12th Mar 2008 07:00
Central Rand Gold Limited12 March 2008 EMBARGOED Not for release before 06.30 hours (GMT) Wednesday, March 12 Central Rand Gold Limited ("CRG" or the "Company") (Incorporated as a company with limited liability under the laws of Guernsey, Company Number 45108) (Incorporated as an external company with limited liability under the laws of South Africa, registration number 2007/0192231/10) ISIN: GG00B248M601 Share code on LSE: CRND Share code on JSE: CRD CENTRAL RAND GOLD LIMITED UPGRADES MINERAL RESOURCES; IDENTIFIES FIRST SURFACEMINING TARGETS HIGHLIGHTS •Upgrade of Resource Statement •Identification of first three probable mining targets •Lodgement of Environmental Impact Assessment with South African Department of Minerals and Energy Johannesburg, March 11, 2008........London and Johannesburg listed Central RandGold Limited ("CRG") has announced a 1.760 million ounce upgrade in its mineralresources and identified the first three probable surface mining targets itintends to mine when it receives its New Order Mining Right from South Africa'sDepartment of Minerals and Energy ("DME"). CRG lodged its Environmental ImpactAssessment Report on February 4, 2008, which formally initiated the 120-dayreview period for a New Order Mining Right application by the DME. Resource Upgrade The Company, which listed on the LSE and the JSE on November 8 2007, hasincreased its indicated and inferred mineral resources to 35.6 million ounces ofgold from 33.8 million ounces as at the time of the Initial Public Offering("IPO"). Of the increase, 932,000 ounces are in the indicated category, takingthis up to 22.3 million ounces from 21.4 million ounces, while 828,000 ouncesare in the inferred category, taking this total up to 13.2 million ounces from12.4 million ounces. Importantly, of the 1.760 million ounce resource upgrade, 378,000 ounces wereidentified between the surface and 70 metres below surface and some 152,000ounces between 70 and 200 metres below surface. This represents some 30% of thetotal resource upgrade. While the Company's IPO mineral resource statement had been based primarily onthe Main Reef and the Main Reef Leader sequences on the Consolidated Main Reef("CMR"), Crown Mines, City Deep, Village Main and Robinson Deep properties, theupdated mineral resource includes the Bird Reef and Kimberley Reef packages onCMR and Crown Mines properties. The updated mineral resource has been calculatedby Dr Carina Lemmer, reported in accordance with the JORC and SAMREC reportingcodes and reviewed by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants. Current Activities CRG is pleased to announce that assay results have now been received for 75% ofassays submitted to date compared to 50% when the IPO prospectus was issued latelast year. This has resulted in the Company's initial requirement for acquiringan assay laboratory unnecessary at this point in time. Over the past 17 months,CRG has undertaken a comprehensive program of 45,600 metres of diamond andreverse circulation drilling, of which over 10,000 metres has been undertaken inthe past five months. To date, five existing shafts have been accessed, made safe and re-opened forthe underground sampling program. This has commenced on East Shaft, situated onCMR and accessing slot 8, which has been re-opened down to 12 level (296 metresbelow surface) and Number 9 Shaft situated on CMR and accessing slot 7 which hasbeen re-opened down to 4 level (127 metres below surface). This program willassist in further upgrading CRG's resource base. "CRG is continuing its drilling program coupled with underground sampling acrossall nine slots with the aim of further enhancing the current gold resource basein the Central Rand Goldfield," said Greg James, Central Rand Gold's CEO. Operational and Resource Outlook Based on drilling, analytical conversion and empirical observations, the Companyhas identified the first three probable surface mining targets ("slots") forinitial mining once the Company's New Order Mining Right has been granted by theDME. This is a significant refinement of the