Reserves and Resources Update

Update on Gold Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources, Exploration Results and New Licence Acquisitions

28 February 2013

Petropavlovsk PLC ("Petropavlovsk", the "Company" or, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") is pleased to announce a summary of its updated gold Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources estimated as at 01 January 2013 in accordance with the guidelines of the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geosciences and Minerals Council of Australia 2004 ("JORC Code").

HIGHLIGHTS

JORC Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves

n Addition of 1.95Moz of gold Mineral Resources (before depletion) due to the success of the Group's 2012 exploration programme;

n A net increase in JORC Mineral Resources by 0.45Moz to 25.1Moz (of which 10.0Moz are Proven and Probable Ore Reserves) despite depletion and the disposal of a non-core asset during the year (1.5Moz combined);

n All new resources are located at operational mines and c.90% of them are non-refractory, hence potentially suitable for processing in existing on-site resin-in-pulp ("RIP") plants or the Group's heap-leach facilities;

n Ore Reserves estimates continue to be based on gold price assumptions of US$1,000/oz for all projects apart from Albyn and Visokoe which were based on US$1,200/oz; and

n In addition to its JORC-compliant Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, the Group holds significant alluvial resources of 1.05Moz and reserves of 0.59Moz estimated in accordance with the Russian Classification System (resources are inclusive of reserves).

Exploration

n Exploration is continuing to deliver positive results, some of which have yet to be fully reflected in Company's Mineral Resource statement;

n Several new mineralised zones have been identified at Alkagan-Adamovskaya (Pioneer mine). Group geologists believe these zones have the potential to significantly expand the Mineral Resource base at Pioneer:

- The Otvalnaya Zone: stretching 2km, the zone is of similar mineralogy and orientation as the high-grade NE Bakhmut Zone which provided the majority of Pioneer's production in 2011 and 2012. This new zone holds both non-refractory and oxide mineralisation with grades of up to 10g/t Au. It is expected to be amenable for open-pit mining with a relatively low strip ratio;

- The Shirokaya Zone: the zone consists of thick mineralisation (up to 125m) with grades varying between 0.4 and 8.5g/t Au. It is oxidised to a depth of 40m;

- The Alexandra Zone: the best intersections identified to date include grades of 1.6g/t and 2.25g/t Au at a thickness of 84.9m and 9.7m respectively.

- Two last zones are found within a prospective regional structure which has been traced over a 13km strike length which is being explored by the Company;

n At Albyn, exploration established a non-refractory mineral JORC Mineral Resource of c.1.3Moz at Elginskoye, where mineralised zones are still open in strike as well as in down dip direction

n A new, prospective gold-bearing zone with a strike length of over 3km and a thickness of up to 500m was identified within the Borovaya licence area (Pokrovskiy mine). Further Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves have been found at another Pokrovskiy satellite deposit, Zheltunak;

n Further non-refractory as well as refractory mineralisation is being evaluated near the Quartzitovoye pit.

New licence acquisitions

n Between Q4 2011 and Q4 2012, the Group acquired four new licences through government auctions. The licence areas are located near to the Albyn, Pioneer and Malomir processing plants;

n Exploration of these licence areas is scheduled to start in 2013, however, evaluation of historical results has indicated that these licence areas are highly prospective and may significantly contribute to future production from the Pioneer, Albyn and Malomir mines:

- At Albyn, the new Afanasevskaya licence area covers several, historically-known ore bodies with average grades between 4.5g/t to 7.2g/t Au at a thickness of 5.0m to 6.0m. This includes areas of 20.8g/t and 87.2g/t Au at a thickness of 3.0m to 3.6m. An unaudited, historical estimate of the Afanasevskaya licence area established 0.9Moz of Russian Category C2 and P1 mineral resources, which are in addition to the Group's JORC-compliant Mineral Resources.;

- The estimated total resource potential of the new licence area acquired near Pioneer in Q4 2011 is up to c.3Moz (Russian Category P3 indicative estimate); and

- Two licences were acquired at Malomir, both of which are situated in an area considered to be geologically prospective for the discovery of additional refractory and non-refractory resources.

