JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Diversified gold producer Nord Gold has grown its ore reserves by 3% to 13-million ounces since 2012, despite the depletion of 2.3-million ounces during its 2013/14 exploration programmes.
The London-listed group outlined in an exploration, mineral resources and ore reserves update for the year ended December 31, 2014, on Thursday, that it had also added two new development projects in Russia and Burkina Faso over the period that had added 2.83-million ounces of ore reserves and were currently ready for construction.
“Mined-out reserves have been fully replaced at Neryungri and Irokinda, in Russia, and the Suzdal mine, in Kazakhstan, while partial replenishment took place at the other mines,” it stated, adding that the mineral resource of its Bouly mine, in Burkina Faso, had tripled over the period to 3.5-million ounces.
Total measured and indicated resources increased by 21% to 21.8-milion ounces by the end of the year, while total mineral resources decreased by 16% to 29-million ounces owing to a significant reduction in inferred resources as a result of the implementation of a new Joint Ore Reserves Committee best practice approach in reporting.
Nord added that a 2013/14 drilling programme at the Bouly project resulted in maiden ore reserves of 1.32-million ounces, while “excellent” economic results from the project’s feasibility study and maiden ore reserves had enabled the company to progress the Bouly project from exploration and evaluation to the design and construction phase.
"Nord’s strategy is to maximise the value from its existing assets while complementing this by delivering on its extensive growth pipeline. We remain committed to growing our reserves base and I am pleased to announce a further increase today.
“The solid progress made on our development projects will enable Nordgold to create long-term shareholder value,” CEO Nikolai Zelenski said in a statement.