Shares in gold miner G-Resources rose 10 per cent yesterday after the company announced an increase in the size of its resources at the Martabe gold and silver project in Indonesia.
The recently completed drilling programme at its Ramba Joring deposit resulted in an inferred resource of 1.2 million ounces of gold and 5.2 million ounces of silver. The gold grades ranged between 1.07 grams and 6.96 grams per tonne.
'Our latest drilling results complement results announced by G-Resources and others previously. They underline the terrific potential of this mine,' said G-Resources vice-chairman Owen Hegarty. He said the company planned to start another drilling programme to explore and expand the overall resource base.
G-Resources had originally expected to start production at the mine in the first quarter of next year but had to delay this until the fourth quarter after torrential rains earlier this year forced the company to change the location of its plant site. This has increased the original capital cost of the mine by US$80 million to as much as US$440 million.
Hegarty stressed that the company had sufficient funds to complete the mine pre-production work and did not expect the company to raise additional capital.
G-Resources was formed last year through a back-door listing after its controlling shareholders bought Smart Rich Energy Holdings. The company then changed its name, raised US$587 million and acquired the Martabe project from Oz Minerals for US$211 million.
