| Tue 15 May 2007, 15:49 | | GBG - Great Basin Gold Limited -Initiates quarterl |
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GBG
GBG
GBG - Great Basin Gold Limited -Initiates quarterly reporting on its Development
Projects
GREAT BASIN GOLD LIMITED
(INCORPORATED IN CANADA AND REGISTERED AS AN EXTERNAL COMPANY IN SOUTH AFRICA)
(REGISTRATION NO. 2006/021304/10)
SHARE CODE: GBG & ISIN NUMBER: CA3901241057
("GREAT BASIN" OR "THE COMPANY")
GREAT BASIN GOLD INITIATES QUARTERLY REPORTING
ON ITS DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
May 15, 2007, Vancouver, BC - Great Basin Gold Ltd. ("Great Basin" or the
"Company") (TSX: GBG; AMEX: GBN; JSE: GBGOLD) announces results for the first
quarter of fiscal 2007.
Great Basin Gold does not yet produce gold and, therefore, expenditure is mainly
of a capital nature and directed at the construction of its growth projects. The
Company incurred a loss of CAD$6.7 million before tax for the quarter ending
March 31, 2007. Expenditures were mainly related to development activities at
the Burnstone and Hollister projects, with operational and exploration costs of
CAD$5.1 million. CAD$3.0 million was spent at Burnstone and CAD$2.1 million at
Hollister. Operational and exploration expenditures increased from CAD$4.1
million in the fourth quarter of 2006.
The Company has made good progress on the development of the decline at its
Burnstone project in South Africa. As at 8th May 2007, the decline had
progressed to 663 metres from the portal entrance. Approximately 2,400 metres of
development is required to set up for the cross cut to the Kimberley Reef, which
hosts the mineralization. Additional equipment has been ordered and preparations
are being made to bore a raise to serve as a short ventilation shaft.
The in-fill exploration drilling program at Burnstone is nearly finished, and
the results will be included in a revised mining plan which will be completed by
the end of the current quarter.
At Hollister, the increased expenditures were made related to the Stage II
development of the project. This involved the continuation of the underground
drilling program and studies, such as the estimate to assess the potential
measured and indicated resources, related to preparation of the feasibility
study, which is due at the end of June 2007. As at 8th May 2007, approximately
15,000 feet of a newly announced 40,000 feet underground drilling program had
been completed. Excellent results have been achieved so far (News Release of May
8 2007), and assays will continue to be made available on an ongoing basis.
During April, the Hollister project had its first 5,000 ton underground bulk
sample treated at Newmont`s No 6 Mill, producing 2,090 ounces of gold and 24,050
ounces of silver. The metallurgical results, which were published (News Release
of May 1 2007), have been encouraging and in line with expectations. Good
progress is being made with underground drifting and an additional 1,500 tons
have been accumulated on the surface stockpile. The focus of the trial mining is
to determine the ideal mining method to extract the narrower veins, which make
up approximately 50% of the mineralization within the resource area. Management
is confident that dilution will be adequately managed to ensure optimal
extraction and profitability.
The Company continued to enhance its management team at Hollister with the
appointment of both John Haan (formerly with Newmont which has a number of
operations in Nevada) as General Manager and Paul Huet (who formerly worked at
the nearby Midas Mine in Nevada) as Mine Manager. Further appointments will be
made to the management team during the current quarter.
Ferdi Dippenaar, CEO commented "Following the successful financing completed on
19th April 2007, the Company now has a strong balance sheet to deliver its
growth projects. It`s a great position to be in. We have sufficient cash
resources to cover the capital expenditure requirements for Hollister Project
and the partial funding of the development of a mine at Burnstone. However, if
the current gold price environment continues and the Company`s schedule for
Hollister is met, we believe that the Company`s cash flows from Hollister will
be more than adequate to cover any shortfall."
For additional details on Great Basin and its gold properties, please visit the
Company`s website at www.greatbasingold.com or contact Investor Services at
(604) 684-6365 or within North America at 1-800-667-2114.
Ferdi Dippenaar
President and CEO
No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in
this news release.
Cautionary and Forward Looking Statement Information
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking
statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical
facts, that address possible future commercial production, reserve potential,
exploration drilling results, development, feasibility or exploitation
activities and events or developments that Great Basin expects to occur are
forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations
expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable
assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual
results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking
statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and
exploration successes, effect of and changes to government policies regarding
mining and natural resource exploration and exploitation, availability of
capital and financing, geopolitical uncertainty and political and economic
instability, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are
cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and
those actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected
in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company,
Investors should review the Company`s annual Form 20-F filing with the United
States Securities and Exchange Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that
are available at www.sedar.com.
Date: 15/05/2007 15:49:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
