Mine-Life Extended by 1.5 years Until Q4-2011 VANCOUVER, Sept. 8
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- (All figures in US dollars except where
noted) - Northgate Minerals Corporation (TSX: NGX, AMEX: NXG) is
pleased to announce that exploration drilling since February 2008
has identified approximately 880,000 tonnes of additional mineral
reserves at its Stawell Gold Mine located in Victoria, Australia.
These newly defined reserves contain 140,000 ounces of gold and
will extend the current mine-life by an additional 18 months until
the fourth quarter of 2011. Reserve Highlights - 140,000 ounces of
additional gold reserves have been delineated in only five months
at a cost of $20/ounce. - Stawell's mine-life has been extended for
an additional 18 months until Q4-2011. - The new GG6 reserve zone
averages 6.0 g/t gold, which is approximately 15% higher than the
reserve grade in other areas of the mine. - GG6 remains open to the
north, where there is excellent potential to add additional high
grade reserves. - High-grade mineralization intersected below GG6
has provided additional exploration targets, which will further
enhance the GG6 zone. Ken Stowe, President and Chief Executive
Officer, remarked, "At the onset of acquiring the Stawell Gold
Mine, Northgate allocated $7 million to fund an aggressive 2008
exploration program, which focused on numerous near mine targets
including GG6 and North Magdala. We are pleased to report that
after only five months of drilling, we have already added another
18 months of reserves at Stawell, extending the current mine-life
to the fourth quarter of 2011. These exploration results confirm
what we believed from the very beginning, that there are many more
years of life left at the Stawell mine, which has already had a
25-year history of continuous operation with low discovery costs."
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Overview of Reserve Additions A total of 140,000 ounces of
additional gold reserves were delineated in the first half of 2008
at Stawell at a finding cost of approximately $20 per ounce.
Reserves were increased in all areas of the mine, through a
combination of exploration drilling, resource definition drilling,
and grade control drilling. The largest area of reserve addition is
the GG6 zone where 61,000 ounces of reserves and 24,000 ounces
of inferred resources have thus far been delineated. The basalt
contact gold mineralization in GG6 averages 11.0 g/t gold and
overall, GG6 reserves average 6.0 g/t gold, which is 15% greater
than the reserve grade in other areas of the mine. All additional
ounces have been added to the underground reserves as detailed in
Table 1. Table 1 - Summary of Reserve Additions
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Zone Gold (ounces)
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Magdala 18,000 C7 10,000 U3 2,000 GG1 6,000 GG3 - Fury 5,000 GG3 -
Rimfire 3,000 GG5 - Statesman 23,000 GG5 - Open Flank 9,000 GG6
61,000 GG9 3,000
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Total Proven and Probable 140,000
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Mineral reserves and resources at the Stawell Gold Mine at June 30,
2008 are shown in Tables 2 and 3. Northgate will be filing a NI
43-101 Technical Report on SEDAR at http://www.sedar.com/ within
the next 45 days describing in detail the reserve additions at the
Stawell Gold Mine. Table 2 - Mineral Reserves: Stawell Gold Mine
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Mineral Reserves - Underground At June 30, 2008 Tonnes (000) Grade
(g/t) Gold (ounces)
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Proven - Underground 55 7.16 13,000 Probable - Underground 1,746
5.33 299,000 ------------------------------------------ Proven and
Probable - Underground 1,801 5.39 312,000
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Mineral Reserves - Surface At June 30, 2008 Tonnes (000) Grade
(g/t) Gold (ounces)
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Probable - Surface 488 1.68 26,000
------------------------------------------ Total Proven and
Probable Reserves 2,289 4.59 338,000
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Table 3 - Mineral Resources: Stawell Gold Mine
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Mineral Resources - Indicated At June 30, 2008 Tonnes (000) Grade
(g/t) Gold (ounces)
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Indicated - Underground 293 4.97 47,000 Indicated - Surface 2,958
2.08 198,000
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Total Indicated Resources 3,251 2.34 245,000
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Mineral Resources - Inferred At June 30, 2008 Tonnes (000) Grade
(g/t) Gold (ounces)
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Inferred - Underground 427 5.29 73,000 Inferred - Surface 106 2.44
8,000
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Total Inferred Resources 533 4.72 81,000
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Notes: 1. All mineral reserves and mineral resources were estimated
in accordance with the JORC Code and have been reconciled to CIM
Standards as prescribed by National Instrument 43-101. 2. Mineral
reserves and resources are rounded to 1,000 tonnes, 0.1 g/t gold
and 1,000 ounces. Minor discrepancies in summations may occur due
to rounding. 3. Mineral reserves and resources were calculated
using a gold price of A$825/oz at June 30, 2008 and A$750/oz at
December 31, 2007. Revised Mine Plan The revised mine plan for
Stawell extends the life of the mine until the fourth quarter of
2011, adding approximately 126,000 recovered ounces of gold
production to the previous plan. Estimated annual production in
future years is shown in Table 4. Development towards GG6, which
contains 61,000 ounces of reserves and 24,000 ounces of inferred
resources, is scheduled to begin in March 2009. Table 4 - Stawell
Gold Mine Production Profile
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2008 2009 2010 2011
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Gold Production (ounces) 105,000 103,000 106,000 82,000
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Continuation of the 2008 Exploration Program The purpose of the
2008 exploration program at Stawell is to convert mineral resources
into the mineral reserve category and to extend the current mine
life. Since Northgate acquired the Stawell Gold Mine in February
2008, 112 drill holes have been completed totalling approximately
19,600 metres. The reserve and resource figures included in this
news release include assay results for drill holes completed prior
