7th Mar 2007 07:03
Centamin Egypt Limited07 March 2007 7 March 2007 Centamin Egypt Limited ("the Company") Update Regarding Proposed TSX Listing and Definitive Feasibility Study As announced in the Company's quarterly report for the three months ended 31December 2006 published on 31 January 2007, the Company plans to list on theToronto Stock Exchange ("TSX"). The Company is pleased to report that it hastoday filed a preliminary prospectus (the "Prospectus") for approval with thesecurities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces of Canada (excludingQuebec), which is available for review on the System for Electronic DocumentAnalysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) located at www.sedar.com. Offering The TSX listing to be effected through a public share offering in Canada underthe Prospectus filed with the Ontario Securities Commission (the "Offering")and, subject to applicable laws and regulation, to institutional investors inthe United States, UK and Europe. Further details of the offering will bereleased in due course. The final pricing of the Offering will be determined bythe Directors before the lodgement of the final Prospectus. At a General Meetingto be held on April 10, 2007, shareholders will be asked to approve the issuanceof shares which represent greater than 15% of the Company's ordinary securitiesoutstanding. The Company may close the offering in one or more tranches.Westwind Partners Inc. is acting as sole agent for the Offering. The proceeds are expected to be used for: * partial funding of the development of the Sukari Project; * drilling to test for extensions to resources at the Sukari Project; * regional exploration programmes; * working capital and general corporate purposes; * expenses of the Offering. The net proceeds of the Offering will not be sufficient to fully fund thedevelopment costs of the Sukari Project and Centamin has commenced discussionswith potential finance providers. Notice of General Meeting As announced today, a notice of general meeting is to be sent to the Company'sshareholders convening a General Meeting to be held on 10 April 2007 at 11.00a.m. (Australian WST) at 1st Floor, Rowing WA, The Esplanade, Mount Pleasant,Western Australia. A resolution will be proposed to shareholders to seek theirapproval to issue of up to 100 million new ordinary fully paid shares in theCompany at an issue price to be determined by the Directors being not less thana minimum issue price of the Canadian dollar equivalent of A$0.90, the Canadiandollar equivalent being calculated at the nominal noon spot rate quoted by theBank of Canada at the date on which the pricing is determined. Sukari Project Definitive Feasibility Study The information in this section is based on the technical report titled "Form43-101F1 Technical Report - Sukari Gold Project Egypt" (the "Technical Report")dated 2 March 2007 authored by Nic Johnson of Hellman & Schofield Pty Ltd, PaulNewling at Roche Process Engineering Pty Ltd, Chris Orr at George, Orr andAssociates (Australia) Pty Ltd, Dave Morgan at Knight Piesold Pty Ltd, MartinStaples of AMC Consultants Pty Ltd and Geoff Motteram of Geomett Pty Ltd, eachof whom is a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 -Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The Technical Reporthas been filed with the securities regulatory authorities in each of theprovinces of Canada other than Quebec. Portions of the following information are based on assumptions, qualificationsand procedures which are not fully described herein. Reference should be made tothe full text of the Technical Report which is available for review on theSystem for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) located atwww.sedar.com. Background In February 2007, a definitive feasibility study for development of the SukariProject was completed by Roche Process Engineering Pty Ltd ("Roche"). The DFSprovides that the capital cost to develop the project is estimated at US$216.5million (including mining fleet and contingencies but not including the leasedmining fleet). According to the DFS, the Sukari Project reserve will be mined bya single open pit over a 15-year period. During that time 78 Mt ore grading 1.5g/t is expected to be mined, containing 3.7 Moz gold. Over this 15-year miningperiod the project is expected to produce on average 200,000 oz of gold annuallyat an average cash operating cost of US$290/oz. The table below details Sukari ore reserves. +-------+-------------------+--------------------+-----------------------------+| | Proven | Probable | Total Mineral Reserve |+-------+---------+---------+---------+----------+---------+---------+---------+| | Mt | g/t | Mt | g/t | Mt | g/t | Moz |+-------+---------+---------+---------+----------+---------+---------+---------+|Total | 34.1 | 1.5 | 44.2 | 1.5 | 78.3 | 1.5 | 3.7 |+-------+---------+---------+---------+----------+---------+---------+---------+ The table below details Sukari's total mineral resource. +-------+-------------+-------------+-------------+--------+ | | Measured | Indicated | Inferred | Total | | | | | | M,I&I | +-------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-+ |cut-off| Mt | g/t | Mt | g/t | Mt | g/t | Moz | | +-------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-+ | 0.5 | 47.39| 1.40| 73.98| 1.39| 52.8| 1.7| 8.26| | +-------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-+ | 0.6 | 40.25| 1.55| 62.63| 1.54| 44.9| 1.9| 7.79| | +-------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-+ | 0.7 | 34.44| 1.70| 53.45| 1.69| 38.6| 2.1| 