Great Basin Gold Ltd. ("Great Basin Gold" or the "Company") (TSX:
GBG)(AMEX: GBN)(JSE: GBG) announces that the agreement it entered into
on February 14, 2008 to acquire the remaining 63% of the fully diluted
equity shares of Rusaf Gold Limited ("Rusaf"), for a total
consideration of $14.4 million payable in approximately 4.9 million
Great Basin Gold common shares ("the acquisition"), has been
successfully closed. The exchange ratio for the acquisition was one
Great Basin Gold share for every 4.5 Rusaf shares.
The acquisition terms also provide for additional Great Basin Gold
shares to be issued in the first three years from closing, contingent
upon gold discoveries above a threshold of 500,000 ounces in size on
certain mineral prospects formerly held by Rusaf. In the event of such
discoveries, Great Basin Gold will issue shares valued at the higher of
the current or then-prevailing market price to the former Rusaf
shareholders on the basis of valuing these gold ounces at US$15/oz for
inferred resources and US$40/oz for measured and indicated resources
(subject to a minimum average cut-off grade of 1.5 grams per tonne or
0.04 oz per ton). The Company has also agreed to spend a minimum of $7
million and up to a maximum of $19 million to explore the newly
acquired properties during this period, depending on independent advice
as to the likelihood of exploration success.
Ferdi Dippenaar, President and CEO, commented: "We are pleased to
have completed the regulatory process and are busy integrating these
assets within Great Basin Gold's pipeline of exploration projects. We
have retained the operational management of Rusaf and incentivised the
teams to accelerate the exploration programs underway. Rusaf has
approximately $8 million in its Treasury which will fund the short and
medium term exploration programs. Drilling is currently underway on a
number of these properties with results expected in the second half of
2008."
Ferdi Dippenaar, President and CEO
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 40-F filing with the
United States Securities and Exchange Commission and its home
jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.
No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in this news release.
Contacts: Great Basin Gold Ltd. - South Africa
Tsholo Serunye
Investor Services
27 (0)11 301 1800
Great Basin Gold Ltd. - North America
Melanee Henderson
Investor Services
1-800-667-2114
Breakstone Group - USA
Barbara Cano
Investor Services
(646) 452-2334
Website: www.grtbasin.com
