KOPY GOLDFIELDS PUBLISHES HALF YEAR OPERATIONAL UPDATE FOR AMUR ZOLOTOInside information: Following the recent Annual General Meeting's approval of the conditional reverse takeover of Amur Zoloto, Kopy Goldfields AB (publ) ("Kopy Goldfields" or the "Company") is proceeding to complete the transaction which is expected in or around August 2020. As a consequence hereof, Kopy Goldfields today announces an operational update for Amur Zoloto. Highlights:
- Amur Zoloto operates two bedrock mines and two alluvial mines in the Khabarovsk region of Russia and reports total production of 23.9 koz (742 kg) of gold and gold equivalent in 1H 2020, including 53.9 koz (1,677 kg) of silver, compared to 25.9 koz (807 kg) of gold and gold equivalent in 1H2019.
- H1 2020 gold sales amounted to 26.5 koz (825 kg), compared to 22.6 koz (704 kg) of gold sales in 1H 2019.
- Designing and equipment procurement have begun at the Yubileiny plant with a target to increase processing capacity from the current 130 kta (thousand tons per annum) to 250 kta by 2022.
- The alluvial mining (gravel washing) at the Buor-Sala and Kagkan-Chudny placer deposits commenced in May 2020 while waste stripping started in March 2020 with some delays due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
- So far, the COVID-19 pandemic has a limited effect over the operations: bedrock gold production, constructions and sales activities are not materially affected. Mine shifts were extended to cover the transition period since travel was restricted in order to protect the Company's remote operations and nearby communities, and 14-days quarantine period was introduced for all personnel travelling to the production mine sites. Alluvial mining operations were commenced with some delay. Since most of placer gold is mined during June-October and overall alluvial mining attributes to around 20% of the total Amur Zoloto gold production, the late start of alluvial mining is estimated to have a limited influence over the total gold production.
"The transaction with Amur Zoloto is on the way to completion. We look forward to consolidating Amur Zoloto's strong operational performance into Kopy Goldfields. The operational results are further supported by historically high gold prices and the weak Rub/USD rate which directly increase revenues and profit margins for gold mining operations", said Mikhail Damrin, CEO of Kopy Goldfields.
Yubileiny project
The Yubileiny project includes the operating Krasivoe underground mine and the Yubileiny processing plant. The Krasivoe mine commenced production in 2004, initially as an open pit and then switched to underground in 2010. Yubileyniy is a conventional CIP plant with an installed capacity of 130,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) and a planned extension in capacity to 250,000 tpa by 2022. The plant flowsheet includes consecutive gravity concentration followed by intensive cyanidation of gravity concentrate, and flotation concentration of gravity tailings followed by CIP process of flotation concentrate. The outcome product from the site is gold alloy (Dore bars) with some 17-30% of gold content which is further refined to bankable gold bars by the external smelter. Gravity and flotation concentrates produced at Perevalnoe plant are also leached to Dore bars at Yubileiny and during H1 total of 175.3 tons of gravity concentrate and 2,699.87 tons of flotation concentrates from Perevalnoe project were leached at Yubileyniy plant producing 13.6 koz (423 kg) of gold which are reported under Perevalnoe project.
|
Yubileiny project
|
Unit
|
1H 2020
|
1H 2019
|
|
Underground ore mined
|
tons
|
89,500
|
39,500
|
|
Underground development
|
meters
|
1,102
|
483
|
|
Underground ore grade
|
g/t
|
4.15
|
5.65
|
|
Ore processed
|
tons
|
64,500
|
59,500
|
|
Average grade
|
g/t
|
4.95
|
5.63
|
|
Gold produced
|
kg
|
239,4
|
263,9
|
|
|
koz
|
7.7
|
8.5
|
Perevalnoe project
The Perevalnoe project includes the Perevalnoe processing plant and Perevalnoe deposit. Mining from the Perevalnoe open pit commenced in 2015 and the processing plant was commissioned in 2017. The plant produces gravity and flotation concentrates on site which are further transported and leached at the Yubileiny processing plant to produce Dore bars. The Perevalnoe concentration (gravity and flotation) plant with designed capacity of 125,000 tpa, actually processed 144,000 tpa in 2019 following bottlenecks elimination.
Ore is currently mined from the Brekchiyevaya open pit and the Priyatnoe open pit and in the future from an underground mine below the open pit at Brekchiyevaya. The mined ore is split into three categories: high grade, low grade and "heap leach" grade. The "High grade" ore with a grade above 5 g/t is mixed with "Low grade" ore (grade between 3 and 5 g/t) to get a head grade of 5.5-6.5 g/t and then processed at the Perevalnoe mill to gravity and flotation concentrates which are further transported and leached at the Yubileiny processing plant. The "Low grade" ores that are not mixed with "High grade" ores are stockpiled at site for the future use. "Heap leach" grade ores with grades below 2 g/t are stockpiled at site until 2021 when the heap leach operations at a rate of 250 ktpa will commence.
