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20 E&MJ; • MARCH 2016 www.e-mj.com REGIONAL NEWS - ASIA Parliamentary Resolution Advances Centerra's Gatsuurt Gold Project Centerra Gold reported in early February that the Mongolian Parliament has passed a resolution setting the state ownership interest in Centerra's proposed Gatsuurt gold project at 34% and authorizing the government to complete negotiations with Centerra on the terms of such ownership. Final agreements will include a deposit development agreement and an invest- ment agreement. Assuming successful completion of these agreements, Centerra will under- take economic and technical studies to update the existing studies on the proj- ect, which were completed and pub- lished in May 2006. As part of this work, the company will undertake a pro- gram of exploration drilling, aimed at substantially expanding the Gatsuurt oxide resource, and additional hydroge- ological drilling. Following completion of the final agreements, Centerra expects to pro- vide an update on the timeline for com- pletion of these studies and drilling and for the start of project development. Centerra CEO Scott Perry said, "The parliamentary resolution is a very important next step in advancing the Gatsuurt project. The project repre- sents an exciting opportunity to use Centerra's existing Boroo mill and other infrastructure to develop the 1.6-mil- lion-oz Gatsuurt deposit with very mod- est initial capital investment. "The company will now focus on finalizing the investment agreements with the government of Mongolia. We look forward to developing Gatsuurt so we can continue to operate in Mongolia for many more years to come." The Gatsuurt project is located approximately 55 km by road from Centerra's existing Boroo mine and mill. The company plans to truck Gatsuurt ore to the Boroo mill for processing. The current plan calls for processing approximately 3.6 million metric tons (mt) of CIP ore (oxides) at an average grade of 2.86 g/mt through the existing Boroo facility during the Gatsuurt pro- ject's first 2.5 operating years. During this time, a BIOX facility will be added to the Boroo plant to process the remaining Gatsuurt sulphide ores, which total approximately 13.5 million mt at an average grade of 2.92 g/mt. The Gatsuurt project's estimated mineral reserves as of December 31, 2014, totaled 17.1 million mt at an average grade of 2.9 g/mt gold, con- taining 1.6 million oz of gold using a cut-off grade of 1.4 g/mt. The reserve estimate was based on a gold price of $1,300/oz. CSH Mine Output Will Boost China Gold's 2016 Production Estimate China Gold International Resources reported that it expects to increase total gold production from its Chinese opera- tions to about 235,000 oz while copper production is expected to be steady at about 38.6 million lb. Most of the increase in gold production will be from the Chang Shan Hao (CSH) gold mine in Inner Mongolia. Consolidated gold production at CSH and Jiama during 2015 was 228,508 oz, which was 26% more than the 180,674 oz produced in 2014. The 2015 total also surpassed the compa- ny's guidance of 226,000 oz. CSH gold production increased by 25% to 204,471 oz in 2015 and the mine is expected to produce about 219,000 oz in 2016. Gold production from the Jiama cop- per-gold polymetallic mine in Tibet Autonomous Region increased by 39% from 17,231 oz in 2014 to 24,037 oz in 2015. Copper production increased by 24% to 38.1 million lb in 2015. It was the fifth successive year of increas- ing production at Jiama and the compa- ny exceeded its 2015 expected copper production guidance of 37.5 million lb. China Gold International expects its 2016 production from Jiama to be approximately 38.6 million lb of copper and 16,000 oz of gold. The management considers this level of production to be optimal given the current copper price environment. The mine has sufficient capacity to increase production in a time- ly manner when copper prices recover. A recent Mongolian government resolution will allow negotiations with Centerra Gold to proceed, defining the terms of ownership for the Gatsuurt property. (Photo Centerra Gold)