(1) Depletion exceeds production due to mining and processing losses

Commenting on the announcement, Peter Hambro, Chairman, said:

"This is the sixth consecutive year since we changed to JORC based reporting in which Petropavlovsk has increased its total JORC Mineral Resources and this is particularly good news in a year when the total has been depleted by a record annual production of more than 710,000oz of gold. It is also gratifying to note that the total number of new JORC Resources found in the year amounted to almost 2 million ounces.

Our ability not only to replenish, but also add to, the resources we have taken for processing is one of the great strengths of our Group and has been key in our success to date.

It was encouraging to see in 2012 that at Pioneer we mined c.20% more gold than was predicted from the JORC resource models, indicating that even JORC reserves do not always take full consideration of the nugget-nature of gold mineralisation at Pioneer. It is important to note that, in calculating our Reserves, we have continued to use the same price and cost assumptions that were used in the Wardell Armstrong report of 2010/11.

This year we have focussed our exploration programme on areas at or close to our operating mines and in particular, on finding new, non-refractory resources. As a result, the majority of the 1.95Moz of new resources we have found are non-refractory and located at or close to our processing plants, requiring minimal capital expenditure to develop them.

To my mind the progress we have made at Elginskoye, a licence area some 15km from the RIP plant at Albyn, is of particular interest. In just over two years the area has been transformed from a prospective greenfield site to one having an estimated 1.3Moz of non-refractory JORC Mineral Resources and this is a great testament to the strength of our on-the-ground geologist team. The licence area is still to be fully explored and a number of prospective targets have been identified that are not yet included in the estimates. Accordingly we expect Elginskoye to provide additional reserves to the Albyn RIP plant in due course.

We have also identified a number of prospective targets at the Pioneer and Malomir licence areas that are yet to be fully explored and thus not included in today's statement but which, if proven, will delay our need to rely on refractory ore to fulfil our production targets.

The acquisitions of Afanasevskaya, a licence north-west of Albyn, Ivanovskaya, a licence close to and within the same geological trend as Pioneer and two new licences at Malomir, all look very promising and one of these licences already has established Russian Category Resources. Work is currently being conducted to upgrade these into JORC estimates.

These are just a few of the highlights from our 2012 exploration programme. As detailed below, we have also received some encouraging results from elsewhere in our licence portfolio. I look forward to updating the market on our on-going exploration programme as the year progresses."

ANNUAL REVIEW OF ORE RESERVES AND MINERAL RESOURCES

Updated estimates have been prepared by the Group's technical experts in accordance with the guidelines of the JORC Code. The extensive exploration programme, metallurgical laboratory testing and technical work conducted by the Group formed the basis of these estimates. Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve statements were prepared internally by the Group following the methodology advised by independent minerals' experts Wardell Armstrong International.

A summary of the Group's gold Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources is shown below:

Note: Figures may not add up due to rounding

In line with previous estimates, the Company's Ore Reserve estimate continues to be based on gold price assumptions of US$1,200/oz for Albyn and Visokoe and US$1,000/oz for all other projects, together with the related modifying factors, such as operating costs and metallurgical recoveries as recommended previously by independent advisors, Wardell Armstrong International in 2011/12. The two different gold price assumptions are as at the date of the last general feasibility assessment for each project. All Ore Reserves are for open pit extraction and reported within economic open pit shells.

Note: Mineral Resources are reported inclusive of Ore Reserves. Figures may not add up due to rounding

In addition to the Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources estimated in accordance with JORC Code (2004), the Group holds significant alluvial gold reserves and resources estimated in accordance with the Russian Classification System. A summary of the alluvial resources and reserves is presented below:

Notes:

(1) Alluvial resources are reported inclusive of alluvial ore reserves;

(2) Ore reserves include only On-Balance material (defined as per the Russian Classification System) for open-cut and dredge extraction. Resources include the ore reserves, Off-Balance material (defined as per the Russian Classification System) for open-pit and dredge extraction as well as On-Balance and Off-Balance material considered for potential underground mining;

(3) As per the Russian Classification System, ore reserves are reported at in-situ grade and tonnage, however it has been demonstrated at the time of the estimate that the material remains economically viable after application of the reasonably assumed or estimated modifying factors such as mining dilution and recovery.

