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ACTIVITIES REPORT FOR THE QUARTER ENDED 31 MARCH 2010
Focus� Three Mill Gold Plant officially commenced
operation on the 24th December 2009. The first significant gold pour occurred
on the 13th January 2010. With the start up of the mill, Focus produced a
record 27,793 ounces for the Quarter. The March 2010 Quarter was
exceptionally successful for Focus and has laid the foundation for the
Company to reach forecast gold production of 80,000ounces for the 2010
calendar year.
The successful refurbishment and commissioning of
the Three Mile Hill Gold Plant cannot be overstated in its importance to the
future growth of Focus Minerals. Focus now has the flexibility to begin
developing and unlocking the pipeline of its 1.9 million ounce resource base.
This guaranteed and secure milling capacity has already had benefits with the
fast tracking of development at The Mount project during the March Quarter,
creating a second operational centre at Widgiemooltha,
80km south of Coolgardie.
The Mount has advanced from an early exploration
project to a potential 60,000 ounce per annum stand alone operation. Exceptional
development grades continued to be delivered over two levels with over 7,200
tonnes of ore at 9.2 g/t delivered to Three Mile Hill and in March, Focus
announced a maiden Probable Reserve of 69,000 tonnes at 8.6 g/t Au. The Mount
is considered a potential company making deposit and ongoing exploration and
development work will determine the best scenarios for its anticipated
acceleration into full-scale production.
Since commencing decline development at the Tindals Mining Centre in late 2009, Focus has
significantly increased the rate of its capital and level development. During
the March Quarter, over 632 metres of decline and lateral development was
completed in the Empress and Perseverance Declines and over 705 metres of ore
level development was completed in Empress, Countess, Perseverance and Tindals.
The Company continued its strong exploration push
with over 12,600 metres of diamond and RC drilling undertaken during the
Quarter, along with the updating and expansion of six Resources and five
Reserves.
Since October 2009, Focus has added over 90,000
ounces into its Reserves in addition to ongoing depletion and during the
March Quarter was able to expand its Reserves and stocks inventory, net of
depletions to 186,600 ounces.
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Links
www.focusminerals.com.au
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