Entering into Stage 1 at Nezhdaninskoye

RNS Number : 4013M

Polymetal International PLC

20 January 2016

 

Release time	IMMEDIATE
Date	20 January 2016

Polymetal International plc

Entering into Stage 1 of Joint Venture with Polyus Gold at the Nezhdaninskoye Gold Property

Polymetal International plc (LSE, MOEX: POLY; ADR: AUCOY) ("Polymetal") is pleased to announce that it has entered into the first stage (Stage 1) of a joint venture with OJCS Polyus Gold (MOEX - PLZL) ("Polyus Gold") to advance the development of the Nezhdaninskoye gold deposit in Yakutia, Russia ("the Property").

On December 24, 2015 Polymetal announced that it had entered into a joint venture with Polyus Gold.

On 19 January 2016 Polymetal obtained a 15.3% interest in the joint venture entity holding 100% of JSC South-Verkhoyansk Mining Company ("SVMC"), the owner of the mining and exploration license for the Property as well as certain infrastructure adjacent to the deposit.

INFORMATION ON THE PROPERTY

Nezhdaninskoye is the fourth largest gold deposit in Russia. It is located in the north-east of Yakutia, in Tomponsky district, approximately 480 km east from the city of Yakutsk. The Property is remote with access by all-season unpaved road and no grid connection. The climate is characterized by long severe winters and short hot summers.  The relief is moderately mountainous with relative altitudes above valley floors not exceeding 600 m.

The deposit is composed of large scale mineralised zones, representing zones of intense brecciation comprised of crushed and sheared, hydrothermally altered, sedimentary rocks that have been variably enriched in quartz. The quartz occurs as randomly oriented stringers, lenses, and veins. Within the lateral limits of these zones, there are lean bands of variably silicified sedimentary protolith. There are also veins composed of quartz with relics of the host rocks.

Nezhdaninskoye mineralization is double refractory due to the encapsulation of fine gold particles within sulphide minerals and significant presence of preg-robbing carbonaceous material.

A 180 Kt per annum underground mine and concentrator were commissioned in 1975. Over 2 Mt of ore was mined and processed at an average gold grade of 7.6 g/t before the operation was placed on care and maintenance in 2005.

Polyus Gold acquired Nezhdaninskoye in 2006. Since then, Polyus Gold has undertaken an extensive exploration program and completed several technical studies aimed at defining a workable strategy for the development of the Property. Both Polyus Gold and Polymetal expect to adopt a development approach characterized by low capital intensity.

According to the Russian State Reserves Commission (GKZ), the gold reserves (С1+С2) amount to 20.3 mln ounces (632 tonnes) at the grade of 5.1 g/t¹.

Tonnage, Kt	Grade, g/t	Au, kg	Au, Koz
123,262	5.13	632,001	20,322

_______________________________________________

¹ The GKZ reserves are not compliant with the JORC Code and represent estimate of in situ mineralisation without adequate proof of economic viability of extraction.

Enquiries

Media		Investor Relations
FTI Consulting  Leonid Fink Jenny Payne	[phone]	Polymetal Maxim Nazimok Evgenia Onuschenko Elena Revenko	[e-mail] [phone] (Russia) [phone] (UK)
Joint Corporate Brokers
Morgan Stanley Sam McLennan	[phone]	RBC Europe Limited Tristan Lovegrove Jonny Hardy	[phone]

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

THIS RELEASE MAY INCLUDE STATEMENTS THAT ARE, OR MAY BE DEEMED TO BE, "FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS". THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS SPEAK ONLY AS AT THE DATE OF THIS RELEASE. THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS CAN BE IDENTIFIED BY THE USE OF FORWARD-LOOKING TERMINOLOGY, INCLUDING THE WORDS "TARGETS", "BELIEVES", "EXPECTS", "AIMS", "INTENDS", "WILL", "MAY", "ANTICIPATES", "WOULD", "COULD" OR "SHOULD" OR SIMILAR EXPRESSIONS OR, IN EACH CASE THEIR NEGATIVE OR OTHER VARIATIONS OR BY DISCUSSION OF STRATEGIES, PLANS, OBJECTIVES, GOALS, FUTURE EVENTS OR INTENTIONS. THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS ALL INCLUDE MATTERS THAT ARE NOT HISTORICAL FACTS. BY THEIR NATURE, SUCH FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS INVOLVE KNOWN AND UNKNOWN RISKS, UNCERTAINTIES AND OTHER IMPORTANT FACTORS BEYOND THE COMPANY'S CONTROL THAT COULD CAUSE THE ACTUAL RESULTS, PERFORMANCE OR ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE COMPANY TO BE MATERIALLY DIFFERENT FROM FUTURE RESULTS, PERFORMANCE OR ACHIEVEMENTS EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED BY SUCH FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. SUCH FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE BASED ON NUMEROUS ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING THE COMPANY'S PRESENT AND FUTURE BUSINESS STRATEGIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH THE COMPANY WILL OPERATE IN THE FUTURE. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS ARE NOT GUARANTEES OF FUTURE PERFORMANCE. THERE ARE MANY FACTORS THAT COULD CAUSE THE COMPANY'S ACTUAL RESULTS, PERFORMANCE OR ACHIEVEMENTS TO DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE EXPRESSED IN SUCH FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. THE COMPANY EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY OBLIGATION OR UNDERTAKING TO DISSEMINATE ANY UPDATES OR REVISIONS TO ANY FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN TO REFLECT ANY CHANGE IN THE COMPANY'S EXPECTATIONS WITH REGARD THERETO OR ANY CHANGE IN EVENTS, CONDITIONS OR CIRCUMSTANCES ON WHICH ANY SUCH STATEMENTS ARE BASED.

 

END

 

 

MSCGLGDBSSDBGLG