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Operations & projects

Urals alluvial joint venture/Russia

Key facts

  1. Eurasia working in joint venture with Anglo Platinum,
    world's largest platinum mining company
  2. Anglo earning 50% interest by funding work to completion of feasibility study
  3. Bulk sampling in 2007 with mining planned in 2008.

An alluvial platinum programme in the Urals is being worked in joint venture with Anglo Platinum. Anglo is earning a 50% interest in the joint venture by funding 100% of costs up to the completion of a Feasibility Study.

Following satisfactory resolution of licensing issues, the Company resumed an exploration work programme in August 2005 ahead of planned test mining for platinum on its West Kytlim licence in the central Urals. Earlier work carried out in the area established grades of up to 500 milligrams per cubic metre (mg/m3) - well above the 100 mg/m3 required to be economic.

Initial work will focus on drilling and trenching to assess the extent and grade of platinum within metal bearing sediments in two river systems running through the 251-square kilometre licence. Both systems - the Tylai and the Kosva - include river terraces potentially containing un-mined platinum-bearing sediments, as well as 'tailings' of earlier mining operations which can be reworked to recover residual platinum using modern processing technologies.

In parallel with the drilling and trenching programme, bulk sampling and trial ore processing of up 10,000 cubic metres is planned, using a mobile concentrator rig which has been constructed by the Eurasia team.

Following the completion of detailed drilling and pitting on the Bolshoya Sosnovka area, the company is preparing to submit a reserve report to the authorities for approval. This is the first step in seeking to convert the licence from exploration to mining.