| Mon 9 Nov 2009, 15:00 | | GBG - Great Basin Gold Limited - Great Basin Reports Financial Results For The |
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GBG
GBG
GBG - Great Basin Gold Limited - Great Basin Reports Financial Results For The
Quarter Ended September 30, 2009
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 Gold" or "the Company")
GREAT BASIN REPORTS FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2009
November 9, 2009, Vancouver, BC - Great Basin Gold Ltd. ("Great Basin" or the
"Company") (TSX: GBG; NYSE Amex: GBG; JSE: GBG) announces results for the
quarter ended September 30, 2009. Highlights include commissioning of our
newly refurbished Esmeralda Mill facility, commencement of long hole stoping
trial-mining methods at the Burnstone Project in South Africa and a CDN$110
million bought deal convertible debenture offering negotiated during the
quarter which was announced in October.
Great Basin incurred a loss of CDN$0.05 per share during the quarter as
compared to CDN$0.04 per share for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. No
revenues were recorded during the quarter because the Company elected to
retain the high-grade ore produced from its Hollister Project in Nevada, USA,
in order to treat it at its Esmeralda Mill. Pursuant to an agreement with
Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp, the Company can also process excess tonnage at Yukon-
Nevada`s Jerritt Canyon facility at a cost of US$88 per ton. Cash cost per
gold equivalent (Au eqv) ounce extracted, excluding milling costs, were 14%
lower in the third quarter at CDN$379 (US$324) per Au eqv ounce as compared to
CDN$439 (US$375) per Au eqv ounce for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. A
total of 18,232 tons of ore grading 0.99 Au eqv ounces (1) per ton or 34.1
g/t, containing 18,026 Au eqv ounces was extracted during the quarter as
compared to 18,442 tons containing 18,219 Au eqv ounces in the quarter ended
June 2009. The year to date production costs of CDN$390 (US$333) per Au eqv
ounce and CDN$439 (US$375) per ton are below budgeted costs of CDN$425
(US$363) per Au eqv ounce and CDN$515 (US$440) per ton.
At September 30, 2009, the Hollister ore stockpile contained 32,219 tons with
an estimated metal content of 27,336 Au eqv ounces.
Pre-development expenses for the Hollister property decreased from CDN$8.5
million to CDN$8.4 million, quarter on quarter. To date, an amount of CDN$79
million has been expensed relating to our Hollister operations. Underground
waste development continued with 3,247 ft (984 m) being completed, totaling
8,872 ft (2,688 m) in the year to date. Ore access development was higher at
1,104 ft (336 m) compared to 416 ft (127 m) planned.
Underground evaluation and exploration drilling for other mineralized
structures totalled 22,017 ft (6,710 m) for the quarter. Exploration expenses
for the quarter decreased to CDN$3.5 million from CDN$4.4 million in the
quarter ended June 30, 2009, of which CDN$3 million was spent on an
underground exploration program at Hollister. Follow-up drilling on the newly
discovered Gloria vein system will continue after the construction of the
Western Alimak raise for which the BLM issued a permit during October 2009.
The first phase of refurbishment and commissioning of the Esmeralda Mill was
completed in September 2009. Following the granting of a permit by the Nevada
Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP), the Company commenced Phase II
of the project, which includes installation of the Gekko float and gravity
section during the fourth quarter of 2009. An application to the NDEP to
construct a refinery on site is being prepared for submission and can only be
granted once an analysis of the milled material from the operational plant has
been completed. The approval process typically takes six months to complete
during which gold concentrate will be processed off-site.
For Burnstone, development costs of CDN$29 million were capitalized in the
quarter compared to CDN$33 million in the quarter ended June 30 2009. In the
nine months ended September 30, 2009, development costs of CDN$69 million were
capitalized as activities related to the construction of the mine
infrastructure accelerated.
Good progress continues to be made with the development of surface and
underground infrastructure at the Burnstone Project. As at September 30, 2009,
8,009 ft (2,441 m) of decline development had been completed. A total of 824
ft (251 m) of on-reef development has been completed during the quarter with
good continuity in reef exposed. The first Long Hole Stope was also accessed,
and a number of blasts taken. The Company plans to implement this higher level
of mechanized mining on a trial basis over a period of 9 to 12 months before
final evaluation. The establishment of more stopes is underway in Block B,
with activities in Block C mainly focused on reef development. At October 31,
2009, a total of approximately 29,000 tons have been accumulated on the
surface ore stockpile.
Sinking of the vertical shaft at Burnstone continued and at September 30 2009,
the shaft had reached a depth of 1,339 ft (408 m) below surface with 261 ft
(79 m) remaining to shaft bottom. The final depth of the shaft is planned at
1,598 ft (487 m). Development of 40 Level Station commenced with 131 ft (40 m)
being completed and 771 ft (235 m) remaining before shaft sinking to 41 Level
re-commences.
The refurbishment of the mills continues to be on schedule. Foundation
excavations for the metallurgical facility were completed and construction of
the mill infrastructure has commenced.
President and CEO Ferdi Dippenaar commented on the quarter "The Company
continues to make solid progress at both its gold development projects. While
the project funding facility for our Burnstone Project was approaching
finalization, we saw an opportunity to substitute unsecured convertible debt
with a competitive coupon and we were delighted to be able to capitalize on
it. The net proceeds of CDN$105 million, or CDN$121 million if the over
allotment is exercised, will be used to repay the project funding drawn down
to date and together with CDN$55 million cash on hand we have fully funded the
remaining costs to completion of the Burnstone project. With the convertible
debentures representing only 10% dilution of fully diluted capitalization and
no gold hedging required as part of this financing, Great Basin shareholders
will benefit from increased leverage to the current gold price momentum."
Johan Oelofse, Pr.Eng., FSAIMM, Chief Operating Officer of Great Basin and a
qualified person, as defined by regulatory policy, has reviewed and assumed
responsibility for the technical information contained in this release.
For additional details on Great Basin and its gold properties, please visit
the Company`s website at www.grtbasin.com or contact Investor Services:
Tsholo Serunye in South Africa 27 (0) 11 301 1800
Michael Curlook in North America 1 (888) 633 9332
Barbara Cano at Breakstone Group in the USA (646) 452 2334
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, 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 40-F filing
with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and its home
jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.
Cautionary Note regarding Non-GAAP Measurements
Cash cost per ounce produced is a not a generally accepted accounting
principles ("GAAP") based figure but rather is intended to serve as a
performance measure providing some indication of the mining and processing
efficiency and effectiveness of test mining at the Hollister project. It is
determined by dividing the relevant mining and processing costs excluding
royalties by the ounces produced in the period. There may be some variation in
the method of computation of "cash cost per ounce produced" as determined by
the Company compared with other mining companies. In this context, "ounces
produced" in-process and dore inventory along with ounces of gold sold in the
period. Cash costs per ounce produced may vary from one period to another due
to operating efficiencies, waste to ore ratios, grade of ore processed and
gold recovery rates in the period. We provide this measure to our investors to
allow them to also monitor operational efficiencies of test mining at
Hollister. As a Non-GAAP Financial Measures cash cost per ounce should not be
considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance
prepared in accordance with GAAP. There are material limitations associated
with the use of such Non-GAAP measures.
(1) Gold equivalent here, and elsewhere in this document, was calculated using
a gold price of US$800 per ounce and a silver price of US$12 per ounce
Date: 09/11/2009 15:00:02 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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