Production Update
Hambledon Mining PLC
14th January 2009
Production Update
Hambledon Mining Plc (“Hambledon” or the “Company”), the AIM listed gold
mining group operating the Sekisovskoye mine in Kazakhstan, is pleased
to report the following for the three months ended 31 December 2008
Financial
TOO Altai Ken-Bayitu, an operating subsidiary of Hambledon, has
completed a one-year working capital revolving credit facility with
Alpha Bank for 360 million tenge (approx. US$3m). A first tranche of
approximately US$0.5m has already been drawn, principally to meet the
annual payment of historic costs to the Kazakh Government. The balance
will be available when the pledged security has been registered with the
Kazakh Government but it is not currently foreseen that further
drawdowns will be required. Three-month tranches will bear interest at
16.4% per annum.
TOO Altai Ken-Bayitu is expecting to receive a further VAT refund
payment of approximately US$0.5m by the end of this month.
Production
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|
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October
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|
|
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November
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December
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Total
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|
Milled tonnage (dry tonnes)
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|
53,179
|
|
|
|
31,992
|
|
|
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46,397
|
|
131,568
|
|
Head grade (gm/t)
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|
1.26
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|
|
|
1.45
|
|
|
|
1.58
|
|
1.42
|
|
Contained gold (gm)
|
|
67,010
|
|
|
|
46,388
|
|
|
|
73,310
|
|
186,708
|
|
Contained gold (oz)
|
|
2,154
|
|
|
|
1,491
|
|
|
|
2,357
|
|
6,003
|
|
Gold recovery %
|
|
76.9%
|
|
|
|
75.3%
|
|
|
|
76.0%
|
|
76.1%
|
|
Recovered gold (oz)
|
|
1,657
|
|
|
|
1,123
|
|
|
|
1,791
|
|
4,570
|
|
|
|
Recovered silver (oz)
|
|
3,315
|
|
|
|
2,171
|
|
|
|
4,083
|
|
9,569
|
Comment:
Production during the quarter was still being affected by various
problems. Mostly, these concerned the crushing circuit, resulting in
reduced output and oversized product which in turn restricted the
performance of the ball-mills. Severe weather and a simultaneous
breakdown of the two loaders also affected throughput.
A new cone crusher, which is expected to resolve the lack of crushing
capacity, was long delayed, having been held up at the border in China.
It is now in Ust Kamenogorsk and is expected to arrive at the mine site
shortly. It will be installed later in January or early February after
the scheduled reline of the primary ball mill, so that a stockpile of
crushed ore can be accumulated beforehand. Altogether, around one week
of mill production will be lost. Thereafter, we expect the crusher to
operate above design capacity and to produce ore at the planned 12mm
size, enabling the ball mills also to operate at above their design
capacity and to produce a finer grind, thus improving recovery. We
therefore believe that the first quarter of 2009 will show a significant
improvement in mine production levels.
The ordering of equipment for underground operations continues to be
deferred pending the build up of a reasonable cash reserve.
Enquiries:
Hambledon Mining plc
Charles Zorab
+44 (0)20 7233 1462
Fairfax I.S. PLC
Ewan Leggat / Laura Littley
+44 (0)20 7598 5368