Serabi Gold plc (AIM: SRB) (TSX: SBI), the Brazilian focused gold
mining and exploration company, advises that at 4.00 pm today (UK
time), it will be holding its Annual General Meeting.
The following is the text of the statement that will be made by
Mr. Michael Hodgson the Chief Executive of the Company. Highlights
of the statement are:
- Mine development activities are continuing on schedule and a
small ore stock pile is being established on surface
- The first new mine equipment has arrived in Brazil and is due
to be commissioned during July 2013, with the remaining items
expected to be operational during August 2013
- Rehabilitation and building of the process plant is continuing
and plant commissioning remains on schedule for the latter part of
the fourth quarter, 2013
- The acquisition of Kenai Resources Limited is progressing with
the Kenai shareholder meeting scheduled for 5 July 2013
- Exploration drilling targeted at improving the quality and
expanding the size of the resource estimate is underway together
with testing of other known mineralized structures at the Sao Chico
property
Chief Executive's Statement "At this time
last year, the Company had just issued the results of the
Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on re-establishing gold
production at Palito. This study undertaken by NCL Ingenieria y
Construccion SA ("NCL") produced extremely encouraging results and
convinced the Directors of the viability of a small scale, 90,000
tpa operation using selective mining techniques.
The interim loan facility provided by Fratelli Investments
Limited in October 2012 allowed the Company to start work on the
initial works at site and to embark on building the team that would
be involved in and responsible for developing the Palito Mine. The
completion of the UK£ 16.2 million share issue in January 2013
secured the funding required to see the project through to the
planned commissioning during the latter part of the fourth quarter
of 2013.
De-watering of the Palito mine, the first key milestone was
completed around the end of January 2013 approximately two months
ahead of schedule and the first contract mining personnel arrived
on site in the latter part of February 2013. Work in the mine since
then has comprised of the re-installation of mine services,
development of some remnant areas from the previous operation that
had not been considered in the PEA and development of access
galleries towards the Palito West area of the mine.
We have established an ore stock pile of some 2,000 tonnes on
surface and our plan remains to establish an ore stockpile of some
15,000 tonnes over the coming months. This objective will be
greatly facilitated by the arrival on site of additional new mining
equipment including one underground loader and two underground
drilling rigs which have arrived in Brazil this month. They are
scheduled to be released from customs, delivered to site and
commissioned by the manufacturer before the middle of July. Two
further loaders are scheduled to be delivered and commissioned
during August.
Rehabilitation of the process plant commenced during January
with the initial focus being on the crushing and milling and
flotation section whilst detailed third party engineering studies
were being conducted on the cyanidation and gold winning
sections.
The primary crushing section is now 75 per cent complete, whilst
the milling section has been dismantled and the construction of new
feed silos is well underway along with the construction of new
foundation and mountings for the mill itself. The flotation
building has also been refurbished and new tanks are under
construction and we remain confident that plant commissioning will
start during the fourth quarter in line with original
forecasts.
The PEA only ever considered the previously declared mineral
resource estimates for the Palito gold mine itself and did not
contemplate processing of ore from any additional resources that
could be developed from the three discoveries of Palito South,
Currutela and Piaui, which could, in time, provide incremental
production.
The proposed acquisition of Kenai Resources Limited ("Kenai")
and its Sao Chico project, whilst still yet to complete, brings an
additional and more advanced gold project to the portfolio. The Sao
Chico project, whilst currently quite small, is a very high grade
deposit which currently comprises a total 96,000 ounce gold deposit
with a Measured and Indicated Resource of approximately 25,000
ounces and an Inferred Resource of approximately 71,000 ounces.
We have contracted two drilling rigs to undertake some
additional drilling work with the intention of:
(1) increasing the resource (2) converting Inferred Resources to
the Measured and Indicated category and (3) testing a number of
other mineralized areas on the property which have not previously
been drill tested.
Located less than 30 kilometres by existing road from Palito, we
believe that Sao Chico is a unique opportunity to fast-track a
second satellite mine to augment the planned 24,000 ounce per annum
production from Palito.
Whilst an operating licence has been issued together with a
trial mining licence for the property, our intention is to submit
to the relevant authorities a Final Exploration Report ("FER") at
the end of 2013, which is the first stage in the process of
securing a full mining licence. The FER will be required in order
to be able to raise debt finance for the development of the
project.
The initial approval of the court in Vancouver to approve the
acquisition of Kenai was granted on 3 June 2013. The Information
Circular relating to the transaction and giving formal notice of
the meeting of Kenai's shareholders was posted earlier this month
and the meeting of will be held on 5 July 2013.
