Norseman Gold Plc (LON:NGL), the AIM-listed and ASX-listed Australian gold producer has released the details of an updated resource statement for its Norseman Gold Project, located in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. Total resource increased by 3% between March 2009 and March 2010 to 3.8 million ounces of gold from 21 million tonnes at 5.3 g/t gold. This includes the upgrading of 160,000 ounces from the Indicated and Inferred into the Measured Resource category.

Reserves, which are included in the Resource, also increased and now stand at 0.42 million ounces from 1.7 million tonnes at 7.7 g/t gold, representing an 5% increase over the previous Reserve. In addition to this overall increase, 87,000 ounces were upgraded from the Probable into the Proven Reserve category. Of note, the new reserve statement does not contain any reserve ounces attributable to the proposed fourth mine at Norseman, the North Royal Open Pit. Of the total reserves, 330,000 ounces of gold or 80% are located within the Bullen, Harlequin and OK Declines at the project. The ounces located at the currently operating mines are split 35%, 45% and 20% for Bullen, Harlequin and OK Declines respectively.

The new resource statement is the third consecutive year that Norseman Gold has increased its resource and the second consecutive year that the company has increased its reserve for the Norseman gold project, including the replacement of the yearly depletion due to mine production. The company said it expected that the resource and reserve would continue to expand over the coming 12 months. Firstly, due to the inclusion of ounces from the North Royal Open Pit optimisation, and secondly, as the results from the drilling conducted by its four owned and operated underground diamond drill rigs are received, interpreted and included.

Norseman mine is Australia’s longest continually running gold operation, having produced in excess of 5.5 million ounces of gold since 1937. The mine was acquired from administrators in February 2007 by Davos Resources, when current chief executive Barry Cahill took the helm. In the last two years, the company’s strategy has been to expand its exploration efforts and open up new production areas on the project in order to fill capacity at its processing mill. Gold production from the project during the three months to June 30, 2010 totalled 14,469 ounces at a cash operating cost…

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

Unlock with Email
Unlock with Google

Already have an account?
Login here