Message #52 From:
Stock News Bot Date: March 21, 2007 06:00:00 AM
GSS News Golden Star Commences Mining of Pampe Gold Project
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Golden Star Resources Ltd. (AMEX: GSS) (TSX: GSC) is pleased to announce the commencement of mining on its Pampe gold project in Ghana.
The Pampe project is a satellite deposit on the Akropong Trend, west of Bogoso, where we have been exploring for a number of years and have identified a 219,500 ounce mineral reserve, which was included in our year-end 2006 mineral reserve estimate for Bogoso/Prestea. Ore mining at Pampe commenced in March.
Peter Bradford, President and CEO, said, “We are very excited to announce the commencement of mining and delivery of ore to Bogoso from the Pampe project, for three reasons. First, an additional 219,500 ounces of gold Mineral Reserves is important; second, for us these Mineral Reserves are in a new mineral province, the Akropong Trend, approximately 30 kilometers west of the Ashanti Gold Belt, which potentially provides a second exploration front to support our activities at Bogoso/Prestea; and third, the additional gold mineral reserve ounces at Pampe are non-refractory and will therefore provide a source of feed for our Bogoso CIL processing plant at a very attractive average grade of 3.3 grams per tonne (g/t) gold.”
LOCATION
The Pampe deposit is located 26 kilometers north-northwest of our expanded Bogoso processing plant complex and 1.7 kilometers north of the highway between Bawdie and Asankragwa in the Western Region of Ghana. The Pampe deposit lies within Lower Proterozoic Birimian volcano-sedimentary sequences dominated by a major northeast-southwest trending structural feature referred to as the Akropong Trend. The Akropong Trend runs parallel to and about 30 kilometers west of the well known Ashanti Trend and represents a major deep-seated fault system which hosts gold-rich hydrothermal systems.
OWNERSHIP
Golden Star entered into two option agreements to acquire the area covering the Pampe project area in 1999 and 2000. Under the terms of the option agreements, Golden Star had the right to acquire the area by the payment to the vendors of $8 to $10 per ounce of Proven and Probable Mineral Reserve contained within a feasibility study on the project. Based on a feasibility study completed in mid-2006, the options have been exercised at a cost of approximately $1.4 million, inclusive of all past payments.
PERMITTING AND MINING
Environmental permitting for the project was completed in late 2006 and work to construct the access roads to the proposed pit commenced immediately afterwards and is now complete. Although applications for a Mining Lease and Mining Permit are still being processed and are expected soon, we have commenced mining at Pampe pursuant to a special mining permit allowing us to mine a 100,000 tonne bulk ore sample. Consequently, waste mining commenced in February and the first ore was mined and delivered to the processing plant in March. We expect that the mining lease will be issued before the bulk sampling permit is fully utilized.
The mineralization at Pampe is non-refractory and will be processed through the Bogoso carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing plant. Testwork on the Pampe ore types indicate that gold recoveries of around 90% for the oxide material and around 83% for the fresh sulfide material are achievable.
Peter Bradford stated, “We ceased mining at the Plant-North pit in December and had expected that ore mining at Pampe would have commenced prior to now, but delays in exercising the option agreements to acquire the Property stopped this from happening. Although we are pleased that ore mining did commence in March, the delay caused us to process lower grade, lower recovery stockpiled material through the Bogoso CIL processing plant to fill the gap. This is now expected to result in Bogoso/Prestea production for the first quarter being short of guidance.”
MINERAL RESERVES
Additional work on the property in the second half of 2006 has resulted in an increase in the Mineral Reserves relative to feasibility study assessment. As at December 31, 2006 a Probable Mineral Reserve of 2.06 million tonnes grading 3.31 grams of gold per tonne for 219,500 ounces of gold contained has been estimated at Pampe, and these Mineral Reserves were included in our year-end Mineral Reserve statement for Bogoso/Prestea, as tabulated below.
Pampe Prospect – Mineral Reserves as at December 31, 2006
Material Type
Reserve Category
Tonnes
(millions)
Grade
(Au g/t)
Contained Ounces
(thousands)
Oxide(1)
Probable
0.59
2.71
51.6
Transitional
Probable
0.30
3.03
29.6
Fresh(2)
Probable
1.16
3.70
138.3
TOTAL
Probable
2.06
3.31
219.5
(1) Oxide material is that material that has had all sulfides leached out via weathering. These materials are softer and thus easier to process.
