Amsterdam, June 20, 2013 - Nord Gold N.V. (“Nordgold” or “the Company”, LSE: NORD) is pleased to announce it has received a gold and silver mining licence for its Gross project in Yakutia, in Northern Russia. The deposit has been explored and developed to date under an exploration licence process. The award of the mining licence enables Nordgold to progress with the development of the mine.
Gross is Nordgold’s newest development asset. First ore from the deposit is expected to be treated towards the end of 2013, in a trial project. At full production, the open-pit operation will be mining approximately 12 million tonnes of ore per year and producing over 150 koz per year. Gross is an all-season heap leach operation. Full production run rate is expected to be reached by 2016.
Nordgold has conducted an extensive exploration programme to identify the deposit and its reserves. Proven and probable gold reserves at Gross, as at January 1, 2013, were 3.6 Moz (up 10% from the previous estimate), while measured and indicated resources increased by 16%, to 4.5 Moz and inferred resources were estimated at 8.8 Moz (up 25%).
The Gross pre-feasibility study was completed at the end of 2012 confirming the economic attractiveness of the project. Nordgold is currently conducting a further study to optimise the project parameters with the aim of maximising the return on investment. Nordgold expects to publish the reviewed parameters by the end of the year.
The Gross deposit is located 4 km from Nordgold’s existing Neryungri mine in Russia, enabling the Company to benefit from economies of scale, an expert knowledge of the local geology and shared expertise from Neryungri’s management team.
The progression of the Gross project follows the successful launch of the Bissa project in Burkina Faso in January 2013. At its Q1 2013 results in April, Nordgold confirmed the ramp up of Bissa had been faster than previously expected and the asset achieved production of 40.4 koz in the first quarter.
“Receipt of this mining licence is an important milestone in the development of the Gross project. Gross will become one of the few realised greenfield projects in recent years in the gold mining industry in Russia. We expect production at Gross to make a significant contribution to our annual gold production, and again demonstrate the ability of the Company to successfully deliver on expansion projects and provide profitable organic growth for the benefit of our shareholders.” Nikolai ZelenskiChief Executive Officer of Nordgold
