Altyntas

Altyntas is our largest prospect with a resource of approximately 600,000 ounces of gold. Exploration and testwork is planned for Q4 2011 and 2012 to increase this resource and to prepare for development and production commencing in 2013.

 

We plan to develop Altyntas in two stages.  The first stage will be a heap leach operation to produce 40,000 ounces of gold, commencing in 2013. We then plan to build a carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing plant to commence producing 100,000 ounces of gold from 2015.

Expected cash flows from the Dalabai project will fund the development of the heap leach at Altyntas which will process the near-surface ore.  Expected cash flows from Dalabai and Altyntas heap leach production will fund the construction of the CIL plant.

 

The Altyntas prospect is hosted in a quartz stockwork style mineralisation within dyke-form intrusive bodies of diorite-porphyrites. The host sediments and dykes exhibit moderate to strong chlorite and epidote alteration. The gold mineralisation is associated with pyrite and arsenopyrite associated with quartz veining.  Selected results from drilling are presented on the drill plan below. Mineralisation remains open at depth and on both southern and northern arms of the anticlinal fold.

Selected long section of the modelled ore body.