TIDMHMB
Hambledon Mining Plc
("Hambledon" or "the Company")
Activities Report for the Quarter Ended 31 March 2011
Hambledon Mining plc (AIM: HMB), the Kazakhstan gold mining and
development company, today provides its operational report for the
three months from 1 January 2011 to 31 March 2011. A copy of this
announcement will be available on the Company's website,
www.hambledon-mining.com
Q1 OPERATIONAL & CORPORATE OVERVIEW
Open Pit Production
-- Year-on-year quarterly recoverable gold increased by 72.5%
-- Production levels in line with management expectations
-- Successful completion of Phase 1 winterisation programme and equipment
upgrade
Underground Development
-- First gold extraction from underground remains on target to start
before the end of 2011
Underground Exploration
-- First eight drill hole results received from planned 18 month
underground drill campaign of approximately 25,000 metres
Fundraising
-- GBP9.09 million (GBP8.6 million net of expenses) raised through placing
and open offer in March
Tim Daffern, Chief Executive Officer of Hambledon, commented
today: "We are delighted to have achieved so much, both
operationally and corporately, during our most challenging quarter
of the year. In spite of some severe weather conditions, production
levels increased by over 70% from this time last year, and we are
confident that the plant upgrades completed during this quarter
will serve the Company well in the months ahead. Underground
extraction remains on course for the end of 2011 and significant
progress was made, both with the drill bit, and with necessary
studies to ensure low cost production underground. Finally, on
behalf of the Board, I would like to welcome those shareholders
that invested in the Company in March as part of the placing and
open offer as well as to thank our existing shareholders for their
continued support of Hambledon."
Production figures for the three months from 1 January - 31
March 2011:
January February March Total
Milled tonnes (dry) 26,111 53,834 63,662 141,317
Gold grade (g/t) 1.26 1.18 1.11 1.16
Contained gold (gms) 32,465 63,807 67,644 163,916
Contained gold (oz) 1,043 2,051 2,174 5,268
Gold recovery % 85.7 78.9 88.1 84.0
Recovered gold (oz) 931 1,594 1,924 4,449
Recovered silver (oz) 1,800 2,474 3,236 7,510
PROCESSING FROM OPEN PIT
The first quarter of 2011 was a considerable improvement on the
first quarter in 2010, with gold output approximately 70% higher.
The Sekisovskoye mining operation and the metallurgical plant
achieved notable levels of production in line with budgeted
expectations. Mining activities were primarily from the main open
pit, with modest amounts of ore extracted from the north pit.
Although the weather was severe, especially in January, Phase 1 of
the winterisation programme and newly installed equipment, along
with a revised maintenance strategy helped to mitigate some of its
effects.
A component of the revised maintenance strategy was to shut the
process plant down for a set period in January to replace key
crushing and screening equipment, when daily temperatures that were
below minus 40°C had necessitated suspension of normal
operations.
UNDERGROUND
The decline to access the underground deposit advanced according
to plan during the quarter with no safety incidents. The
development of the underground project remains on target for
extraction commencing in Q4, 2011.
Equipment purchases commenced with a Load Haul Dump loading unit
being ordered from Aramine in France. Detailed discussions with two
short listed vendors for a five year plant, machinery and
maintenance agreement are well advanced. Hambledon intends to
maximise the use of the existing contractor for construction work
and develop the ore extraction by the use of its own fleet and
employees. Recruitment of staff commenced in Q1 2011, with the
underground workforce supporting the resource delineation
programme, and installing ventilation equipment and installing
electrical reticulation.
The '320 shaft' surface buildings have been completed and are
facilitating a 24 hour operation with attendant maintenance and
medical staff.
Detailed engineering studies for the expanded underground
project have commenced with engineers from Golders Associates
visiting the site. Benchmarking studies of other Kazakhstan mines,
life of mine planning and integrated waste planning studies will
underpin an efficient mine design.
DRILLING
As part of Hambledon's 18 month drill programme, the first eight
holes of the most recent underground drilling of over 1700m were
announced on 30 March 2011 resulting in significant high grade gold
mineralisation with average in-situ grades between 5-6 g/t of gold
and 6-7 g/t of silver. The results were better than expected with
an expansion of resources from ore body number eight by over 20%.
These drill holes support and validate the current JORC resource.
There is a substantial amount of drilling still to do and the
results will be announced in due course.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The construction of Tailings Impoundment No. 3 is well advanced
with completion scheduled for Q3. The design for Impoundment No. 4
which will cater for the new 'paste' waste deposition is complete
and construction will commence later in Q3. The revised integrated
waste scheme with paste deposition is being designed by Golders
Pastec Europe.
GBM Minerals Engineering Consultants Ltd, London have completed
their initial 3-week work plan, focusing on the development of the
mineral processing plant and infrastructure as set out in the
circular detailing the placing and open offer.
FUNDRAISING
In March, the Company raised a total of GBP8.6m net of expenses
by way of a placing and open offer. These funds will enable
Hambledon to carry out essential work which will result in
operational cost savings to the Company. Some of this work has
already commenced and is expected to be completed over the next 18
months. The fundraising was approved at an Extraordinary General
Meeting of the Company held on 30 March 2011.
For further information please contact:
HAMBLEDON MINING: Telephone +44 (0)207 233 1462Charles Zorab
FAIRFAX I.S. PLC (NOMAD AND JOINT BROKER): Telephone +44 (0)207
598 5368Ewan Leggat/Katy Birkin
AMBRIAN PARTNERS LTD (JOINT BROKER): Telephone +44 (0)207 634
4700Mark Wellesley-Wood/Samantha Harrison/Jen Boorer
TAVISTOCK COMMUNICATIONS: Telephone +44 (0)207 920 3150Ed
Portman/Jos Simson
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