Highland Gold Mining has announced Russian-compliant reserves (C1+C2 category) of 62.1 tonnes (1.99 million oz) of gold at its Kekura project after receiving approval from the State Committee on Reserves (GKZ).
The ruling represents significant progress in mine development, facilitating the drafting of detailed project design according to Russian mining regulations.
A GKZ expert panel approved an updated TEO study inclusive of a C1+C2 category reserve calculation, which the Company submitted for review at the beginning of this year.
At a cut-off grade of 1.0 g/t, open-pit mineable C1+C2 reserves at Kekura amount to 45.6 tonnes (1.47 million oz) of gold with an average ore grade of 9.12 g/t, while C1+C2 reserves destined for underground mining are 16.5 tonnes (0.53 million oz) of gold at an average ore grade of 12.26 g/t and a cut-off grade of 2.0 g/t.
The Company expects to receive official documentation on reserve registration in the coming weeks.
Kekura is the company’s flagship development project, located in the Chukotka region in Russia’s Far East. Substantial exploration work and technical studies have already been completed at the site to date, with a view towards beginning production in 2018.
An updated independent JORC-compliant resource/reserve estimation by an international consultancy is currently underway, and final results are expected in Q3 2015.