Company Information for Highland Gold Mining Ltd

AIM-HGM

www.highlandgold.com

Company stock charts - 12 Month chart

AIM; HGM

View full financial data

Company Statement

Highland Gold Mining Limited was incorporated in Jersey on 23 May 2002 for the purpose of acquiring, consolidating and developing a portfolio of quality gold mining projects in the Russian Federation with good growth potential.

Highland’s vision is to become the most profitable gold mining company in Russia and Central Asia with a firm commitment towards safety, health and the environment, and social responsibility towards employees and communities.

Highland Gold Mining is a well established gold producer with a world class Russian asset base of producing, development and exploration projects. It has strong management and operational teams with local and international expertise and an exciting portfolio of resources estimated at 15.7 million oz. We have an unrivalled pipeline of growth projects and focus on extensive exploration.

Highland Gold owns the fully operational Mnogovershinnoe mine (MNV) in the Khabarovsk Region; three development projects - Novoshirokinskoye and Taseevskoye (Chita Region), and Mayskoye (Chukotka); six exploration areas - Belaya Gora, Iska and Maya Inikan in the Khabarovsk Region, Lubavinskoye-Malo-Fedorovskoye in the Chita Region, Sovinoye in Chukotka and Unkurtash in Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia).

Highland Gold has 325,197,098 common shares in issue which, since December 2002, have traded on AIM in London under the symbol "HGM". Main shareholders are Millhouse LLC (40%), Barrick Gold Corporation (20.3%), Company’s management (6.6%).

Current Operations

Novoshirokinskoye
The deposit at Novoshirokinskoye (Novo) in Chita Region of Eastern Siberia was discovered in 1951 and extensively explored between 1956 and 1962. A development plan for a base metal mine was formulated in 1969 and construction of the project began in 1970. The construction work progressed slowly and was suspended in the 1970s. A modified development plan which proposed a production rate of 450,000 tonnes per annum of ore was approved in 1988, but construction was again suspended in 1994, after the majority of the construction work was complete, due to the prevailing economic conditions and the termination of centralised state funding.

Prior to acquisition in 2002 the Novo mine had been researched and extensively developed to produce primarily zinc and lead, with gold and silver as by-products. At the beginning of 2003, the Group commissioned a feasibility study to review both the ore body and the existing plant to prioritise gold production.

In the end of 2005 HGM submitted a report on recalculated Novo resources to the State Committee for Reserves for expertise. The expertise pointed out a number of defects and the report was returned for improvements.

Mnogovershinnoe Mine
Mnogovershinnoe is located in the Nikolaevsk area of the Khabarovsk Territory in the far-east of the Russian Federation. The mine is located some 650 km north of the city of Khabarovsk and is accessed from Nikolaevsk-na-Amure, the principal regional centre, via a 132 km long gravel road.
The Mnogovershinnoe deposit was discovered in 1959 and detailed exploration commenced in 1963. Preliminary construction started in 1979, the mineral processing facilities were constructed between 1990 and 1993 and preliminary production started in 1991. Between 1991 and the present day the mine has produced some 700,000 oz of gold.

The Group owns 100% of the MNV joint-stock company, which has a licence for the extraction of gold ore valid until December 2018. Operations at MNV consist of both underground and open-pit mining of several high grade gold deposits. In addition, MNV has its own gold processing plant. MNV was initially brought into production by its previous owners in 1991 and operated until 1997, when the mine was closed due to poor technical and financial performance and a lack of funds for reconstruction and development. Following a change of ownership and the introduction of the current management team, gold mining and gold extraction recommenced in 1999 under the direction of the new management team. Subsequent capital investment in mining and metallurgical equipment, has meant that the technical performance of the mine has significantly improved over the last five years.