to July 1, 2008. Exploration drilling in the GG6 and North Magdala
zones is continuing with the aim of defining additional near mine
reserve ounces that can be readily accessed and mined. Exploration
results from the main GG6 reserve zone (Concord block) indicate
that the zone remains open 150 metres along strike to the north
(North Concord block) where there is excellent potential to add
additional high grade resources. Similar exploration potential
exists in the zones above and below the Concord block as shown in
Figure 1. Exploration drilling has also indicated that there is
additional potential for resource additions below the Gamay fault
where drill holes MD5281 and MD5282 intersected high grade gold
mineralization similar to GG6. Figure 1 - GG6 Zone
http://www.northgateminerals.com/Theme/Northgate/files/Releases/GG6-Jul08.jpg
Northgate is continuing to revisit, through geological modeling and
resource definition drilling programs, previously-mined areas of
mineralization in the upper reaches of the mine, with the goal of
finding additional resource and reserve ounces. The main area of
interest in this regard is the Magdala zone shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 - Stawell Gold Mine Long Section
http://www.northgateminerals.com/Theme/Northgate/files/Releases/LS-SGM-Jul08.gif
Qualified Persons The program design, implementation, quality
assurance/quality control and interpretation of the results is
under the control of Northgate's geological staff that includes a
number of individuals who are qualified persons as defined under NI
43-101. Overall supervision of the program is by Dean Fredericksen,
BSc(Hons), MAusIMM, Principal Consultant, Fredericksen Geological
Solutions Pty. Ltd. on behalf of Northgate Australian Ventures
Corporation Pty. Ltd. Note to US Investors: The terms "Mineral
Reserve", "Proven Mineral Reserve" and "Probable Mineral Reserve"
are Canadian mining terms as defined in accordance with NI 43-101
Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects under the guidelines
set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and
Petroleum (the "CIM") Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral
Reserves Definitions and Guidelines adopted by the CIM Council on
August 20, 2000. The terms "Mineral Resource", "Measured Mineral
Resource", "Indicated Mineral Resource", and "Inferred Mineral
Resource" used in this news release are Canadian mining terms as
defined in accordance with NI 43-101-Standards of Disclosure for
Mineral Projects under the guidelines set out in the CIM Standards.
Northgate Minerals Corporation is a mid-tier gold and copper
producer with mining operations, development projects and
exploration properties in Canada and Australia. The company is
forecasting 385,000 ounces of unhedged gold production in 2008 and
is targeting growth through further acquisitions in stable mining
jurisdictions around the world. Northgate is listed on the Toronto
Stock Exchange under the symbol NGX and on the American Stock
Exchange under the symbol NXG. Forward-Looking Statements: This
news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" and
"forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian and U.S.
securities laws. Forward-looking statements generally can be
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may,"
"will," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "believe," or
"continue" or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar
terminology. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a
number of estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to
significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and
contingencies. Certain of the statements made herein, including any
information as to the future activities of and developments related
to the business activities of Northgate Minerals Corporation
(Northgate) and its subsidiaries, the market position, and future
financial or operating performance of Northgate, are
forward-looking and subject to important risk factors and
uncertainties, many of which are beyond the corporations' ability
to control or predict. Known and unknown factors could cause actual
results to differ materially from those projected in the
forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others:
gold price volatility; impact of any hedging activities, including
margin limits and margin calls; discrepancies between actual and
estimated production, between actual and estimated reserves and
resources and between actual and estimated metallurgical
recoveries; costs of production, capital expenditures, costs and
timing of construction and the development of new deposits, success
of exploration activities and permitting time lines; changes in
national and local government legislation, taxation, controls,
regulations and political or economic developments in any of the
countries in which either corporation does or may carry out
business in the future; risks of sovereign investment; the
speculative nature of gold exploration, development and mining,
including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits;
dilution; competition; loss of key employees; additional funding
requirements; and defective title to mineral claims or property. In
addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business
of gold exploration, development and mining, including
environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected
formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and gold bullion losses
(and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain
insurance, to cover these risks), as well as the factors described
or referred to in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in
Northgate's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31,
2006 or under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in Northgate's
2006 annual report, both of which are available on SEDAR at
http://www.sedar.com/, and which should be reviewed in conjunction
with this document. Accordingly, readers should not place undue
reliance on forward-looking statements. Neither corporation
undertakes any obligation to update publicly or release any
revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date of this document or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events, except in each case as required
by law. DATASOURCE: Northgate Minerals Corporation CONTACT: Ms.
Keren R. Yun, Director, Investor Relations, Tel: (416) 216-2781,
Email: , Website: http://www.northgateminerals.com/
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