Eurasia Mining plc (AIM: EUA)
("Eurasia" or the "Company")
New contractor appointed at West Kytlim, commencement of site work
Eurasia, the London listed platinum group metals and gold producer, is pleased to announce the commencement of site works for the 2018 field season at its West Kytlim Project in the Ural Mountains. Terms have now been finalised with OOO Techstroy of Nizhny Tagil ("Techstroy").
Christian Schaffalitzky, Executive Chairman at Eurasia commented "We are very pleased with this result which comes after extensive discussions, predominantly technical in nature, over the past number of months. We are very much looking forward to a successful mining season at West Kytlim and to working together with our new partners Techstroy. Site works have already commenced, in this the first week of March, a marked improvement on last year. This means we can take full advantage of the full mining season at Malaya Sosnovka starting now and aim to break ground at the Kluchiki area later this summer. In a show of good faith the contractors mobilised equipment to site a week ahead of final signing of the contract. We look forward to reporting on progress from the site in the near future."
Highlights:
- Machinery and equipment mobilised to site with stripping works to commence immediately.
- Revised flow sheet to incorporate a trommel and scrubber arrangement prior to sluice.
- Mining to initially focus on the Malaya Sosnovka site which contains 275,000m3 of productive gravels and 84 kilograms raw platinum.
- Mining to progress to the larger Kluchiki site which contains 893,000m3 of productive gravels for 319 kilograms raw platinum.
- Targeted productivity ranging 50,000m3 to 70,000m3 per month at a single working site.
- Options for deploying further washplants remain available to both Eurasia and Techstroy, who are permitted under the contract to deploy a second washplant during the 2018 mining season.
- Techstroy to manage mining, trucking and beneficiation of platinum bearing gravels, including construction, delivery and installation of mining and processing equipment in accordance with a mine design agreed between the parties.
- Techstroy to be further responsible for site clearance, preparatory and stripping works, washing of gravels and land rehabilitation.
- Eurasia to be responsible for the upgrade of the sluice concentrate to a saleable product at the existing onsite laboratory, as well as platinum refining and revenue distribution.
- Eurasia maintain complete project ownership and management of the mining license, the ongoing program to upgrade resources to reserves ahead of mining, and new licence applications on ground adjacent to the current mining licence.
- Sales revenues to be split 65%/35% in favour of the contractor with no further financial consideration. The distribution of sales revenue to be managed by Eurasia as and when payments are made in accordance with the existing metals refining and sales agreement between Eurasia and the metals refinery in Ekaterinburg (see RNS dated 28 July 2016).
Background to the agreement
Techstroy, based in Nizhny Tagil is an alluvial mining contractor with experience at mining operations in the Perm Oblast (Eastern Ural Mountains) including at the Suria Kazanskaya alluvial gold mine. Extensive technical discussions have been ongoing with Eurasia mining engineers over the past six to eight weeks, including a site visit in late January 2018. A thorough evaluation of the 2017 mining season was undertaken as well as comprehensive mine scheduling for the 2018 season. Techstroy have committed a fleet of mining equipment to the project including two Komatsu excavators, three bulldozers, one loader and five Kamaz 6520 ore trucks. Eurasia's Directors are confident the contractor has the necessary skill set and balance sheet to execute a successful mining operation in 2018 and in subsequent years.
Eurasia's West Kytlim Project is the second largest alluvial platinum reserve in the world currently, with 2,283 kilograms of raw platinum in reserves (defined to GKZ C1 and C2 standard) with resources and resource potential to a further 10 tonnes of raw platinum. For a more detailed reserves and resources summary please see RNS dated 05 December 2017.
Enquiries:
Eurasia Mining Plc
Christian Schaffalitzky / Keith Byrne
+44 (0)207 932 0418
WH Ireland Limited
Katy Mitchell / James Sinclair-Ford
+44 (0)161 832 2174
Glossary of Key Terms
A,B, C1 and C2 - Categories of ore body defined under the Russian Standard as having met minimum requirements of exploration information and knowledge.
JORC - The Australian code for reporting of exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves, as published by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute of Geoscientists and Minerals Council of Australia.
GKZ - Russian state commission on mineral reserves which ensures Gosstandart compliance.
Reserves - Probable and Proven Reserves (or equivalent depending on the Standard used). Closely comparable to Russian Standard C1 but may contain material of Russian Standard categories A, B, C1 and C2.
Resources - Inferred, Indicated and Measured Resources (or equivalent depending on the Standard used). Closely comparable to Russian Standard C2 but may contain material of Russian Standard categories A, B, C1and C2.
Russian Standard - Referring to the Gosstandart of Russia, the national Russian standard on mining and minerals as published by the National Certification Body of the Russian Federation and adhered to by GKZ and
Rosnedra. - Russian federal agency for subsoil use which oversees the work of GKZ and manages the state balance of mineral resources.
Russian Standard - Referring to the Gosstandart of Russia, the national Russian standard on mining and minerals as published by the National Certification Body of the Russian Federation and adhered to by GKZ and Rosnedra.
This announcement includes inside information as defined in Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation No. 596/2014 and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of those Regulations.
