Production Australia The Paulsens Mine is located 180 km west of Paraburdoo in Western Australia’s Ashburton Mineral Field. The topography is generally flat in the area of the deposit, with low surrounding hills. The project is located on the Mt. Stuart Pastoral Station. It is in an area where cyclones dissipate occasionally experiencing heavy rains and elevated wind speeds. The Property was first explored in 1976 by CRA Limited and eventually acquired by NuStar in 1997. In December 2003, a new Board and management raised equity, extinguished debt and increased the resource by 60%. A 250,000 tpa underground mine was developed and a mill facility debt financed based on 1.44 million tonnes of indicated and inferred resource (541,300 ounces). The operation with an average grade of 10 g/t, for average projected production of 80,000 oz per year for a minimum of five years, was completed on time and within budget, and was commissioned in May 2005. The first gold was poured on June 1, 2005. Production estimates are based on the mining and processing of 1,200,000 tonnes at a rate of 250,000 tonnes per year with an average gold grade of 10.7g/t Au and a gold recovery of 93.5%. The average gold production is approximately 80,000 ozs per year. 167,304 ounces of gold have been produced from the Paulsens Mine since inception as of September 30, 2007. |
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