Name and Location
New Liberty gold project, Liberia.

Client
Aureus Mining.

Project Description
New Liberty will be Liberia’s first commercial gold mine and Aureus’ first mine in its highly prospective 1 470 km² Liberian licence portfolio.

The gold deposit, which lies within the Bea Mountain mining licence, has a total proven and probable reserve of 8.5-million tonnes, containing 924 000 oz of gold, grading 3.4 g/t.

Total resources comprise an estimated 651 000 t, containing 100 000 oz of gold, grading 4.77 g/t in the measured category; 9.15-million tonnes, containing 1 043 000 oz of gold, grading 3.55 g/t in the indicated category; and 5.73-million tonnes, containing 593 000 oz gold, grading 3.2 g/t in the inferred category.

The measured and indicated resources are generally located within the first 200 m below surface. The inferred resource remains open at depth.

A bankable feasibility study completed on the project envisioned an openpit mining operation, extracting ore at a nominal rate of 1.1-million tonnes a year. The openpit will comprise two adjacent and interconnecting pits.

The mining schedule expects the operation to produce 8.5-million tonnes of ore, grading 3.4 g/t, with an associated 132-million tonnes of waste, and an average life-of-mine stripping ratio of 15:1 over a mine schedule of 8.5 years.

A steady-state mining rate, with an average material movement of 70 000 t/d providing an annualised plant feed of 1.1-million tonnes of ore, is planned after the initial six-month period of waste prestripping, which is scheduled to establish the pits and to build an ore stockpile ahead of plant commissioning.

Openpit material movement will achieve a steady-state yearly production of 1.1-million tonnes ore and 25.3-million tonnes total material movement by the end of year one. This steady-state will continue until halfway though year five. The total movement will decline after year five as the strip ratio declines from about 25:1 to about 10:1 towards the end of mine-life.

The waste material will be placed in a dump, which wraps around the openpit, providing protection from the diverted Marvoe Creek, following which the bulk of the waste material will be backfilled into the Larjor pit. An owner-operated mining fleet, leased and maintained by MonuRent, a leading West African-focused fleet rental company will be used for all earthmoving activities and a conventional truck and shovel method will be used for mining operations.

The mining project includes a process plant, offices, workshops, a generator power plant, housing and warehouses, a mining camp, a tailings storage facility, a rock dump, an explosives bay, various ore stockpiles and a stream diversion, referred to as the Marvoe Creek diversion channel.

Value
The initial capital cost of the project is estimated at $136-million, which excludes contingency, but includes the design and development of the processing plant, mining establishment and prestrip, general mine infrastructure and power supply, tailings dam construction, creek diversion and general infrastructure.

Duration
First production is expected in 2015.

Latest Developments
The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, recently became a shareholder in Aureus after investing about $11.1-million in the company. The proceeds will allow the company to continue its exploration activities, in particular continued drilling and the completion of a preliminary economic assessment at Ndablama, and target generation work across the company’s wider licence portfolio in Liberia and Cameroon.

Meanwhile, Aureus has confirmed that there have been no reported or suspected cases of Ebola to date across its operations or anywhere near where the company operates.

Construction at New Liberty continues and nonessential staff have been granted leave during this time, including the exploration team following the completion of the drilling season. Aureus has established and implemented the appropriate precautionary measures and contingency plans to ensure the company, its employees, contractors and visitors are not placed at unnecessary risk.

Precautionary measures include access control to Aureus’ operations, temperature screening, education and collaboration with local villages and village elders, detailed and regular communication with employees, contractors and visitors, heightened medical provisions and medical assistance at the New Liberty medical clinic and travel restrictions.
Further, Aureus is working closely with the government of Liberia and supporting their proactive actions in minimising the impact of Ebola.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
DRA (engineering, procurement and construction management contractors); Australian Mining Consultants (National Instrument 43-101 resource classification and openpit and mining optimisation studies); Digby Wells Associates (environmental and social advisers) and MonuRent (mining fleet rental and maintenance partner).

On Budget and on Time?
New Liberty remains on track to deliver first gold in the first quarter of 2015.

Contact Details for Project Information
Aureus Mining CEO and president David Reading or CFO Paul Thomson, tel +44 207 1017 690.