| Tue 19 Feb 2008, 17:00 | | GBG - Great Basin - News Release - Ongoing Exploration Increases Measured & |
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GBG
GBG
GBG - Great Basin - News Release - Ongoing Exploration Increases Measured &
Indicated Resources By 41% At Great Basin Gold`s Burnstone Project
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")
Ste. 1500 Royal Centre,
1055 West Georgia Street,
PO Box 11117
Vancouver, BC Canada
V6E 4N7
Toll Free 1 800 667u2114
South Africa 27 (0) 11 884 1610
www.grtbasin.com
NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY MARKETWIRE
FOR: GREAT BASIN GOLD LTD.
TSX SYMBOL: GBG
AMEX SYMBOL: GBN
JSE SYMBOL: GBG
February 19, 2008
Ongoing Exploration Increases Measured & Indicated Resources by 41% at Great
Basin Gold`s Burnstone Project
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Feb. 19, 2008) - Great Basin Gold
Ltd. (TSX:GBG)(AMEX:GBN)(JSE:GBG) ("Great Basin Gold" or the "Company")
announces an update on the gold resources at its Burnstone Gold Project in
the Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa.
The ongoing exploration program, comprised of infill and step-out drill
holes, is designed to upgrade and expand the mineral resources in Area 1 and
Area 2 and continues to return good results. Information from 15 additional
drill holes has been incorporated into the resource model (database of 245
holes) and new mineral resources estimated, which are tabulated below.
Although the pre-diluted average grade has decreased by 16% to 6.9 g/t,
total contained gold in the measured and indicated resources has increased
by 41% to approximately 11 million ounces. At the cut-off grade of 400 cmg/t
gold (the equivalent of 4 g/t over 1 meter) highlighted below, 3.2 million
ounces of gold have been added to the total measured and indicated resources
(an increase of 41%) and approximately 2.0 million ounces have been added to
the inferred resources (an increase of 486%).
/T/
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BURNSTONE GOLD PROJECT
MINERAL RESOURCES(1) - JANUARY 2008
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Cut-off Tonnes Grade Contained Gold(2)
Category (cmg/t) (millions) (g/t) (ounces)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Measured 350 39.0 7.56 9,474,000
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400 33.8 7.80 8,484,000
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Indicated 350 15.7 4.95 2,503,000
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400 15.1 4.89 2,372,000
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Measured & 350 54.7 6.81 11,977,200
Indicated ------------------------------------------------------
400 48.9 6.90 10,856,000
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Inferred 350 18.6 4.42 2,642,000
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400 17.0 4.37 2,394,000
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Notes to table:
(1) Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have
demonstrated economic viability.
(2) Metallurgical recoveries are assumed to be 100%.
/T/
As the exploration program is continuing, further updates will be
forthcoming.
Great Basin Gold completed an optimized feasibility study on Area 1 of the
Burnstone Project in July 2007 (see Great Basin Gold News Release dated July
5, 2007). The Company is currently advancing the first of a two stage
development program designed to take the Burnstone Project to production.
The current program, involving construction of a decline and taking a bulk
sample is underway. The decline has progressed to approximately 1,430 meters
from the portal entrance and trial mining is expected to commence in the
second half of 2008.
President and CEO, Ferdi Dippenaar, said: "The objective of the drilling
program was to expand and upgrade the mineral resources of the deposit,
especially in the proximity of Area 1 and 2, which forms the base of the
current mining plan. Good results from drilling in Area 4, which is adjacent
to Area 1, could result in more ounces available for mining through the
decline and underground infrastructure currently being developed. This will
have a positive impact on the capital cost per ounce spent on the project.
Using a gold price of US$550/oz, approximately 3.5 million ounces in mineral
reserves were included in the Feasibility Study Mining Plan. With current
gold prices levels, we plan to mine more ounces from this area. An update of
the mineral reserve statement is currently underway."
The Burnstone goldfield is defined by an 18 kilometer long, northwesterly
trending mineralized corridor developed within the Kimberley Reef, one of
four main gold-bearing units in the Witwatersrand Basin. At Burnstone, the
central portion of the gold corridor has been uplifted by two northwesterly
trending sub-parallel faults and as a result, a significant portion of the
deposit areas along the trend occur at relatively shallow depths of 250-750
meters. Drilling by Great Basin Gold has also revealed that several of the
gold-bearing areas, like Areas 1 and 2 mentioned above, are continuous, but
are referenced to describe different areas of focus for the ongoing drilling
program.
The estimates were done using a geostatistical method by Deon van der
Heever, Pr.Sci.Nat., of Geologix Mineral Resource Consultants (Pty) Ltd., an
independent Qualified Person as defined by Canadian Securities Regulations
in National Instrument 43-101. The primary analytical facility for the
Burnstone Project from 2003-2005 was SGS Lakefield Research Africa (Pty)
Limited and in 2006-2007, ALS Chemex was the primary laboratory. Both
facilities are located in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Ferdi Dippenaar, President and CEO
For additional details on Great Basin Gold and its properties, please visit
the Company`s website at www.grtbasin.com.
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 Gold
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, and continued
availability of capital and financing, 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.
Information Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred
Resources
This news release also uses the terms "measured resources", "indicated
resources" and "inferred resources". The Company advises investors that
although these terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations
(under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Projects), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize
them. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the
mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves.
In addition, `inferred resources` have a great amount of uncertainty as to
their existence, and economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed
that all or any part of an Inferred Mineral Resource will ever be upgraded
to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of Inferred Mineral
Resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies,
or economic studies except for Preliminary Assessment as defined under 43-
101. Investors are cautioned not to assume that part or all of an inferred
resource exists, or is economically or legally mineable.
-30-
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Great Basin Gold Ltd. - South Africa
Tsholo Serunye
Investor Services
27 (0) 11 301-1800
OR
Great Basin Gold Ltd. - North America
Melanee Henderson
Investor Services
1-800-667-2114
Website: www.grtbasin.com
OR
Breakstone Group - USA
Barbara Cano
Investor Services
(646) 452-2334
No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information
contained in this news release.
INDUSTRY: Manufacturing and Production-Mining and Metals
SUBJECT: DRM
-0-
Date: 19/02/2008 17:00:14 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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