First Gold pour from the Suka

RNS Number : 6375U

Centamin Egypt Limited

29 June 2009

 



Centamin Egypt Limited ('Centamin' or 'the Company') 

(TSX:CEE, ASX:CNT, AIM:CEY)

FIRST GOLD POUR FROM THE SUKARI GOLD PROJECT 

Centamin Egypt Limited is pleased to announce that the first gold from the Sukari Gold Project ('Sukari') was poured on Friday, 26 June 2009. 

This milestone marks the commencement of production and commissioning at the Sukari gold mine ahead of the commercial ramp up of production, which is anticipated over the coming months.

Sukari is the first modern commercial gold mine to be operated in Egypt, and has a current mineral reserve of 142Mt @ 1.4g/t Au for 6.4Moz. The current mineral resource stands at 191Mt @ 1.53g/t Au for 9.39Moz Measured and Indicated, and 64Mt @ 1.7g/t Au for 3.5Moz Inferred (as disclosed in the press release dated 12 February 2009). 

Josef El-Raghy, Managing Director/CEO of Centamin, stated: 

'The first gold pour from Sukari marks the beginning of our production from the largest gold mine to come on-stream this year. The initial production of gold doré came from ore mined in the Amun Zone of the Sukari hill and represents Egypt's first modern day gold production. The 4mtpa capacity plant will attain production rates of around 200,000 oz Au per annum by year end. Centamin is currently stockpiling ore in anticipation of a ramp up in production later this year.

The delivery of initial gold production in June 2009 is testament to the extraordinary hard work and professionalism of the entire team at Centamin and the co-operation of the Egyptian Government in particular His Excellency Sameh Fahmy, Minister for Petroleum and Mineral Resources. We look forward to updating stakeholders further on progress of the project over the coming months.'

Photographs of the first gold pour are available on the Company's website www.centamin.com.

For Centamin Egypt Limited

Josef El-Raghy

Managing Director/CEO

29 June 2009

For more information please contact:

Centamin Egypt Limited + 61 (8) 9316 2640 Josef El-Raghy  www.centamin.com

Buchanan Communications Limited + 44 (0) 207 7466 5000 Bobby Morse Ben Willey Katharine Sutton

Ambrian Partners Limited + 44 (0) 207 7634 4700 Richard Brown Richard Greenfield

  Quality Assurance and Control and Qualified Person

The information in this report that relates to ore reserves has been compiled by Mr Tadek Wojtowicz and internally reviewed by Mr Andrew Pardey. Mr Pardey is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and is a full time employee of the Company. He has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity he is undertaking, to qualify as a 'Competent Person' as defined in the 2004 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' and is a 'Qualified Person' as defined in the 'National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators' and 'CIM Definition Standards For Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves' of December 2005 as prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions of the Canadian Institute of Mining. Mr Pardey's written consent has been received by the Company for this information to be included in this report in the form and context which it appears.

The information in this report that relates to ore reserves has also been independently verified by Mr Pieter Doelman, an employee of Coffey Mining Pty Ltd Perth. Mr Doelman is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and has sufficient experience, relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity he is undertaking, to qualify as a  'Competent Person' as defined in the 2004 Edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' and is a 'Qualified Person' as defined in the 'National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators' and the 'CIM Definition Standards For Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves' of December 2005 as prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions of the Canadian Institute of Mining. Mr Doelman consents to the inclusion of this estimate in reports.

Information in this report which relates to exploration, geology, sampling and drilling is based on information compiled by geologist Mr Richard Osman who is a full time employee of the Company, and is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy with more than five years experience in the fields of activity being reported on, and is a 'Competent Person' for this purpose and is a 'Qualified Person' as defined in 'National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators'. His written consent has been received by the Company for this information to be included in this report in the form and context which it appears. 

The assay samples were analysed by Ultra Trace Pty Ltd, Canning Vale, Western Australia.

The information in this report that relates to mineral resources is based on work completed independently by Mr Nicolas Johnson, who is a Member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists. Mr Johnson is a full time employee of Hellman and Schofield Pty Ltd and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a 'Competent Person' as defined in the 2004 edition of the 'Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves' and is a 'Qualified Person' as defined in 'National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators'. Mr Johnson consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.

Refer to the Technical Report which was filed in May 2009 for further discussion of the extent to which the estimate of mineral resources/reserves may be materially affected by any known environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing or other relevant issue.

 

END

 

 

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