news release contains forward-looking
statements about Monument Mining Limited ("Monument"), its
business and future plans. Forward-looking statements are statements that
are not historical facts and include the timing of the proposed programs
and events. The forward-looking statements in this news release are
subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could
cause actual results or achievements to different materially from those
expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks
and certain other factors include, without limitation, the estimated cash
cost per ounce of gold production and the estimated cash flows which may
be generated from the operations, general economic factors and other
factors that may be beyond the control of Monument. statements
regarding the future price of gold; the estimation of mineral resources;
conclusions of economic evaluation (including scoping studies); the
realization of mineral resource estimates; the timing and amount of
estimated future production, development and exploration; costs of future
activities; capital and operating expenditures; success of exploration
activities; mining or processing issues; currency exchange rates;
government regulation of mining operations; and environmental risks.
Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of
forward- looking terminology such as "plans",
"expects" or "does not expect", "is
expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates",
"forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or
"does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations
of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or
results "may", "could", "would",
"might" or "will be taken", "occur" or
"be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known
and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the
actual results, level of activi ty, performance or achievements of the Company to be
materially different from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general
business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties;
the actual results of current exploration activities; foreign operations
risks; other risks inherent in the mining industry and other risks
described in the annual information form of the Company, which is
available under the profile of the Company on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that
could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in
forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause
results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no
assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual
results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated
in such statements. Accordingly, rea ders should not place undue reliance on forward-
looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any
forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable
securities laws.
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