Operations
Key to the future development of the Gedabek site is our knowledge of the mineral resources and ore reserves within our contract areas. The Group’s most recent mineral resources and ore reserves estimates for the Gedabek open pit were published as of 18 September 2018. Full JORC (2012) reporting with unchanged mineral resources and ore reserves estimates was subsequently released on 14 March 2019.
The mineral resource showed a total mineral resource (at a cut-off grade of 0.3 grammes per tonne of gold) of approximately 986 thousand ounces of gold, 63.4 thousand tonnes of copper and 8,172 thousand ounces of silver. The economically mineable ore reserves are over 343,000 ounces of gold and more than 36,000 tonnes of copper, which has extended the current life of the Gedabek open pit until 2024. Table 1 shows the Gedabek open pit mineral resources estimate at 14 March 2019 and Table 2 shows the Gedabek open pit ore reserves estimate at 14 March 2019.
Table 1 – Gedabek open pit mineral resources estimate at 14 March 2019
| Gold (+ Copper) Mineral Resources (cut-off grade ≥ 0.3 g/t gold) | |||||||
| Mineral Resources | Tonnage | Gold Grade | Copper Grade | Silver Grade | Gold | Copper | Silver |
| (Mt) | (g/t) | (%) | (g/t) | (koz) | (kt) | (koz) | |
| Measured | 18.0 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 8.3 | 532 | 38.0 | 4,800 |
| Indicated | 11.1 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 5.6 | 264 | 15.7 | 2,011 |
| Measured+Indicated | 29.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 7.3 | 796 | 53.7 | 6,811 |
| Inferred | 8.5 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 5.0 | 189 | 9.7 | 1,361 |
| Total | 37.6 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 6.8 | 986 | 63.4 | 8,172 |
| Copper Mineral Resource (Additional to Gold Mineral Resource) (cut-off grade copper ≥ 0.3% and gold < 0.3 g/t) | |||||||
| Mineral Resources | Tonnage | Gold Grade | Copper Grade | Silver Grade | Gold | Copper | Silver |
| (Mt) | (g/t) | (%) | (g/t) | (koz) | (kt) | (koz) | |
| Measured | 5.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 2.1 | 21 | 26.3 | 356 |
| Indicated | 0.9 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 3 | 4.4 | 48 |
| Measured+Indicated | 6.2 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 24 | 30.7 | 404 |
| Inferred | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 1 | 1.9 | 23 |
| Total | 6.7 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 2.0 | 25 | 32.6 | 426 |
Note that due to rounding, numbers presented may not add up precisely to totals.
Table 2 – Gedabek open pit ore reserves estimate at 14 March 2019
| Ore Reserves | Tonnage | Gold Grade | Copper Grade | Silver Grade | Gold | Copper | Silver |
| (Mt) | (g/t) | (%) | (g/t) | (koz) | (kt) | (koz) | |
| Proved | 10.9 | 0.89 | 0.29 | 8.83 | 311 | 31.9 | 3,084 |
| Probable | 1.2 | 0.82 | 0.34 | 9.52 | 32 | 4.1 | 373 |
| Proved and Probable | 12.1 | 0.88 | 0.30 | 8.90 | 343 | 36.0 | 3,457 |
Note that due to rounding, numbers presented may not add up precisely to totals.
The above proved and probable ore reserves estimate is based on that portion of the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of the deposit within the scheduled mine designs that may be economically extracted, considering all “Modifying Factors” in accordance with the JORC (2012) Code.
The latest JORC (2012) mineral resources and ore reserves statements for the Ugur deposit were completed in 2017. Table 3 shows the Ugur open pit mineral resources estimate and Table 4 shows the Ugur open pit ore reserves estimate.
