13th Feb 2008 09:44
Allied Gold Limited13 February 2008 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 13 February 2008 ALLIED GOLD LIMITED First Gold Pour at Simberi Allied Gold Limited (Allied Gold) advises that the first gold pour at its 100%owned Simberi Gold Project has taken place. The Simberi Gold Project is located in the New Ireland Province of eastern PapuaNew Guinea on an island some 60 kilometres north-west of the Lihir Gold Project,which hosts a 40 million ounce gold resource. The standard Carbon-in-Leach (CIL)processing plant has been progressively commissioned over the past six weeks andis due to reach its full design throughput of 2.2 million tonnes per annum bythe end of March 2008. Simberi is scheduled to produce an average of 84,000 ounces of gold per yearover a mine life of at least eight years. Thus far there have been several goldbars poured with a total of 2,392 ounces of gold produced. Metallurgicalrecovery rates are meeting budget estimates and initial head gradereconciliation data suggests that there is potential for grade outperformance. Allied Gold Executive Chairman Mark Caruso said that this was a momentousoccasion for the Company and its shareholders, and was a result of a dedicatedteam effort in what is a challenging environment for construction of majormining projects. "We are proud of our effort to commission a significant gold mining operation,against a backdrop of labour shortages and input price pressures " Mr Carusosaid. The team at Allied Gold is now focussing on continuing to add shareholder valueby exploring for more gold on Simberi Island and commencing drill testing of thenumerous targets identified on the nearby Tatau and Big Tabar islands. In parallel with this intensive exploration effort, engineering is already welladvanced on plans to expand production at Simberi by around 60 percent to135,000 ounces per annum. A copy of this announcement has been released on the ASX and can be viewed on the Company's website www.alliedgold.com.au or as a link to this announcement: http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/8891n_-2008-2-13.pdf Contact: Mark Caruso, Executive Chairman, Allied Gold Limited + 61 8 9353 3638 Roland Cornish, Beaumont Cornish Limite + 44 207 628 3396 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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