| Wed 29 Jun 2005, 15:09 | | Aflease - Gold and uranium mining junior Aflease i |
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Aflease - Gold and uranium mining junior Aflease is back in business as an
active miner.
Aflease Gold and Uranium Resources Limited
(Formerly The Afrikander Lease Limited)
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
AFL (JSE) AFLUY (NASDAQ)
(Registration number 1921/006955/06)
ISIN: ZAE000061461 & Share Code : AFL
Gold Pour - Bonanza
Gold and uranium mining junior Aflease is back in business as an active miner.
Today the first gold was poured at the Aflease`s newly developed Bonanza South
mine near Klerksdorp, signalling a new era for the Company, which ceased gold
production at Bonanza at the end of 2003 due to the strengthening rand.
Aflease subsequently implemented its strong rand strategy of focussing on the
development of its high margin gold and uranium assets.
`We have undergone 18 months of transformation and reconstruction, a necessary
but tough process,` said Aflease CE Neal Froneman.
`From today, we can say goodbye to our status as a development company, and can
move forward once again as a mining company.`
`It would have been madness to lose money through uneconomic mining when we were
clobbered by the strong rand,` said Froneman. `Because we did not hesitate to
take the actions necessary to reposition the Company, we are now in sound shape
and can go forward as a productive miner.`
`We seem to have called the rand very well, as the timing of our 2003 closure
was in the early phases of rand strength and our commencement of production
comes in what appears to be the early phase of rand weakness.`
`Going forward, we will have a strategy of acquiring quality, shallow-level
deposits to add to our portfolio. We will be acquisitive, but we will not
overpay to acquire new resources,` he said.
Froneman recalled that Aflease had promised to bring Bonanza on line in the
second quarter of 2005 `and we have met our target.`
Aflease also has its Dominion uranium project adjacent to Bonanza, which will
benefit from the experience of successfully bringing the gold mine back into
production. The first uranium is due to be mined early in 2007.
Aflease recently announced an updated audited reserves and resources exercise,
which resulted in the reserves and resources of Bonanza being substantially
increased to 413,000 oz of reserves at Bonanza South, a 155% increase over 2003,
at an average grade of 5.5 g/t. As well as gold, Bonanza has uranium resources.
As a result of the updated data, a new mine plan is being compiled, and this
will be announced once it has been completed.
`In the past month or so, we have seen an encouraging boost in the rand gold
price, and while one can never be 100% certain of future trends, we are
confident that this is now a much more optimal environment for Bonanza to be
brought back on line,` said Froneman.
`This is the first of three high margin assets to be brought into production -
with the Dominion mine and our Modder East property being the others in our
current project pipeline. `
`While Bonanza is important, its success will not make or break Aflease. We
have a strategy of developing a focussed uranium vehicle and a portfolio of gold
assets which can be spun into a separate vehicle once it can stand on its own.`
Contact:
Neal Froneman +27 (83) 628 0226
Carol Smith +27 (11) 482 3605
28 June 2005
Date: 29/06/2005 03:07:14 PM
Produced by the JSE SENS Department