Taseevskoye
The Taseevskoye deposit is located two kilometres south of the town of Baley (Population: 13,800) in the Chita region, Eastern Siberia. It lies 56 kilometres south by paved road from the Trans Siberian Railway station at Priiskovaya. Chita, the regional capital, is located 320 kilometres to the west of Baley. The deposit was discovered in 1941 and during the period 1948 to 1994 produced 6.4 million ounces of gold from 16.3 million tonnes of ore at an average gold grade of 12.2 g/t. This was produced from a swarm of epithermal gold bearing quartz fissure veins located within a circular area 1000m in diameter. The predominantly underground mining operation concentrated on three principal vein systems, leaving un-mined a large lower grade mineralized envelope contained within an argillic alteration halo surrounding the fissure veins. Highland Gold’s acquisition of Taseevskoye is rooted in the potential for open pit mining of this large lower grade resource, which was also the subject of a 1997 bankable feasibility study commissioned by the former licence holders.

Geographical Spread

Russia

Board of Directors and Key Management

Duncan Baxter, Non-Executive Chairman

Duncan Baxter began his career in banking with Barclays in Zimbabwe before joining RAL in 1978. In 1985 he became a director of Commercial Bank (Jersey) Ltd, which was subsequently acquired by Swiss Bank Corporation. Since leaving Swiss Bank in 1998 he has carried out consultancy projects for international banks and investment management companies. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries, the Securities Institute and the Institute of Bankers. He joined the Company in November 2002.

Alex Davidson, Non-Executive Director

Alex Davidson has a Masters Degree in Economic Geology from McGill University. He has been a senior officer of Barrick Gold Corporation of Canada since October, 1993 and currently holds the title of Executive Vice President responsible for exploration and corporate development. Prior to that he was Vice President of Metall Mining Corporation. He is currently a Non-Executive of QGX Ltd of Canada. He joined the Company in April 2005.

Ivan Koulakov, Non-Executive Director

Ivan Koulakov graduated from the Moscow State Technical University (Bauman) with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and from the State Financial Academy with a degree in Finance and Banking. In 1995, he became Chairman of ZAO Oil Finance, a company of the Sibneft group. In 1998, Mr. Koulakov becomes Chairman of ZAO MNV. Since then together with his management team he focused on the development of MNV as well as expanding into other development projects. Mr. Koulakov has been on the Board of Highland Gold since 2002.

Nicholas Nikolakakis, Non-Executive Director

Nicholas Nikolakakis has been with Barrick since April 2006 where he holds the position of Vice President, Corporate Finance. He was previously Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Placer Dome, Canada. His knowledge is drawn from senior financial roles within some of Canada’s leading energy and mining corporations, combining twelve years of experience in mining and energy acquisitions analysis, operations implementation and development, strategy and change, and all areas of corporate finance. His current responsibilities with Barrick include, capital raising in the public and private markets, management of the balance sheet and long term planning objectives. He joined the Company in December 2006.

Olga Pokrovskaya, Non-Executive Director

Olga Pokrovskaya graduated with honors from the State Financial Academy. She served as Senior Audit Manager at accountancy Arthur Andersen from 1991 until 1997. She subsequently joined Russian oil major Sibneft, where she held several key finance positions including serving as Head of Corporate Finance from 2004. In July 2006, Ms. Pokrovskaya took up her current role as Head of Corporate Finance at Millhouse LLC. She joined the Highland Gold Board of Directors in January 2008.

Terry Robinson, Non-Executive Director

Chairman of the Audit Committee

Terry Robinson has 40 years international business experience. He was 20 years at Lonrho PLC, the international mining and trading group. Since 1998 he has been variously occupied with international business including natural resources in the UK, Russia, the CIS and Brazil. He is a non-executive director of the LSE GDR quoted Evraz Group, the largest Russian steel producer. He is a non-executive director of the Toronto listed Katanga Mining Limited with copper and cobalt mining operations in the DRC and until recently was managing director of Interactive Records Management Ltd, a private equity controlled investment. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales. He joined Highland Gold Board in April 2008.