nine slots identified at the timeof the IPO (Further details on the status and position of the slots arecontained in an appendix to this release.) "At the time of the Company's IPO, nine slots had been identified that warrantedfurther assessment for shallow mining operations. As we refine our explorationunderstanding and seek to maximize our early cash flows and prove our miningmethodology, we are now focussing on three slots to commence our mining program.These are referred to by the Company as slots 4, 8 and 9, although slots 8 and 9are in fact, part of a contiguous reef," said Mr James. As described in the SAMREC and JORC codes, in order to upgrade the Company'scurrent indicated and inferred resources in previously mined areas into themeasured resources category, ore development must be undertaken and on-reefsampling must be performed. Furthermore, the codes state that in order toconvert resources into reserves, a pre-feasibility study needs to have beencompleted and that the Modifying Factors (additional procedures anddocumentation in government, social, mining, metallurgy and environmentalspheres) as described in the codes need to be satisfied. This will only beachieved once on-reef development (trial mining) has commenced in 2009.Importantly, it must be noted that converting the Company's resources intoreserves is not a prerequisite for the commencement of mining activities. Submission of Environmental Impact Assessment Central Rand Gold submitted its comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessmentreport to the DME on February 4, 2008. This was done after a widespreadconsultative public participation process incorporating discussions andworkshops with governmental departments, local community leaders and localcommunity residents. Local community meetings were held and attended by manythousands of community residents and the Company believes that their involvementrepresents a new standard of public participation in the South African resourcessector. "We have had extremely positive responses from the vast majority of the localcommunities to CRG's mining approach and have even been able to establish adatabase of local residents interested in obtaining jobs and providing servicesto the Company once mining gets under way," said Mr James. Central Rand Gold is planning to produce at an annualised rate of 100,000 ouncesof gold by the end of 2009, at an annualised rate of 250,000 ounces by 2010 andat an annualised rate of one million ounces a year by 2012. The Company expectsto directly employ around 4,000 people at peak production. "Having interacted at length with community members and leaders, we aresatisfied that the return of commercial scale gold mining to the city ofJohannesburg will be very well received and have a positive impact on a citywhich is after all, Egoli, the city of gold," said Mr James. Ends Enquiries London: Evolution SecuritiesSimon Edwards / Neil Elliot +44 20 7071 4300 Buchanan CommunicationsBobby Morse / Robin Haddrill +44 20 7466 5000 Johannesburg: Jenni Newman Public Relations (Pty) Ltd+ 27 11 772 1033 Jenni Newman +27 82 882 [email protected] Megann Outram +27 83 320 [email protected] Appendix A map of the Slot positions on surface on Consolidated Main Reef, Langlaagte andCrown Mines prospecting areas is available on the Company's website,www.centralrandgold.com under the "Press" section where the press release isreproduced. The following tables represent the upgraded resource of 1.8 million ounces asper the press release: Slot 1 Kimberley Reefs Depth Au acc. Recoverable Mean Metal Metal Domain tons after Rec. Au Content Content Cutoff 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) (metres) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (cmg/t) (millions) Indicated 0-70m 100 2.5 0.6 1.5 51Inferred 0-70m 100 0.9 0.7 0.6 20 Slot 7 White Reef of the Bird Reef (CMR) Depth Au acc. Recoverable Mean Metal Metal Domain tons after Rec. Au Content Content Cutoff 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) (metres) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (cmg/t) (millions) Indicated 