|
Perevalnoe project
|
Unit
|
1H 2020
|
1H 2019
|
|
Waste stripping
|
m3
|
1,263
|
685
|
|
Ore mined
|
tons
|
108,400
|
129,900
|
|
Average ore grade
|
g/t
|
3.65
|
4.74
|
|
including
|
|
|
|
|
High grade ore
|
tons
|
33,200
|
40,100
|
|
Average grade
|
g/t
|
7.47
|
11.13
|
|
Low grade ore
|
tons
|
18,900
|
89,800
|
|
Average grade
|
g/t
|
3.54
|
1.89
|
|
Heap Leach ore
|
tons
|
56,300
|
0
|
|
Average grade
|
g/t
|
1.44
|
0
|
|
Ore processed
|
tons
|
82,610
|
59,710
|
|
Average grade
|
g/t
|
5.53
|
8.34
|
|
Gravity concentrate produced
|
tons
|
182.98
|
174.64
|
|
Average grade
|
g/t
|
743.64
|
1,159.46
|
|
Flotation concentrate produced
|
tons
|
2,892.54
|
2,327.00
|
|
Average grade
|
g/t
|
102.28
|
118.52
|
|
Gold produced (at the Yubileiny plant from gravity and flotation concentrates of Perevalnoe project)
|
kg
|
423.0
|
410.7
|
|
|
koz
|
13.6
|
13.2
|
Placer mining
In 2020, Amur Zoloto produces alluvial gold at two placer deposits; Buor-Sala and Kagkan-Chudny located near the Yubileiny and Perevalnoe projects respectively. These are shallow stream placers which are dozed and loaded into articulated haul trucks and hauled to semi-mobile washing plants or hauled by front-loaders. The waste stripping is conducted largely in the autumn and early spring with washing of gravels from May to October.
|
Placer mining
|
Unit
|
1H 2020
|
1H 2019
|
|
Overburden
|
000'm3
|
821
|
555
|
|
Capital mining
|
000'm3
|
170
|
148
|
|
Placer gravel washed
|
000'm3
|
128
|
302
|
|
Average grade
|
gram/m3
|
499
|
398
|
|
Gold produced
|
kg
|
63.7
|
120.3
|
|
|
koz
|
2.0
|
3.9
|
Qualified person
Alexander Polonyankin, MAusIMM(CP), a qualified person under JORC and member of Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, has reviewed and approved the technical information relating to operations covered in this press release.
Responsible party
Kopy Goldfields is obliged to make public this information in accordance with the (EU) Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014. The information in this press release has been made public through the agency of the responsible persons set out below for publication at the time stated by Kopy Goldfields news distributor beQuoted at the publication of this press release.
Stockholm, July 20, 2020 For more information, please contact:
Mikhail Damrin, CEO, +7 916 808 12 17, [email protected]
Tim Carlsson, CFO, + 46 702 31 87 01, [email protected]
The following documents can be retrieved from beQuoted
Kopy Goldfields Pressrelease 2020-07-20 English.pdf About Kopy Goldfields AB
Kopy Goldfields AB (publ), listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Stockholm, is a Swedish gold exploration company operating in the Irkutsk and Amur regions of Russia, which are two of the most gold rich areas in the world. The Company currently holds 12 licenses, grouped into four projects, which entitle the holder to explore for and produce gold. Kopy Goldfield's strategy is to create value by identifying and acquiring high potential gold projects, and then prospecting and exploring them until they reach the stage of being ready to be sold for cash or further developed in cooperation with a partner.
On May 29, 2020 Kopy Goldfields announced that the company had entered into a conditional agreement to acquire Amur Zoloto via a reverse takeover. The transaction was conditional upon shareholder approval from Kopy Goldfields' annual general meeting on June 30, 2020. Following approval from the annual general meeting, Kopy Goldfields is proceeding to complete (which is expected in or around August 2020) the transaction, but it still remains subject to e.g. regulatory approvals.
Kopy Goldfields AB applies International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), as approved by the European Union. Hagberg & Aneborn Fondkommission acts as Certified Adviser, contact number: +46 8 408 933 50, e-mail: [email protected].
The Share
Ticker: KOPY
http://www.nasdaqomxnordic.com/shares/microsite?Instrument=SSE77457
Outstanding shares: 103,825,869
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's and the company group's intentions, beliefs, or current expectations about and targets for the Company's and the company group's future results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, performance, prospects, anticipated growth, strategies and opportunities and the markets in which the Company and the group operates. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may be identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "may", "plan", "estimate", "will", "should", "could", "aim" or "might", or, in each case, their negative, or similar expressions. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. The forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, (i) changes in the economic, regulatory and political environments in the countries where Kopy Goldfields operates; (ii) changes relating to the geological information available in respect of the various projects undertaken; (iii) Kopy Goldfields' continued ability to secure enough financing to carry on its operations as a going concern; (iv) the success of its potential joint ventures and alliances, if any; (v) exchange rates, particularly between the Russian rouble and the U.S. dollar. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that they will materialize or prove to be correct. Because these statements are based on assumptions or estimates and are subject to risks and uncertainties, the actual results or outcome could differ materially from those set out in the forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including but not limited to risks and uncertainties surrounding any gold production and exploration company at an early stage of its development. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this press release by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not guarantee that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements in this press release are free from errors and readers of this press release should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements in this press release. The information, opinions and forward-looking statements that are expressly or implicitly contained herein speak only as of its date and are subject to change without notice. Neither the Company nor anyone else undertake to review, update, confirm or to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that arise in relation to the content of this press release, unless it is not required by law or Nasdaq First North Growth Market rule book for issuers.
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