7.35| | +-------+------+------+------+------+------+------+------+-+ In October 2006 Centamin agreed to acquire the Kori Kollo CIL plant from asubsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation. The Kori Kollo plant is located inBolivia and was built and commissioned by Minproc Engineers in 1993. The plantoperated for ten years and on-site inspections by Centamin representatives haveshown the key plant components to be in excellent condition due to the sitealtitude providing a non-corrosive environment and the high standard ofmaintenance practices during operation. The plant is ideally suited to theSukari Project and key equipment sizing is well matched to the 4 Mtpa processingrate currently envisaged for the Sukari Project. Approximately 5 Mt of ore will be mined and 4 Mt of ore will be processedannually such that a low-grade stockpile will be developed. According to currentschedules, this stockpile will be processed after mining has ceased, extendingthe operating life of the project for a further six years. An overall schedule has been developed covering all phases of the project; keydates are listed below: Project Go-Ahead Decision Feb 2007Project Finance Q2 2007Commence Construction at Site Q3 2007Commence Tailings Storage Facility Construction Q3 2007Kori Kollo Plant Arrives in Egypt Q3 2007Commence Mining Pre-Strip Q3 2007Plant Commissioning and Production Q3 2008 The schedule assumes that all approvals are in place upon project approval.Project development, mining and processing are subject to various permitting andconsent requirements and, accordingly, the Company will process applications forpermits and consents related to land access for the seawater pipeline route,transporting, storing and using hazardous materials and other environmentalapprovals. The Company has commenced negotiations with financiers and is considering arange of funding options for the development of the project. Centamin Egypt Bishopsgate Communications Ltd Evolution SecuritiesLimited LimitedPh: + 61 (8) 9316 2640 + 44 (0) 20 7562 3350 +44 (0) 20 7071 4300Josef El-Raghy Maxine Barnes / Nick Rome Frank Moxon/Simon Edwardswww.centamin.com www.bishopsgatecommunications.com www.evosecurities.com NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION INTHE UNITED STATES The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibilityfor the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation ofan offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale or any acceptance of an offer tobuy these securities in the Selling Jurisdictions before a receipt for the finalprospectus is obtained from the securities commission or similar authority. These securities have not been, nor will they be, registered under the UnitedStates Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in theUnited States without registration or an applicable exemption from theregistration requirements of that Act. This news release does not constitute anoffer for sale of these securities in the United States. APPENDIX I - GLOSSARY OF TECHNICAL TERMS "activated carbon" a chemical used in extracting gold from the leach solution, the gold is absorbed into the porous matrix of the carbon"adsorb" to attract and retain other material on the surface; to conduct the process of adsorption"Au" is the chemical symbol for gold"CIL" carbon-in-leach; a process in which finely ground gold ore is leached with weak alkaline solutions of sodium cyanide bubbled with air or oxygen, and the slurry (pulp) has added to it tough porous carbon particles about the size of wheat grains onto which gold cyanide ions are adsorbed; following adsorption, the loaded carbon is washed and stripped of gold cyanide ions by heated stronger alkaline cyanide solutions from which metallic gold is recovered by electro-winning."concentrate" a product containing valuable metal from which most of the waste material in the ore has been eliminated."cyanide" sodium cyanide (NaCN)."EPCM" engineering, procurement and construction management."feasibility study" a comprehensive study of a deposit in which all geological, engineering, operating, economic and other relevant factors are considered in sufficient detail that it could reasonably serve as the basis for a final decision by a financial institution to finance the development of the deposit for mineral production."float tail" those mineral particles that sink during the process of flotation"flotation" a milling process by which some mineral particles are induced to become attached to bubbles of froth and float, and others to sink, so that the valuable minerals are concentrated and separated from the remaining rock or mineral material"grade" the amount of mineral in each tonne of ore."leach" to dissolve minerals or metals out of ore with chemicals."open pit" mine workings for ores open to the surface, a pit; like a quarry for stone "strip ratio" the ratio of waste that needs to be mined to obtain a unit of ore, usually expressed as tonnes of waste to tones of ore"sulphide" a mineral compound in which one or more metals are found in combination with sulfur "tailings" refers to finely ground effluent rock waste from ore treatment plant, in aqueous suspension as it leaves the plant; pumped to large containments where treatment water is recovered, and the tailings dry out Abbreviations"m" meter"km" Kilometre"t" metric tonne (1000 kg)"Mt" million metric tones"g/t" gramme / metric tonne"g" gramme"kg" kilogramme"oz" troy ounce (used for precious metals)"Moz" million Troy ounces"MW" megawatts Conversion"1 ounce Troy" 31.103477 g This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Centamin PLC