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NEWS-LEADING DEVELOPMENTS 6 E&MJ; • JULY 2017 www.e-mj.com and Roscoe Postle Associates, with in- puts from technical studies completed by other consultants. Gold Reserve Receives First Payment From Venezuela Gold Reserve Inc. reported it has entered an amendment to the settlement agree- ment with the Bolivarian Republic of Ven- ezuela. Under the terms of the amended settlement agreement, Venezuela will pay Gold Reserve a total of $1.032 billion as result of negotiations of the parties to sat- isfy the arbitral award granted in favor of the company by the International Centre for Settlement Investment Disputes, in- cluding the price agreed for the mining data related to the Brisas property. Venezuela has paid Gold Reserve an initial installment of $40 million and will pay the balance of the amount owed in installments over the next two years. Ven- ezuela's obligations will be partially collat- eralized with Venezuelan sovereign debt. The company and its Venezuela coun- terparts also ratified their commitment to move forward toward the future devel- opment and creation of the joint venture named Empresa Mixta Ecosocialista Siem- bra Minera S.A., and continue to strength- en the Venezuelan productive economy. Gold Reserve is headquartered in Spokane, Washington. The Brisas pro- ject has historic estimated resources of more than 11 million oz of gold and 1.6 million lb of copper. Nornickel Completes 30% Expansion of Talnakh Nickel-Copper Concentrator Norilsk Nickel (Nornickel) has complet- ed commissioning of a 30% expansion of throughput capacity and modernization of the Talnakh concentrator at its Polar divi- sion in north-central Russia. Total through- put capacity has increased from 7.6 million to 10.2 million mt/y of ore; target nickel and copper recovery rates and the target quality of nickel-pyrrhotite and copper con- centrates have been reached; and metal losses to tailings have been reduced. The plant is meeting its metal production tar- gets while utilizing less smelting capacity. Total capex to complete the Talnakh expansion exceeded 47 billion rubles (about $850 million). In addition to higher operating efficien- cy and increased throughput, the Talnakh upgrade program also aimed at reducing the plant's environmental footprint. High- er sulphur disposal to tailings combined with the shutdown of an out-of-date nickel smelter have helped reduce sulphur diox- ide emissions in the Norilsk industrial dis- trict. An inability to capture sulphur at the old smelter — in production since 1943 — became the main factor for implementa- tion of a comprehensive project for its clo- sure, which was completed in mid-2016. The major modernization project at the Talnakh concentrator was launched in 2014. Reconstruction and technical upgrades included expansion of the main building, installation of a Metso Miner- als SAG mill with 10.2 million mt/y of throughput capacity, and new flotation machines and fine grinding mills. A new tailings pit was developed that will sig- nificantly reduce fresh water usage and environmental impact. The new Metso SAG mill replaces 10 conventional ball mills and will cut size-re- duction energy and repair and mainte- nance labor costs by approximately an order of magnitude. Cost for the mill re- placement came in at about $21 million. "Upgrade of the Talnakh concentrator is a key element of our downstream re- configuration program, aiming at raising the operating efficiency of our business and reducing the environmental footprint of Nornickel's production sites," said Nornickel First Vice President Sergey Dyachenko. "In March 2017, the Tal- nakh concentrator reached the target- ed throughput capacity, and in April, it reached its design parameters. Going forward, we will focus on enhancing the concentrator's operating performance." Asanko Planning Major Expansions at Ghana Gold Operations Asanko Gold Inc. has announced the re- sults of a definitive feasibility study of a staged expansion of its Asanko gold op- erations in southwest Ghana from current plant throughput of 3 million metric tons per year (mt/y), first to 5 million mt/y and then to 10 million mt/y. Plant feed for current operations derives from the Nkran open pit and satellite pits in close proximity to the plant. A new mining operation will be developed on the large-scale Esaase depos- it 27 kilometers (km) from the plant to pro- vide the majority of future plant feed, and a conveyor belt will be built to carry crushed ore from Esaase to the expanded plant. The initial expansion of processing plant throughput capacity to 5 million mt/y has been approved by the Asanko board, and construction is in progress. Comple- tion of this expansion is planned for the fourth quarter of 2017. Capital costs are estimated at $22 million. Plant feed for the expanded plant will generated by ex- panding the mining rate at currently active pits to 5 million mt/y. Mining and process- ing at the 5-million-mt/y rate are sched- uled to be up and running in early 2018. The Asanko board will consider the optimal timing for the development of the Esaase open pit and the conveyor based on the company's balance sheet, cash position and market conditions. Capital costs to develop the pit and associated infrastructure are estimated at $32 mil- lion. Capital costs for conveyor construc- tion are estimated at $78 million. Total capital costs for the expansion to 5 million mt/y are estimated at approxi- mately $150 million. Construction of the conveyor, including commissioning, is scheduled to take 18 months, once a decision to proceed with construction is in place. Initial production from Esaase will be at a rate of 2 million mt/y, at which time production from exist- ing pits will be cut back to 3 million mt/y. The conveyor will be built with suffi- cient capacity to handle Esaase produc- tion for both the initial plant expansion to 5 million mt/y and for the subsequent expansion to 10 million mt/y. On a stand-alone basis, the initial ex- pansion to 5 million mt/y would produce 230,000 ounces (oz)/y of gold over a 20- year mine life at all-in sustaining costs of $968/oz. Following completion of expan- sion of plant throughput to 10 million mt/y, production will average 450,000 oz/y of gold at steady-state operations for eight years at all-in sustaining costs of $890/oz. Esaase mineral reserves currently stand at 62.6 million mt grading 1.46 g/mt gold for 2.94 million oz of contained gold. Total capital costs to expand mining operations and plant throughput to 10 mil- lion mt/y are estimated at $350 million. Timing of construction of the expansion to 10 million mt/y will be dependent on Asanko's ability to predominantly fund the project from internal cash flow, supported by debt financing and market conditions. (Continued on p. 30)