28th Feb 2005 07:02
Peter Hambro Mining PLC28 February 2005 28th February 2005 ACQUISITION OF THE MALOMIR DEPOSIT SUMMARYThe Peter Hambro Mining Group ("PHM" or the "Group") announces that it has beensuccessful in the auction of the combined exploration and mining licence overthe Malomir gold property in the North East of the Amur Region, Far East Russia,held in Blagoveshensk on 24th February 2005. PHM paid RuR22m (c.US$0.79m) for the licence, which is estimated to containopen-pittable reserves of 45.1 tonnes (1.5 million oz) of category C2 reserveswith an average grade of 2.4 g/t and 120 tonnes (3.9million oz) of resourcecategory P1 with an average grade of 2.2 g/t. The deposit also contains silver,platinum and palladium. The Group acquired the licence for two areas adjacent to Malomir in 2003. Theexploration of the area was started during 2004 with geophysical and geochemicalsurveys over 20km2. Exploration works were undertaken by the Russian geologicalexploration company "Urangeology" which will now continue exploration on thewhole territory of the deposit. DESCRIPTION OF MALOMIR DEPOSITMalomir is located in one of the oldest and richest gold producing areas of theAmur Region. The deposit is located in the same gold belt as PHM's other NorthEast assets Tokur and Voroshilovskoye, known as the Verkhneselemdginsky regionand is part of the Mongolia-Okhotsk thrust system. The deposit is located 35kmfrom the nearest town of Stoyba which is connected with the Baikal Amur Railwayby 85km of road. The deposit was discovered in 1966 and has subsequently had detailed stateoperated exploration. Exploration was undertaken primarily by two State agenciesDalgeology and Amurgeology using geophysiscs, aerial geophysics, geochemistryand detailed geological mapping (to a scale of 1:10,000). Exploration workincludes 150,000m3 of trenching on intervals of 80-640m and 52 drill holestotalling 12,700m to a maximum depth of 350m. V.A. Buryak, the prominent Russiangeologist, in a State commissioned report, reported that Malomir is of a largegold-platinum black shale mineralisation type. Approximately 94% of Malomir'scurrent reserves and resources occur in the area which has benefited from thelargest amount of work, the 'Diagonal Zone' imbrecate thrust-belt. The 'DiagonalZone' at present remains open in all directions. Evaluation of the 'Diagonal Zone' at a cutoff grade of 1 g/t generates a C2reserve of 45.1 tonnes (1.45 million oz) with an average grade of 2.4g/t (NTSAmurgeolkom January 1994). Further preliminary work on the zone show P1resources of 120 tonnes (3.9 million oz) at an average grade of 2.2g/t. A highgrade core to the orebody is delineated by increasing the cutoff grade to 3g/t,generating a C1-P1 resource of 33 tonnes (1.1 million ounces) at a grade of 4.9g/t. The reserve and resource estimates do not include the flanks of the orezonewhich continue, per geochemical and geophysical data, for a further 4km as wellas further high grade mineralisation, per nearby drill results of 7-15g/t. Bulk sampling and assay analysis have been undertaken to assess the amenabilityof the deposit to traditional open pit mining and processing. Gold is containedmainly in quartz (80-85%) and the balance in in arsenopyrites and pyrites. Bulksampling analysis gives a gold recovery ranging from 70-95%, depending on thelevel of oxidisation of the ore and the use of gravitation-flotation circuit onthe primary non-oxidised ore. Malomir ore also contains a number of different elements, the economics ofextraction of which are presently being analysed and whose potential credit hasnot been taken into account for the above reserve and resource estimates.Elements contained: Silver 1.00g/t; Platinum up to 10.0g/t; and Palladium up to7.1g/t. PHM intends to undertake a comprehensive exploration programme of the depositover the next 18 months with a feasibility study commencing during early 2006."Urangeology" is currently carrying out trenching work on the flanks of thedeposit and intends to mobilise drill rigs by June 1st 2005 to beginconfirmation and exploration drilling at Malomir. As part of the explorationwork PHM intends to commission a programme of at least 50,000m of drilling. Peter Hambro, Chairman of Peter Hambro Mining plc, commented:"Malomir has always been at the very top of our wish-list for the Amur Region -particularly given its geological similarities to several well-known deposits.For that reason we acquired exploration areas surrounding it last year, prior tothis auction. Now that we have the whole deposit, we have completed our acquisition strategyfor the Amur North East belt. The addition of 1.45 million ounces of C2 reservesto our Group total is beneficial, especially since the Malomir deposit is at arelatively advanced exploration stage and relatively well served by transportfacilities." Enquiries:Jay Hambro Peter Hambro Mining PLC +44 (0) 20 7201 8900Tom Randell / Maria Suleymanova Merlin +44 (0) 20 7653 6620 Further details regarding the location of the assets can be found on the Group'swebsite at: www.peterhambro.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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