Altyntas

In October 2012, Central Asia entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with ASX‐listed gold explorer Manas Resources to develop our 95%‐owned Altyntas Gold Project.   The project covers the Altyntas, Kepken and Kengir gold prospects in the Akbakai region of central Kazakhstan, Central Asia.

Under the terms of the joint venture, Manas Resources has the right to earn up to 70% in Central Asia’s Altyntas Gold Project through the expenditure of A$2M on exploration and mine development.

Manas will be the manager of the JV and has committed $0.5M to test previous drilling with a 4,000m reverse circulation (RC) drilling program. A decision to commit to the remaining $1.5M will be made following evaluation of preliminary results.

Manas has a technically-proficient, bilingual exploration team located in the Kyrgyz Republic’s capital Bishkek – only three hours by road from Central Asia's head office in Almaty, which will be of great benefit to Central Asia.

The exploration program at Altyntas will focus on delivering ore to the operating 1.5 million tonne per annum Akbakai gold mine, owned by Kazakhstan gold producer JSC AK AltynAlmas. Central Asia has a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in place to treat ore at Akbakai’s modern plant, located approximately 25kms from the Altyntas deposit. Altyntas has the potential to provide a low-cost, near-term production opportunity via toll treating within the next 12 months.

The MOU envisages a toll treatment agreement for the processing of ore from Altyntas, Kengir and Kepken deposits in Kazakhstan at Altynalmas' nearby Akbakai plant.