ASSET-BY-ASSET ORE RESERVES DETAILS

Notes: 

(1) All Group Ore Reserves are for open pit extraction and are reported within economical pit shells;

(2) Reserve cut off grade for the reporting varies from 0.3 to 0.55g/t Au depending on the ore processing method;

(3) Figures may not add up due to rounding.

ASSET-BY-ASSET MINERAL RESOURCES DETAILS

Notes: 

(1) Mineral Resources include Ore Reserves;

(2) The cut-off grade varies from 0.3 to 0.4g/t depending on the type of mineralisation and proposed processing method.

COMMENTS ON THE ESTIMATES

Pioneer

During 2012, exploration at the Group's flagship mine, Pioneer, resulted in the addition of c.200koz of Ore Reserves, offsetting in part the depletion of c.400koz from production.

The additions were at the following areas;

n New areas of high-grade ore where discovered in the Andreevskaya non-refractory high-grade open pit.

n A high-grade pay shoot, predominantly refractory in nature, was discovered at the Nikolaevskaya zone.

n A new zone of mineralisation, Perspektivnaya, was discovered c.3km south of Nikolaevskaya and has been included in the Inferred resource estimate. Exploration here is at an early stage and the zone remains prospective for the discovery high-grade pay shoots.

In 2012, Pioneer mined c.20% more gold than was predicted from the JORC resource models, indicating that Pioneer JORC reserves may be underestimated due to the nugget-based nature of the deposit.

Malomir

During 2012, the most significant exploration results were received from the Quartzitovoye deposit and its surrounding areas. Several new zones of mineralisation, including a zone to the west of the high-grade Ore Body No.55, were discovered in Q4 2012: as a result, interpretation of the work on these discoveries is on-going and the exploration results are only partially reflected in this statement.

Albyn

During 2012, the Group continued to have exploration success at Elginskoye, a licence area 15km from the Albyn RIP plant which was acquired by the Group in Q4 2010 as a greenfield licence. 1.2Moz of Inferred (contained in 46Mt of mineralised material) and 55,000oz of Indicated (in c. 2.1Mt of mineralised material) JORC resources were estimated at the end of 2012, only 18 months after exploration started. Preliminary metallurgical tests have indicated that mineralisation at Elginskoye is non-refractory, thus should be suitable for processing through the current RIP plant at Albyn. The mineralised zone is considered to be suitable for low-cost, open-pit mining with a low strip ratio. The Elginskoye licence area remains highly prospective for further discoveries.

Pokrovskiy

Exploration in the Pokrovskiy area resulted in additional Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves evaluated at the Pokrovka-2 deposit and, in particular, at the Zheltunak deposit. A new, mineralised zone, Yuzhnaya, was identified and explored south of the Cross zone. Further positive results were also received from the Sukhoy area to the east of Zheltunak, where grades up to 19.5g/t Au were identified in selected samples. Updated Sukhoy and Yuzhnaya Mineral Resource and Ore Estimates are included in the Pokrovskiy statement.

Approximately 19 million tonnes of Inferred Resources containing 236koz of gold from the RIP tailings were added to the JORC statement.

EXPLORATION

During 2012, the Group received encouraging exploration results which are yet to be fully reflected in the Company's Mineral Resource statement.