Table 3 – Ugur open pit mineral resources estimate at 1 August 2017
| Mineral Resources (cut-off grade ≥ 0.2 g/t gold) | Tonnage | Gold Grade | Silver Grade | Gold | Silver |
| (Mt) | (g/t) | (g/t) | (oz) | (oz) | |
| Measured | 4.12 | 1.2 | 6.3 | 164,000 | 841,000 |
| Indicated | 0.34 | 0.8 | 3.9 | 8,000 | 44,000 |
| Measured+Indicated | 4.46 | 1.2 | 6.2 | 172,000 | 884,000 |
| Inferred | 2.50 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 27,000 | 165,000 |
| Total | 6.96 | 0.9 | 4.7 | 199,000 | 1,049,000 |
Note that due to rounding, numbers presented may not add up precisely to totals.
Table 4 – Ugur open pit ore reserves estimate at 1 August 2017
| Ore Reserves | Tonnage | Gold Grade | Silver Grade | Gold | Silver |
| (Mt) | (g/t) | (g/t) | (oz) | (oz) | |
| Proved | 3.37 | 1.3 | 7.2 | 142,000 | 779,000 |
| Probable | 0.22 | 0.8 | 4.1 | 5,000 | 29,000 |
| Proved and Probable | 3.59 | 1.3 | 7.0 | 147,000 | 808,000 |
Note that due to rounding, numbers presented may not add up precisely to totals.
The above proved and probable ore reserves estimate is based on that portion of the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of the deposit within the scheduled mine designs that may be economically extracted, considering all “Modifying Factors” in accordance with the JORC (2012) Code.
In March 2019, the Group published the JORC (2012) mineral resources statement and ore reserves estimate for its Gadir underground mine. The mineral resources statement showed measured plus indicated mineral resources (at a cut-off grade of 0.5 grammes per tonne of gold) of 1,775,000 tonnes containing 145,200 ounces of gold, 736,100 ounces of silver, 3,295 tonnes of copper and 14,470 tonnes of zinc. Table 5 shows the Gadir underground mine mineral resources estimate as at 20 August 2018. Table 6 shows the Gadir underground mine ore reserves estimate as at 20 August 2018.
Table 5 – Gadir underground mine mineral resources estimate at 20 August 2018
| Mineral Resources (cut-off grade ≥ 0.5 g/t gold) | Tonnage | Gold | Silver | Copper | Zinc | ||||
| (kt) | (g/t) | (koz) | (g/t) | (koz) | (%) | (t) | (%) | (t) | |
| Measured | 540 | 3.70 | 64.2 | 17.49 | 303.6 | 0.29 | 1,566 | 1.01 | 5,454 |
| Indicated | 1,235 | 2.04 | 81.0 | 10.89 | 432.4 | 0.14 | 1,729 | 0.73 | 9,016 |
| Measured+Indicated | 1,775 | 2.54 | 145.2 | 12.90 | 736.1 | 0.21 | 3,295 | 0.84 | 14,470 |
| Inferred | 571 | 1.48 | 27.2 | 5.68 | 104.4 | 0.10 | 571 | 0.52 | 2,972 |
| Total | 2,347 | 2.29 | 172.4 | 11.14 | 840.4 | 0.19 | 3,866 | 0.78 | 17,442 |
Note that due to rounding, numbers presented may not add up precisely to totals.
Table 6 – Gadir underground mine ore reserves estimate at 20 August 2018
| Ore Reserves | Tonnage | Gold | Silver | Copper | |||
| (kt) | (g/t) | (koz) | (g/t) | (koz) | (%) | (t) | |
| Proved | 222 | 2.81 | 25 | 14.13 | 101 | 0.24 | 535 |
| Probable | 575 | 2.41 | 45 | 10.99 | 203 | 0.15 | 852 |
| Proved and Probable | 797 | 2.73 | 70 | 11.86 | 304 | 0.17 | 1,387 |
Note that due to rounding, numbers presented may not add up precisely to totals.
The above proved and probable ore reserves estimate is based on that portion of the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource of the deposit within the scheduled mine designs that may be economically extracted, considering all “Modifying Factors” in accordance with the JORC (2012) Code. Zinc was not estimated as part of this reserve as it is under study at resource level currently.