Assuming that Kenai's shareholders approve the transaction, a
final hearing with the court in Vancouver is set for 10 July 2013
which, if approved, would allow for completion to occur on 11 July
2013. We are not currently aware of any circumstances indicating
the transaction would not be completed and we have undertakings to
vote in favour of the transaction from holders accounting for
approximately 27 per cent of the shares.
Sao Chico is an exciting opportunity for the Company, and is in
keeping with our objective of building incremental production
through the development of high quality deposits with low start-up
capital requirements.
Whilst Sao Chico will represent a separate mining operation the
skills required are identical to those at Palito, whilst given the
high in-situ grades of over 25g/t, it provides the opportunity to
add incremental ounces treating relative low volumes of ore. This
should result in a relatively low cost incremental expansion of the
process plant which can be incorporated into the design work for
the current plant remediation programme.
The next year or so promises to be an exciting time for the
Company. We expect to see revenue being generated from early in
2014 and will look to use positive cash flow for the continued
development of our other projects.
Results of the current programme and progress on securing the
full mining licence will be considerations in determining the
activity at Sao Chico during 2014 and I would expect that we will
in keeping with previously announced plans be looking to deploy
surplus cash flow into the development of the Currutela, Palito
South and Piaui discoveries as well as the outstanding potential at
Sao Chico."
Mike Hodgson Chief Executive, Serabi
Gold
Copies of this release are available from the Company's website
at www.serabimining.com
Forward-looking statements This press
release contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other
than of historical fact, that address activities, events or
developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will
or may occur in the future (including, without limitation,
statements regarding the estimation of mineral resources,
exploration results, potential mineralization, potential mineral
resources and mineral reserves) are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are often identifiable by the use of
words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", may", "could",
"would", "might" or "will", "estimates", "expect", "intend",
"budget", "scheduled", "forecasts" and similar expressions or
variations (including negative variations) of such words and
phrases. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of
risks and uncertainties, that may cause actual results or events to
differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking
statements. Factors that could cause actual results or events to
differ materially from current expectations include, among other
things, without limitation, failure to establish estimated mineral
resources, the possibility that future exploration results will not
be consistent with the Company's expectations, the price of gold
and other risks identified in the Company's most recent annual
information form filed with the Canadian securities regulatory
authorities on SEDAR.com. Any forward-looking statement speaks only
as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required
by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or
obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
Qualified Persons Statement The
information contained within this announcement has been reviewed
and verified by Michael Hodgson, CEO of the Company. Mr Hodgson is
an Economic Geologist by training with over 25 years' experience in
the mining industry. He holds a BSc (Hons) Geology, University of
London, a MSc Mining Geology, University of Leicester and is a
Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining and a
Chartered Engineer of the Engineering Council of UK, recognizing
him as both a Qualified Person for the purposes of Canadian
National Instrument 43-101 and by the AIM Guidance Note on Mining
and Oil & Gas Companies dated June 2009.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Procedures Disclosure
The Company has implemented and maintains a Serabi quality
assurance/quality control (QA/QC) protocol at its JDO Project as
defined in its "NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Jardim Do Ouro
Project, Para State, Brazil" dated 22 December 2010. This ensures
best industry practice in sampling and analysis of exploration and
resource definition samples. The insertion of field duplicates,
certified standards and blank samples into the sample stream form
part of the Serabi procedure (these act as an independent check on
contamination, precision and accuracy in the analytical
laboratory).
Assay results are reported once rigorous QAQC procedures have
been approved
Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange, nor any other securities
regulatory authority, has approved or disapproved of the contents
of this news release.
ENDS
Enquiries: Serabi Gold plc Michael Hodgson Chief
Executive Tel: +44 (0)20 7246 6830 Mobile: +44 (0)7799 473621
Clive Line Finance Director Tel: +44 (0)20 7246 6830 Mobile: +44
(0)7710 151692 Email: contact@serabigold.com Website:
www.serabigold.com Beaumont Cornish Limited Nominated
Adviser Roland Cornish Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 3396 Michael
Cornish Tel: +44 (0)20 7628 3396 Peel Hunt LLP Joint UK
Broker Matthew Armitt Tel: +44 (0)20 7418 9000 Andy Crossley Tel:
+44 (0)20 7418 9000 Fox Davies Capital Ltd Joint UK Broker
Jonathan Evans Tel: +44 (0)20 3463 5010 Blythe Weigh
Communications Ltd Public Relations Tim Blythe Tel: +44 (0)20 7138
3204 Mobile: +44 7816 924626 Rob Kellner Tel: +44 (0)20 7138 3204
Mobile: +44 7800 554377
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