3 July 2009
RECORD 52,118 OUNCE JUNE
QUARTER AT TRIDENT
Highlights
?
Record June quarter production of 52,118 ounces.
?
Trident mine and treatment plant both performing well
above the 1 Mtpa design rates and 5.3 g/t gold
reserve grades.
?
Avoca?s
maiden production year at Higginsville totalled 130,594 ounces.
?
Avoca remains on target for 190,000+ ounce production
in FY2010 at estimated cash operating costs of A$468 per ounce1.
ASX 200
mid-tier gold producer, Avoca Resources Ltd (ASX:AVO),
is pleased to announce a record 52,118 ounces of gold production for the June
quarter from its 100% owned Higginsville gold project, located south of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia.
The record June result contributes
to Avoca?s first year as a
gold producer of 130,594
ounces.
Total plant throughput for the
June quarter amounted to 304,590t @ 5.5 g/t gold for 52,118 recovered
ounces. Plant recovery was very high at 97.5%. The dramatic
improvement in head grade to 5.5 g/t for the June quarter is attributed to the
commencement of mining the 1005 level of the Western Zone, and an increasing
contribution from the rich Athena Lodes. Estimated mine production from
Trident during this period amounted to 267,449t @ 5.8 g/t gold for 49,823 ounces.
Importantly, the treatment
capacity of the plant is exceeding the design of 250,000 tonnes per quarter
(equivalent to 1 million tonnes per annum), and accordingly 37,141t of medium
grade material at a grade of 3.0 g/t gold was treated in addition to the mined
production during the quarter.
Avoca?s Managing Director, Mr Rohan Williams, said ?The June quarter has proven to be a
watershed period for Avoca, with an excellent quarterly production result of
over 52,000 ounces.?
?Both
the mining rate at Trident and the treatment rate at the plant are in excess of
the 1 Mtpa designs, and the 5.3 g/t gold reserve
grades,? Mr Williams said.
?The June quarter result clearly
highlights Trident?s achievement as a significant new
high-grade underground gold mine, and the result is a testament to the excellent
efforts of our site personnel at Higginsville, and the quality of our
operations,? said Mr Williams
?Avoca
remains confident it will produce 190,000+ ounces in the next financial year at
an estimated cash operating cost of A$468 per ounce.?
Figure 1 below shows the marked improvement in
quarterly gold production since the inception of mining from Trident which
commenced in early July 2008.
Please follow the link
below to view an image of Figure 1: Quarterly production for
FY2009 showing the marked increase in June?s
result to 52,118
ounces at a head grade of 5.5 g/t gold. Total production
for Avoca?s first year as a
gold producer was 130,594 ounce:
http://www..purplecom.com.au/_content/documents/1245.JPG
For further information please
contact:
Avoca Resources: Rohan Williams, 08 9226 0625
Purple
Communications: Warrick
Hazeldine, 08 6314 6300 / 0417 944
616
Please Note:
Not for dissemination in
the United States,
or over U.S.
newswire services.
Footnotes:
1. All cash costs reported are exclusive of royalties.
Avoca
Background
Avoca is an ASX 200 gold mining
and exploration company based in Perth, Western Australia.
Avoca has grown rapidly since its listing in 2002, and its acquisition of the
Higginsville exploration project in 2004, located 130km south of Kalgoorlie.
Following the discovery of the
Trident underground gold mine at Higginsville in late 2004, and the subsequent
construction of the Higginsville Gold Project which included a new 1 million tonne per annum CIL treatment facility built on time and
under budget; it poured its first gold bar on 1
July 2008. The time taken from exploration project acquisition
to gold pour was exactly four years. Presently, Trident is Western
Australia?s third largest
underground gold mine and has recently commenced mining the thick and high
grade 1005 level, which has contributed to record gold production levels.
Avoca remains confident it will produce 190,000+ ounces of gold in FY2010 at an
operating cash cost of A$468 per ounce (not including
royalties).
Avoca has a highly credentialed
management team with considerable expertise in exploration, project development
and underground mining. Avoca?s managing
director, Rohan Williams, has more than 15 years
experience in the region having worked as a geologist at the +15 million ounce
St Ives field immediately north of Higginsville, and the +6 million ounce
Norseman field immediately to the south.
The Avoca Board is confident that its management team
will continue to expand and develop the existing 1.45 million ounce
Higginsville resource base into realising its goal of
a +10 year mine life for Higginsville.
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