Pioneer

At Alkagan-Adamovskaya, exploration during 2012 identified several, previously unknown, zones of mineralisation. These include Otvalnaya, a zone located 1,500m north-west from NE Bakhmut, which is a high-grade zone mined extensively by the Group in 2011 and 2012. This new zone strikes parallel to NE Bakhmut and the high-grade Andreevskaya and Nikolaevskaya zones. Thus Group geologists believe it may be a sequential high-grade ore body, although this is yet to be proven by further drilling. Currently, Otvalnaya is intersected in three 160m-spaced drill profiles. Gold grades in the intersections vary between 1.1 and 5.2g/t with a thickness between 1.8 and 6.3m. Otvalnaya has a c.2km strike extension, which Group geologists believe contains three high-grade pay shoots. Mineralisation is expected to be amenable for low cost, open-pit mining with a relatively low strip ratio.

Also within the Alkhagan-Adamovskaya licence area, the Group's geologists received strong indications of a regional trend of gold mineralisation crossing the licence area. Group geologists expect further significant discoveries within this trend and believe these zones have the potential to significantly expand the Mineral Resource base at Pioneer.

To date three zones of gold mineralisation were identified within this trend: the newly-discovered Alexandra zone, situated 7.7km north-west of Bakhmut Zone, Shirokaya, identified 2km to the east of Alexandra, plus additional promising results 3km west of Alexandra. Alexandra has been explored by three profiles of drill holes. Significant intersections identified so far are 6.0m at 1.50g/t Au, 84.9m at 1.60g/t Au and 9.7m at 2.25g/t Au. Shirokaya was intersected by only a single drill profile (5 drill holes), which revealed a mineralised zone up to 125m in thickness with grades in selected samples up to 8.5g/t Au. Significant intersections identified so far include 4.0m at 0.9g/t Au, 11.0m at 1.3g/t Au, 5.3m at 2.1g/t Au. On the western strike extension of Alexandra, previously unknown gold mineralisation with grades of 4.9g/t to 7.1g/t Au at thickness of 0.7m to 1.2m were found. Mineralisation is oxidised to a depth of 40m where cyanide recovery is 80% to 90%. Below that depth mineralisation is refractory with cyanide leach recovery of 50% to 53%. Exploration at these areas will continue in 2013.

Pokrovskiy and Satellites

During 2012, exploration continued at Pokrovskiy and its satellite deposits.

At the Borovaya area, which lies 8km north from Pokrovskiy, a 3km long and up to 500m thick gold-bearing structure was identified, within which an 800m-long mineralised zone was explored in Q4 2012 by 160m-spaced trench profiles. The average grades of the intersections are between 0.8g/t and 2.1g/t Au with an apparent thickness of 2.5m to 29m. Exploration remains at an early stage and drill core samples are being analysed.

Additional promising exploration results include an intersection at the Daktuy prospect, which lies within the Borovaya licence area (2.13g/t Au at 5m thickness), as well as the identification of a new molybdenum-porphyry exploration target.

Taldan

The Taldan licence area is situated 150km north-west by road from Pokrovskiy. As a result of the exploration work conducted in previous years, the Group has already identified c. 340,000oz of Inferred resources within the licence area. During Q4 2012, exploration resumed at the Burinda deposit, which is situated within the Taldan licence area. A pre-strip was developed in order to facilitate the detailed exploration of the high-grade portion of the deposit which the Group's geologists expect may hold resources potentially suitable for direct shipping for treatment through the Pokrovskiy or Pioneer RIP plants. The results received to date have been very encouraging, indicating potential maiden high grade gold reserves of 30koz to 50koz of gold at a grade of 3g/t to 5g/t Au.

NEW LICENCE ACQUISITIONS

As part of the Group's strategy to expand its resource base at its core projects, during Q4 2011 and in 2012 the Group acquired through government tender four new licence areas which could potentially contain significant mineralisation suitable for processing at Malomir, Albyn or Pioneer.

Pioneer Area

In Q4 2011, the Group completed an acquisition of Ivanovskaya, a 205km2 licence area situated 65km north of Pioneer. The licence area is situated on an extended regional trend which holds the Pokrovskiy and Pioneer deposits. The area is known for its gold placer deposits, thus it is highly prospective for the discovery of hard rock gold resources. The total resource potential of the licence area has been estimated as c.3Moz (Russian Category P3 estimate).

