Construction Update
29 June 2006 - 5:03PM
RNS Non-Regulatory
GMA Resources PLC
29 June 2006
28 June 2006 AIM: GMA
GMA Resources Plc
CONSTRUCTION UPDATE
GMA Resources Plc ("GMA" or "the Company") is pleased to announce an update with
regards to the construction of the Tirek / Amesmessa Gold Project ("Tirek /
Amesmessa" or "the Project") in Algeria. GMA owns 52% of ENOR spa ("ENOR"), the
Algerian operating company for Tirek / Amesmessa, with the remainder owned by
Sonatrach, the Algerian state-owned oil and gas company.
Major Equipment:
All preparations for the delivery of the major equipment for Tirek / Amesmessa
are well underway with orders currently in process. Equipment selection has
been made with a view to acquiring modular, mobile equipment which will give
mine management the flexibility to relocate machinery to new areas of the
Project at a low cost, in order to respond to new sources of mineable ore as
they are discovered.
GMA has signed a comprehensive maintenance and service agreement with
Caterpillar for the provision of this equipment. This contract will ensure that
supplies and spares parts are offered to GMA at no cost for the period of one
year, and will provide for two Caterpillar technicians to be on site on rotation
four weeks on and fours weeks off for a period of 24 months. It will also
ensure full training at the mine site of ENOR personnel on the operation of each
type of equipment, as well as training of the ENOR mechanics on the maintenance
of the equipment going forward.
Processing Plant:
Summit Valley Equipment & Engineering Inc. of Utah, USA has been selected as a
supplier of the carbon adsorption, carbon regeneration and acid wash systems, as
well as the electrowinning circuit and equipment for carbon handling and gold
refining, whilst Roc-Impact of France has been selected as a supplier for the
crushing and agglomeration equipment. Both companies have confirmed that their
equipment is expected to become available for shipping to Algeria in mid
November 2006.
Assay Laboratory
Unit Electrical Engineering Ltd of British Columbia, Canada will supply a fully
equipped modular assay laboratory, again with quoted availability for shipping
in mid November 2006.
Pipeline
A pipeline will be built to supply process water from the Tanzerouft well,
approximately 45 km from the existing Tirek Mine. The Tirek Mine is located
some 60km north of the Amesmessa site, which is in the extreme south of the
exploitation permit area. The pipe will be supplied by AB Alvenius of Sweden
and shipments from Alvenius' factory should begin in mid October, with the final
shipments to be made in mid December 2006.
Tirek Mine - Ball Mill
With regards to the expansion of gold production at the existing Tirek Mine, GMA
is pushing ahead with the objective to more than double existing processing
capacity. A new ball mill for the Tirek Mine processing plant has been
purchased from New Concepts Projects of South Africa. This is a 9ft x13ft,
525kW ball mill purchased from an existing mine and will be completely
refurbished. The ball mill is currently in Perth, Australia, where engineering
assessment is under way to evaluate the work required to bring the ball mill to
a fully refurbished state. Delivery of this to site is expected in November
2006.
Douglas Perkins, CEO of GMA, commented:
"As announced in our recent final results, ENOR Spa is now firmly in
construction mode at Amesmessa and this update demonstrates that all aspects are
moving forward apace."
Enquiries:
Douglas Perkins
GMA Resources
+44 (0)20 7253 7670
Grant Thornton
Philip Secrett
+44 (0)20 7383 5100
Parkgreen Communications
Cathy Malins / Annabel Leather
+44 (0)20 7493 3713
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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