Eugene Shvidler, Non-Executive Director

Eugene Shvidler is a graduate of the I. M. Gubkin Moscow Institute of Oil and Gas with a masters degree in applied mathematics, and holds an MBA in finance and MS in international tax from Fordham University. He worked as senior vice president of Sibneft beginning in 1995 and served as president of the company from 1998 through 2005. Mr. Shvidler is currently head of Millhouse LLC. He joined the Highland Gold board of directors in January 2008.

Eugene Tenenbaum, Non-Executive Director

Eugene Tenenbaum is a chartered accountant and holds a bachelors degree in commerce and finance from the University of Toronto. He worked as an accountant in the Business Advisory Group at Price Waterhouse in Toronto from 1987 until 1989, after which he spent five years in corporate finance with KPMG in Toronto, Moscow and London, including three years (1990-1993) as national director at KPMG International in Moscow. In 1994, he joined Salomon Brothers as a director for corporate finance. He later served as head of corporate finance for Sibneft in Moscow from 1998 through 2001. Mr. Tenenbaum is currently managing director of Millhouse Capital UK Ltd and a member of the Board of Chelsea FC Plc. He joined the Highland Gold board of directors in January 2008.

Senior Management

Henry Horne, CEO

Henry Horne holds a degree in Financial Accounting and Business Economics from the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and has more than 25 years experience in the mining industry. This experience has been gained around the world and includes postings at mines in Namibia, South Africa, Ghana, Bulgaria, Chile and Russia. The majority of Henry Horne’s career has then been spent in the Gold Fields Group where he worked at the Leeudoorn and Deelkraal deep level gold mines in South Africa as Financial Manager. His most recent position has been as Deputy General Director and Chief Finance Officer for Omolon Gold Mining Company, Kinross Gold’s Kubaka operation in the Magadan Region of North East Russia. He has been with the Company since October 2005.

Sergey Lysakov, Managing Director, Mnogovershinnoye (MNV)

Sergey Lysakov graduated from the Technical Institute of Irkutsk as a surveyor. Prior to joining ZAO Mnogovershinnoye in 1998 he worked for a number of Russian mining companies. Until March 2006 when he was appointed Managing Director of the Mnogovershinnoye operation Sergei Lysakov was Chief Surveyor of the mine.

Sergey Yakimov, Managing Director,Novoshirokinsky Rudnik (Novo)

Sergey Yakimov graduated from the Chita Polytechnical Institute. After graduation in 1983 he has worked for a number of mining companies. Since 1995 he has been the managing director of Novo.

Alexander Kiselev, Managing Director, Mayskoye

Alexander Kiselev graduated from the Moscow Mining & Exploration Institute. Since 1970 he has been invloved in various mine research projects. From 1992 to 2003 he held the position of the director of Chukotka local board of natural resources and ecology. Joined to Highland Gold as a Managing Director of Mayskoye in 2004.

Company Address

26 New Street
St. Helier, Jersey, United Kingdom JE2 3RA


Telephone:	+44(0) 1534 814202
Facsimile:	+44 (0) 1534 814 815
Email:	info[at]highlandgold.com
Website:	http://www.highlandgold.com

Additional Address/Key Contact

Russdragmet
7, Balchug Street
Moscow 115035 Russia
Tel: +(7 495) 777 3155
Fax: +(7 495) 777 3156

Capital

Issued shares:325,197,098

Year End

December 31

Nominated Brokers

JP Morgan Cazenove

Nominated Advisors

JP Morgan Cazenove

Broker/Analyst Reports

04/12/07 - Fox Davies Capital Flash Note

Major Shareholders

Millhouse LLC

Barrick Gold

Board & Management

Most Recent Statement

25/09/08 - Interim Results Announcement for the 1H 2008
17/09/08 - Highland Gold announces new chief executive appointed by Millhouse LLC.
12/08/08 - First Half 2008 Trading Update
23/07/08 - Board Changes
18/06/08 - HIGHLAND GOLD ADVANCES ITS MAYSKOYE PROJECT
28/04/08 - HIGHLAND GOLD MINING LIMITED ANNOUNCES FINAL RESULTS FOR THE YEAR TO 31 DECEMBER

To top