Company Information for Hambledon Mining Plc

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Company Statement
Hambledon Mining plc is an AIM-listed gold mining and exploration company, which is operating the Sekisovskoye gold mine and owns the Ognevka processing plant, both of which are close to Ust Kamenogorsk in East Kazakhstan.
At Sekisovskoye, the Company is mining from an open pit and is operating an 850,000 tonnes per year treatment plant. Production over the life of the open pit will average over 40,000 ounces per year. As soon as steady production has been achieved, the Company plans to develop the much larger underground resource that is expected to lead to a combined production rate of around 100,000 ounces per year.
The Ognevka plant has many potential uses for treating primary base and precious metal ores. The plant is currently on care and maintenance until production can be economically restarted.
Current Operations
Sekisovskoye
The mineral rights to the Sekisovskoye project are held by a 100% owned subsidiary, TOO Sekisovskoye and the processing plant is held by 100% owned subsidiary TOO Altai Ken-Bayitu.
The Sekisovskoye deposit is located at the village of Sekisovka, approximately 40 kilometres from the East Kazakhstan regional capital, Ust Kamenogorsk. The road from Ust Kamenogorsk to Sekisovka is sealed and provides the main route between Ust Kamenogorsk and Ridder and further on in to Russia.
The deposit occurs in the northwest marginal zone of the 40 thousand sq.km Rudny Altai Palaeozoic metallogenic belt that occupies the eastern border of Kazakhstan and the Altaisky region of Russia. The mineral hosting intrusives are of late Devonian age.
The open pit JORC resources are indicated at 9.55 million tones sulphide ore grading 1.8 g/t gold, with 3.0 g/t silver. Underground, the indicated reserves are 2.21 million tones grading 5.1 g/t gold and 2.0 g/t silver. Total indicated and inferred resources for open pit and underground amount to 2,557,816 oz gold and 3,575,805 oz silver.
Production is targeted to reach 40,000 oz annually from the open pit operation. AMC Consultants of Perth have conducted a study for the underground project , with construction due to commence in 2009. When it is fully operational, it is expected that there will be 350,000 tonnes ore per annum from the open pit and 500,000 tonnes from underground, together yielding some 100,000 oz gold annually.
Exploration
Tserkovka
The drilling results from Tserkovka, adjacent to Skeisovskoye, were disappointing with no continuous zones identified. The limited resource that was identified is being assessed but total expected mined ounces will not be significant.
Glinka and Krugliachka
The Company has sought to expand the exploration base into nearby prospects that are similar to Sekisovskoye and may be treated in the same or expanded treatment plant. Two further mineralised areas, Glinka and Krugliachka, covering a combined area of approximately 10 square kilometres, have been identified and a formal application has received a positive response.
Krugliachka lies 8 km to the northwest of Sekisovskoye and appears to have the potential to be another deposit of the Sekisovskoye type, though exploration is at an early stage. Grab samples on surface of up to 5 g/t gold were discovered by former Soviet geologists who concluded that the site was worthy of further exploration. They recommended trenching and shallow drilling in the hope of discovering zones of secondary enrichment below the oxidised cap, similar to the high grade area of Sekisovskoye that was mined in Soviet times.
Glinka lies some four kilometres to the north-east of Tserkovka where the local population has mined kaolin clay. Samples taken from the kaolin pit walls indicate the possible presence of payable gold-polymetallic mineralisation.
Ognevka
Ognevka currently has a general license for the processing of raw minerals, in particular clinker and its products. The company plans to reprocess the 150,000 of clinker tailings that are situated in the tailings dam. These tailings have already been processed by the facility but a very low recovery of product was achieved due to poor operation at that time of the facility.
It is expected that the refurbishment of the plant and the reprocessing of the 150,000 tonnes of clinker will be completed by the middle of 2008 which will generate significant revenue for the company.
After the completion of the retreatment of the existing on-site clinkers, it is most likely that the operation will continue treating clinkers purchased from elsewhere. An expansion of the current facility was started by previous owners and this may be completed. There are, however, several other options for the future development of the facility including reprocessing of the owned and other tantalum tailings, and recommencement of mining operations at the pegmatite mine on the site of the facility. It is possible that these operations can be carried on concurrently with the clinker treatment, though some parts of the plant will have to be duplicated.
Because of the need to improve ecological conditions in the East Kazakhstan region where very many tonnes of clinker waste are currently stockpiled, it is considered that that it will not be difficult for Ognevka to obtain a steady flow of reasonably priced clinker for processing.
The tantalum tailings that are located in the tailings dam on the site of the facility can be mined and transported to the facility hydraulically and re-treated. Testwork and market research is being carried out to determine the likely products and recoveries.
Geographical Spread
Kazakhstan
Board of Directors and Key Management
| George Eccles | Chairman (Non-executive) |
| Chris Thomas | Non-executive Director |
| Nicholas Bridgen | Chief Executive |
| Baurzhan Yerkeyev | Executive Director |
| Neil Stevenson | Technical Director |
| Management | |
| William Morgan | CFO & Company Secretary |
Company AddressDaws House
|
Additional Address/Key ContactRepresentative Office: |
Capital469,189,233 ordinary shares |
Annual General MeetingJuly | Year End31 December |
Nominated BrokersFAIRFAX I.S. PLC | Nominated AdvisorsFAIRFAX I.S. PLC |
Major Shareholders
| Nicholas Bridgen | 90 ,198,936 | 19.22 |
| Blackrock Investment Management | 61,052,356 | 13.01 |
| Barclays PLC | 23,456,914 | 5.00 |
| Alzhan Shomaev | 21,521,232 | 4.59 |
| Hermes Pensions Management | 17,909,955 | 3.82 |
| Majedie Asset Management | 17,463,700 | 3.72 |
| AXA Framlington Investment Management | 16,321,326 | 3.48 |
Related News
23/09/09 - Hambledon Accelerates Its Plans To Start Mining Underground At Sekiskovoye, With The Help Of £2.7 Million In New Money12/08/09 - Hambledon's Sekiskovoye Gold Project In Kazakhstan Is Finally Starting To Meet Expectations
11/03/09 - Hambledon Mining Looks Forward To A Better 2009 After Encountering More Than Its Share Of Teething Problems in 2008
16/07/08 - This Year Hambledon Mining Got Interesting For All The Wrong Reasons, But Hopefully Things Will Calm Down Again Soon
Most Recent Statement
09/03/10 - Holding(s) in Company11/02/10 - Update
14/01/10 - Production Update
23/09/09 - Issue of Equity
17/09/09 - Half-yearly Report
09/06/09 - Production Update


