Positive feasibility study
11 June 2003 - 5:30PM
UK Regulatory
RNS Number:1466M
Avocet Mining PLC
11 June 2003
Avocet Mining PLC
7th Floor 9 Berkeley Street
London W1J 8DW
Tel +44 (0) 20 7907 9000
Fax +44 (0) 20 7907 9019
E-mail avocetmining@avocet.co.uk
www.avocet.co.uk
AVOCET COMPLETES POSITIVE FEASIBILITY STUDY IN INDONESIA
Avocet Mining is pleased to announce that it has completed a positive and
bankable feasibility study at the Company's North Lanut project in Indonesia.
With an average gold recovery rate of 73%, the mine will produce about 50,000
ozs. of gold per year for five years. Pre-production capital costs are
estimated at US$11 million, including contingencies.
At a gold price of US$350/oz., and given total cash operating costs that average
US$188/oz., pre-tax financial results show a net present value of US$15 million
at a discount rate of 10% p.a., and an internal rate of return of 45%. There is
scope for improvements in these results.
The Company is now proceeding to obtain all the necessary permits that are
required to construct and operate the mine. A construction and mine management
team is being assembled and the Company has commenced discussions with various
parties on a financial package for the mine's construction and working capital
requirements.
The feasibility study has been prepared by Avocet with the support of
independent consultants and organisations, including: RSG Global (ore
resources), Knight Piesold (geotechnical, civil engineering and water quality),
Kappes Cassidy (metallurgy and plant) and the Sam Ratulangi University (social
and environment).
The North Lanut project is designed to be an open pit mine using dump leaching
for the recovery of gold. The geological resource for the Riska deposit only,
which was derived in accordance with JORC standards and assumes a cut-off grade
of 0.4 g/t, is:
Ore, Mt Au, g/t Au, '000ozs Ag, g/t Ag, '000ozs
Ore Type:
Oxide 6.81 1.2 259 5 1,015
Transition 3.53 1.8 204 5 528
Sulphide 1.37 2.0 87 4 180
Resource Type:
Measured 3.40 2.1 227 5 560
Indicated 4.55 1.4 208 5 741
Inferred 3.75 1.0 114 3 421
Total Resources 11.70 1.5 550 5 1,722
The total life of mine production scheduled from the above resources is as
follows:
Ore Au Grade Waste Strip Ratio Contained Au
(tonnes) (g/t) (tonnes) (ozs)
7,076,000 1.51 7,452,000 1.05 343,000
Avocet is a mining company listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of
the London Stock Exchange. The Company's principal activities are gold mining
and exploration in Malaysia (as 100% owner of the Penjom mine, the country's
largest gold producer), Tajikistan (as 49% owner and operator of the Zeravshan
Gold Company, Tajikistan's principal gold mine), and Indonesia (as 80% owner of
a gold project ready for development in North Sulawesi).
NOTES TO EDITORS
In 2002 Avocet completed the purchase from Newmont Mining Corporation of an 80%
interest with respect to a 6th generation Contract of Work (CoW) in Indonesia.
The CoW consisted of a 460 square mile exploration property in North Sulawesi.
From the 37 gold occurrences identified by Newmont, the Company has focused on
evaluating a gold project based on two adjacent deposits, Riska and Effendi, in
an area known as North Lanut where exploration drilling by Newmont identified a
mineral inventory of 800,000 ozs. The Company has now reduced the CoW's area of
interest to 200 square miles where the best exploration potential is believed to
exist.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
For further information please contact:
Avocet Mining PLC 4C Communications Ltd
John Catchpole (Chief Executive) Carina Corbett
Jonathan Henry (Finance Director) 020 7907 4761
020 7907 9000 020 8949 7171
www.avocet.co.uk
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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