| Thu 21 Jun 2007, 15:00 | | GBG - Great Basin Gold - Completes the appointment |
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GBG
GBG
GBG - Great Basin Gold - Completes the appointment of senior management for its
Hollister and Burnstone operations
Great Basin Gold Limited
(Incorporated in Canada and registered as an External Company in South Africa)
(External Company Registration number 2006/021304/10)
Share code: GBG & ISIN: CA3901241057
("Great Basin Gold")
GREAT BASIN GOLD COMPLETES THE APPOINTMENT OF SENIOR MANAGEMENT FOR ITS
HOLLISTER AND BURNSTONE OPERATIONS
June 21, 2007 - Vancouver, BC - Great Basin Gold Ltd. (TSX: GBG; AMEX: GBN; JSE:
GBGOLD) announces appointments of a number of senior staff members at its
Hollister and Burnstone mining projects, in line with the Company`s strategy to
appoint and develop strong, focused management teams at its operations.
For the Company`s Hollister project in Nevada USA, Rich Appling will be joining
as the Project Manager, Paul Huet as Mining Manager, Brian Morris as Chief
Geologist, Steve Konieczki as Chief Engineer and Paul Wheelright as Financial
Manager.
Rich Appling will be responsible for advancement of capital projects, including
design engineering, permitting, procurement and construction-management of
infrastructure needed to initiate production and increase it to commercial
levels. He has 32 years of experience in underground hardrock mining in Idaho,
Washington, Alaska and Nevada. Rich has been the Project Manager for Hecla
Ventures over the past four years, advancing the Hollister Project from an
exploration project to an advanced development project.
Paul Huet will supervise the Hollister mining operations, mine engineering,
maintenance and surface operations. He will also be responsible for building an
operating team and completing the staffing of the Hollister mine. He has over 20
years of experience in underground mining, with a particular focus on narrow
vein mining and small mine development. Most recently he was Mine Manager at
Newmont`s Midas mine.
Steve Konieczki is responsible for surface and underground engineering,
development of the site strategic plan and associated budgets. He has more than
30 years of experience in the mining industry, having worked for companies such
as Gold Mining and Engineering Services (GMES), which he founded, BHP Copper,
and Magma Copper Company. His most recent position was at Newmont`s Midas
Operation, where since 2004 he was a Chief Engineer.
Brian Morris has more than 20 years of experience in the mining industry, having
worked at Barrick`s Goldstrike Mine, CGS Personnel, Geotemps, Hecla and with
many others. Before joining Great Basin Gold, he was employed at Newmont`s Midas
mine for almost five years. Since October 2006, he served as the District
Exploration Senior Geologist, where he was responsible for narrow vein
exploration targets in Nevada. He managed surface exploration in the Midas
district, generated statewide epithermal vein targets, developed and executed
property acquisitions and managed property farm-outs of Newmont property to
interested junior companies.
Paul Wheelright will be responsible for Accounting/ Finance Administration. He
has 14 years experience with Placer Dome in positions of Accounting Manager and
Marketing Manager. Companies that he also previously worked for include
Occidental Minerals, Stillwater Mining Company, Intrepid Mining Company and
Newmont Mining. He was most recently at Barrick`s Goldstrike Mine as a Senior
Accounting Supervisor.
These individuals join the current Hollister team that is headed up by John Haan
as the General Manager. He has over 25 years of experience in underground and
surface operations, mine development, permitting and engineering as well as
international mining expertise. Most recently, he was the Mine Operations and
Project Manager for Newmont`s Leeville Project in Nevada.
Completing the Hollister team is Scott Price as Senior Exploration Geologist. He
has over 15 years experience in mineral exploration which has included early
stage reconnaissance, property evaluation, project management, geologic and
geophysical data acquisition and compilation and experience with all types and
aspects of exploration drilling. He is managing the surface exploration program
that is currently underway on the Hollister property.
At the Company`s Burnstone mining project in South Africa, the latest
appointment is Peter Ott as Mining Manager. Peter will be responsible for
managing the operations, mine engineering, surface operations and building an
operating team. He has 28 years of mining experience, which includes mine
surveying and project management with extensive experience in shaft sinking and
exploration work. He was most recently with Fab Erect Mining and Engineering.
He joins the Burnstone team which currently is made up of the following members:
Josh Mashigo is the General Manager. He has 14 years of post graduate mining
experience. His work experience extends back to Goldfields Limited (Kloof,
Driefontein and Oryx Goldmines), as Unit Mining and Production Manager. In 2004
(as member of Pelawan shareholders), he joined Anooraq Resources as Mining
Engineer, working on feasibility and strategy studies including conceptual
mining layouts.
Mike Baynes, who joined the team in May 2007, is the Ore Reserve Manager. He has
worked in the field of geology for the last 17 years, with experience mainly
centred on the Bushveld Complex, Witwatersrand Supergroup and Archean greenstone
terrains.
Gerhard Combrink, the Business Services and Financial Manager, joined the team
in April 2007. Previously, he had worked at Anglogold Ashanti as Senior
Financial Manager and at Anglo American for 10 years.
Kenneth Mbewe is the Human Capital Manager. Prior to joining the Company, he
worked for Harmony Gold Mining Co. as a Human Resources leader for their Target
operation in the Free State. He has 10 years of mining experience, which started
at Gold Field`s Beatrix Mine in 1993.
Dudu Ratshefola is the Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at the Burnstone
project. She started her career in 1986 as a Credit Controller for various
institutions including local government. In 2005, she joined Econo-Mine as
socio-
economic development professional and her responsibilities included general
management, policy analysis, alignment of Corporate Social Investment
initiatives to sector charters and national imperatives, with specific focus in
the mining industry where she gained extensive experience in the compilation of
Social and Labour Plans for the mineral industry.
Ferdi Dippenaar, CEO and President commented "Great Basin Gold recognizes the
value and experience these individuals will bring to the respective Hollister
and Burnstone teams, which will address some of the risk associated with the
delivery of the projects. This is an investment in what we believe will be an
important component of the success of these two large projects.
The management team at Hollister comes with all the experience necessary to
successfully exploit the high grade gold and silver epithermal vein systems. The
operations are already benefiting from their skill and experience."
At Burnstone, the benefit of having the necessary skills on board to deliver
this large capital project is starting to show as we are already planning for
beyond the current bulk sampling phase to building the mine. The Burnstone
project is progressing well with approximately 800 meters of decline development
having been completed."
For additional details on Great Basin and its gold properties, please visit the
Company`s website at www.grtbasin.com or contact Investor Services at +27 (0) 11
884 1610.
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 contemplate completion of one or more strategic investments 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. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees
of future performance and there is no certainty of completion of these
transactions at the time of announcement. Hence, actual results or developments
may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements or
nay not happen at all. 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: 21/06/2007 15:00:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