Albyn Area

In Q4 2012, the Group acquired the Afanasevskaya licence area. The licence covers a large area north, north-west and west of the Albyn deposit, joining the Albyn and Elginskoye licence areas into a continuous exploration area.

The area is known for its several substantial placer gold deposits (now largely depleted; alluvial gold is excluded from the licence) and also for the Afanasevskaya and Uglichikanskoye hard-rock gold deposits and the Berezovskiy gold prospect.

Afanasevskaya and Uglichikanskoye were explored during the Soviet era as narrow-vein, high-grade underground mining targets. A historical (1991) resource estimate for Uglichikanskoye indicates a Russian Category C2 resource of c.600koz (of which c.300koz are high grade, at an average of 6.5g/t, and c. 300koz lower grade, at an average of 2g/t Au) and further c.300koz of Russian Category P1 prognostic resources. The Group intends to undertake further drilling and trenching within all three known targets with a view to re-evaluating them for open-pit extraction with the ore processed at the Albyn processing plant. The Group also intends to conduct general prospecting over the Afanasevskaya licence area as Group geologists believe further gold targets may be discovered. Exploration is anticipated to start in H2 2013 with the first results expected in 2014.

Malomir Area

In Q4 2012, the Group acquired two greenfield exploration licences near the Malomir mine through government auctions. Their geological settings, including their proximity to historically-mined alluvial gold deposits, have indicated the possibility of identifying additional non-refractory, as well as refractory, resources which could potentially be processed at Malomir. The Group intends to explore these areas in 2013 and 2014.

ENQUIRIES

Past performance cannot be relied on as a guide to future performance.

Forward-looking statements

This release may include statements that are, or may be deemed to be, "forward-looking statements". These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms "believes", "estimates", "plans", "projects", "anticipates", "expects", "intends", "may", "will" or "should" or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans, objectives, goals, future events or intentions. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places throughout this release and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Group's intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, the Group's results of operations, financial position, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and expectations of the industry.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to future events and circumstances. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and the development of the markets and the industry in which the Group operates may differ materially from those described in, or suggested by, any forward-looking statements contained in this release. In addition, even if the development of the markets and the industry in which the Group operates are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this release, those developments may not be indicative of developments in subsequent periods. A number of factors could cause developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements including, without limitation, general economic and business conditions, industry trends, competition, commodity prices, changes in law or regulation, currency fluctuations (including the US Dollar and Russian Rouble), the Group's ability to recover its reserves or develop new reserves, changes in its business strategy, political and economic uncertainty. Save as required by the Listing and Disclosure and Transparency Rules, the Company is under no obligation to update the information contained in this release.

Basis of reporting reserves and resources

Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve estimates for the Group's hard rock deposits are reported in accordance with the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves as prepared by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geosciences and Minerals Council of Australia ("JORC Code (2004)").

The basis for reporting reserves and resources for the Group's alluvial deposits is in accordance with the Russian Classification System, approved by the State Committee on Reserves ("GKZ") in 1965 (amended in 1981 and 2008).

The Russian Classification System is based principally on the degree of geological knowledge and the technical ability to extract a mineral reserve. Although economic considerations form a part of the justification for A, B, C1, and C2 category reserves, the system does not take into account the economic viability of extraction in the same manner as the JORC Code (2004), or other internationally recognised mineral reserves classification codes. The Russian Classification System also classifies reserves as "on-balance" if they are economically viable at the time of the estimate and "off-balance" if the economic viability is yet to be demonstrated. Licence holders must register A, B, C1, and C2 category reserves with the GKZ to be able to extract them (depending upon the structural complexity class of the deposit. Gold deposits are usually in complexity class 2, 3 or 4 which require categories C1 and/or C2 only; categories A and B are rarely recorded for such deposits).