Resources round-up: Highland Gold, Rialto, Chaarat...

Highland Gold Mining has completed its acquistion of Klen, which holds the mining and exploration rights to the Klen gold deposit and the adjacent Verkhne-Krichalskaya property located in the Chukotka autonomous region in north-eastern Russia. The company is planning to mine the deposit by open pit method and will employ conventional gravity and cyanidation processing technology. The expected production should range from 50,000 - 60,000 oz of gold per annum with 300,000 - 400,000 tonnes of ore being processed each year, having an average head grade of 5.14g per tonne.

Rialto Energy has begun its drill stem-testing programme on the Gazelle-P3 ST2 well, Abidjan, Cte d'Ivoire, which will take around two weeks to complete. After completion of the drill stem testing Rialto intends to suspend the well to allow for future completion as a Gazelle Field production well.

The suspension has been lifted on Chaarat's gold Tulkubash project in the Kyrgyz Republic and the firm now expects gold production to begin in the second half of 2013. The company has welcomed new legislation which provides clarity and long term stability without the need for the negotiation of an investment agreement. "Our progress to production can now continue without the need for further negotiation on stabilisation with the Kyrgyz Government," the firm said.

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Goldstone has reported new drilling results which confirm depth extensions of the Homase/Akrokerri gold resource, where 51 drill holes, totally 14,3476 metres have been completed. The firm has suspended drilling temporarily and is using the results to establish whether the veins have economic potential. Assay results for an additional 20 drill holes completed along the Homase/Akrokerri trend are pending.

Landore Resources has said that the recently completed drilling campaign on the B4-7 deposit at the junior lake nickel project has significantly enhanced the volume of sulphide mineralisation along the 650 metres of strike length delineated to date. 81 diamond core holes and four re-entered holes have been completed. 26,521 tonnes of nickel equivalent at a 0.25% nickel cut-off were reported at the deposit.

Looking forward the company is planning an in-house resource upgrade which it will then submit for an upgrade of the desposit, which it anticipates will occur in the fourth quarter of 2012. A drilling programme to extend the deposit to the west is planning for the same time, and pre-feasibility studies on both BW-7 and VW are planned for the following quarter.

Amur Minerals has announced that the 2012 exploration field programme is now fully operational. Drilling is planned for 14 holes to test for the presence of nickel and copper. Four holes completed along one section have confirmed the presence of the nickel and copper sulphide host zone within three out of four. Drilling of the fourth hole was terminated short of the targeted host zone due to poor ground conditions. A newly purchased diamond core rig is said to be operating well and is expected to save $165 per metre.

NR