0 - 70 100 - - - - 70 - 200 200 0.4 4 1.5 50 200 - 900 350 3.1 3.7 11.5 400 900-1500 600 0.9 4.8 4.3 100 TOTAL 4.4 3.9 17.3 550 Depth Au acc. Recoverable Mean Metal Metal Domain tons after Rec. Au Content Content Cutoff 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) (metres) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (cmg/t) (millions) Inferred 0 - 70 100 1.7 3.3 5.7 200 70 - 200 200 - - - - 200 - 900 350 0.0 2.8 0.0 0.1 900-1500 600 1.7 5.1 8.8 300 TOTAL 3.4 4.1 14.5 500 Slot 4 Kimberley Reefs (CMR) Indicated Depth Au acc. Recoverable Mean Metal Metal Domain tons after Rec. Au Content Content Cutoff 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) (metres) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (cmg/t) (millions) 0 - 70 100 0.9 3.4 3.2 103 70 - 170 200 0.8 3.8 3.1 98 170 - 420 350 0.9 4.0 3.4 110 TOTAL 2.6 3.7 9.7 311 Slot 4 Kimberley Reefs (CMR) continued Inferred Depth Au acc. Recoverable Mean Metal Metal Domain tons after Rec. Au Content Content Cutoff 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) (metres) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (cmg/t) (millions) 0 - 70 100 0.1 2.4 0.1 4 70 - 170 200 0.04 3.0 0.1 4 170 - 420 350 0.5 3.9 1.9 63 TOTAL 0.6 3.7 2.1 70 Slot 5 Bird Reefs (CrownMines) Indicated Depth Au Recoverable Mean Metal Metal Domain acc. tons after Rec. Au Content Content 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) (metres) Cutoff Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (cmg/t) (millions) 200 - 900 200 0.07 4.4 0.3 10 900 - 1500 350 0.04 4.1 0.2 5 TOTAL 0.11 4.3 0.5 15 Inferred Depth Au Recoverable Mean Metal Metal Domain acc. tons after Rec. Au Content Content Cutoff 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) (metres) (cmg/t) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (millions) 200 - 900 200 0.7 4.3 2.9 90 900 - 1500 350 1.2 4.6 5.5 180 TOTAL 1.9 4.5 8.4 270 Total Recoverable Mean Metal Metal tons after Rec. Au Content Content 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (millions) Inferred 6.8 3.8 25.6 828 Indicated 9.61 3.0 29.0 932 TOTAL 16.41 3.3 54.6 1 760 The tables below demonstrate a more defined understanding of the resources inslot 8 and 9 that were included in the 33.8 million ounce resource at the timeof the Initial Public Offering. Slot 8 & Main Reef9 Indicated Depth Au Recoverable Mean Metal Metal Domain acc. tons after Rec. Au Content Content Cutoff 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) (metres) (cmg/t) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (millions) 0 - 70 100 0.5 3.5 1.5 50 70 - 200 200 0.4 3.8 1.6 50 200 - 900 350 8.7 4.7 41.5 1 300 900-1500 600 2.8 6.4 18.1 600 TOTAL 12.4 5.2 62.7 2 000 Inferred Depth Au Recoverable Mean Metal Metal Domain acc. tons after Rec. Au Content Content Cutoff 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) (metres) (cmg/t) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (millions) 0 - 70 100 0.3 3.7 1.1 30 70 - 200 200 0.3 4.6 1.2 40 200 - 900 350 0.3 5.8 1.7 50 900-1500 600 0.4 5.8 2.3 70 TOTAL 1.3 4.8 6.3 190 Slot 8 & Main Reef9 Leader Indicated Depth Au Recoverable Mean Metal Metal Domain acc. tons after Rec. Au Content Content Cutoff 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) (metres) (cmg/t) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (millions) 200 - 900 350 0.1 11.5 1.5 50 900-1500 600 1.1 13.5 15.1 500 TOTAL 1.2 13.8 16.6 550 Slot 8 & Main Reef Leader continued9 Inferred Depth Au acc. Recoverable Mean Metal Metal Domain Cutoff tons after Rec. Au Content Content (cmg/t) 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) (metres) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (millions) 200 - 900 350 0.2 13.6 3.3 100 900-1500 600 0.0 12.4 0.1 4 TOTAL 0.2 26.0 3.4 104 Total Recoverable Mean Metal Metal tons after Rec. Au Content Content 10% Geol. Grade (kg) (oz's) Loss (g/t) '000's '000's (millions) Inferred 1.5 6.4 9.7 294 Indicated 13.60 5.8 79.30 2 550 TOTAL 15.11 5.9 89.00 2 844 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Central Rand Gold