(2) Fresh material is material found at depth that is not weathered, is non-refractory in nature and can be processed through our new BIOX® plant.
MINERAL RESOURCES
As at December 31, 2006, the estimated Mineral Resources, which are in addition to the Mineral Reserves, were included in our year-end Mineral Resource statement for Bogoso/Prestea and which are in addition to the Mineral Reserves, and are as follows:
Pampe Prospect – Mineral Resources as at December 31, 2006
Category
Tonnes
(millions)
Grade
(Au g/t)
Indicated
0.29
3.18
Inferred
0.13
3.42
Notes to the Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources:
1. The stated Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources have been prepared in accordance with Canada’s National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mineral Reserves are equivalent to Proven and Probable Reserves and Mineral Resources are equivalent to Mineralized Material as defined by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Industry Guide 7.
2. The Mineral Reserves have been prepared under the supervision of Mr. Peter Bourke, P.Eng., Vice President Technical Services for the Company. The Mineral Resources have been prepared under the supervision of Mr. S. Mitchel Wasel, Exploration Manager for the Company. Both Mr. Bourke and Mr. Wasel are qualified persons as defined by Canada’s National Instrument 43-101.
3. The Mineral Reserves were estimated using a gold price of $480 per ounce, approximately the three year average price required by the SEC, and Mineral Resources were estimated using a gold price of $560 per ounce. The Mineral Reserves are based on a mine plan derived from an optimized pit shell. The Mineral Resources are contained within an optimized pit shell and are in addition to the Mineral Reserves.
4. The Pampe Project Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources were included in the Bogoso/Prestea Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource statement as at December 31, 2006.
5. Optimized pit parameters were based on historical mining and processing costs at Bogoso and assume haulage to the existing Bogoso CIL plant. Metallurgical testwork (AMMTEC) on the Pampe ore types indicate that they are non-refractory and gold recoveries of around 90% for the oxide material and around 83% for the fresh sulfide material are achievable. Geotechnical drilling and tests have been reviewed by SRK Consulting and their recommendations for pit wall angles have been incorporated into the optimized pit parameters. Mining dilution of 5% and mining recovery of 100% has been assumed.
6. Mineral Resources are reported using a block grade cut-off of 0.82 grams per tonne for oxide material, 0.91 grams per tonne for transitional material and 0.95 grams per tonne for fresh material. High-grade assays within the sample population were cut using an upper cut of 20 grams of gold per tonne for oxide and 30 grams of gold per tonne for transition and fresh samples.
7. Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources are expressed on a 100% basis. Golden Star’s share of the Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources is subject to the Government of Ghana’s 10% carried interest which entitles them to a 10% dividend once our capital costs have been recovered.
8. Numbers may not add due to rounding.
Quality Assurance-Quality Control (QA-QC)
Drilling of the Pampe deposit has been conducted periodically over the last two years using both Reverse Circulation (RC) and Diamond Core drilling. All diamond drill core is split at Bogoso, with half the core lengths sent to TransWorld Laboratories in Tarkwa, Ghana, for sample preparation and analysis. The remaining half or quartered (depending on metallurgical test selection) core is stored at Bogoso for future inspection and detailed logging, to provide valuable information on mineralogy, structure, alteration patterns and the controls on gold mineralization.
All RC holes are sampled in three-meter composites with all intervals exceeding 0.2 grams of gold per tonne being resampled on one meter intervals.
All sample preparation, crushing, and analysis are carried out at the TransWorld Laboratories in Tarkwa, Ghana. Samples are subjected to 12-hour BLEG (Bulk Leach Extractable Gold) Leachwell analysis of 1,000 gram sub-samples pulverized to 85% at minus 75 microns (200#) to a quoted accuracy of 10 parts per billion of gold. All analytical work is subject to a systematic and rigorous QA-QC. At least 5% of samples are blanks, duplicates and certified standards and the accuracy of the analysis is confirmed to be acceptable from comparison of the recommended and actual ‘standard’ results.
Significant drill intersections are summarized in the following table with a complete set of intersections available on our web site www.gsr.com. Additional drilling is planned for 2007 to test some of the higher grade shoots that exhibit widths and grades which could be exploitable via underground mining methods.
Pampe South Prospect Significant Reverse Circulation and Diamond Drill Results