Great Stock! The analysts make me laugh with their 2007 Gold, Silver and Copper forecasts. All OXR surprises will be to the upside. Yesterday's breakout to new highs on massive volume says it all.
Oxiana Revise Net Mineral Resources
Total Oxiana Group Mineral Resources at year end, net of mining depletion, are estimated to contain an estimated 7.1 million ounces of gold, 72 million ounces of silver, 3.7 million tonnes of copper, and 0.9 million tonnes of zinc (0.5g/t Au, 0.5% Cu, 0.5% Zn cut-off). This represents an increase of 900,000 ounces of gold, 28 million ounces of silver, 700,000 tonnes of copper, and 900,000 tonnes of zinc over 2004 estimates. This is a substantial increase in the value of Oxiana’s Resource base.
At Sepon a reduction in oxide gold Resources of 0.9Moz of gold was due to development of more tightly constrained Resource models and to depletion. Significant mineralisation with potential to become new deposits was discovered in 2005, however insufficient drilling had been undertaken by year end for them to be fully represented in this Resource Statement. It is expected that this new material will be converted to Resources in 2006. At Prominent Hill in South Australia, 1.0Moz of gold were added through additional drilling of the eastern gold only zone and the acquisition of Golden Grove in Western Australia contributed 0.6Moz. Overall, silver Resources rose through the acquisition of Golden Grove. An additional 1.0 million tonnes of contained copper was added to the copper Resource inventory made up of approximately 700,000 tonnes from the Thengkham discoveries at Sepon and 300,000 tonnes from Golden Grove. The acquisition of Golden Grove added 903,000 tonnes of zinc and 126,000 tonnes of lead to the Resource inventory in addition to the gold, copper and silver Resources above.
The remodelling noted above, along with the redefinition of oxide-primary gold boundaries and incomplete Resource to Reserve conversion work, resulted in gold Reserves at Sepon being reduced to 0.4 million ounces net of mining depletion. Some of the potential new deposits identified in 2005 require further drilling before being available for conversion to Resources and then Reserves.
These Reserves are currently derived from the oxide and partial oxide Resource base. Copper Ore Reserves at the Khanong deposit were updated following the completion of grade control and limited extension drilling programs and remain essentially unchanged net of depletion from 2004.
Contained metal in Ore Reserves at Golden Grove increased to 453,000 tonnes of zinc, 128,000 tonnes of copper, 238,000 ounces of gold, 13 million ounces of silver and 56,000 tonnes of lead. An initial Ore Reserve for Prominent Hill is anticipated mid-2006. 2006 Resource and Reserve Program.At Sepon the gold focus will be on conversion of identified Resources to Reserves along with the ongoing program to outline Resources at new discoveries and quickly convert them to Reserves. It is expected that the primary gold Resources will be available for conversion to Reserves when feasibility studies have been completed. The copper focus will be on continuing to increase the Resource and Reserve base at Thengkham and Khanong as part of the copper expansion feasibility study.
Further conversion of Golden Grove Resources to Reserves is expected in addition to further testing of Resource potential at depth and along strike.
At Prominent Hill an updated Resource and an initial Reserve will be announced when available as part of the Bankable Feasibility Study. This Reserve optimisation work involves an extensive Group-wide drilling and evaluation program which is well underway at all sites. Further intensive exploration and Resource development drilling also continues across the Company’s highly prospective property portfolio
with up to 25 drill rigs active.
KEVO