Northern Star Resources has announced that its forecasts for significant increases in cash flow and production in 2013 remain firmly on track after drilling returned high grade results of up to 189gpt.
The results are important because they come from the high grade extension zone at Paulsens, which is at the heart of Northern Star's key performance forecasts for CY 2013.
The high grade extension zone has a resource grade of 25gpt compared with Paulsens' Voyager 1 historical mined grade of 8gpt.
This increase in head grade will underpin a rise in production to as much as 115,000oz in CY2013, lowering costs and resulting in surplus cash generation of USD 65 to USD 85 million next calendar year.
Northern Star has intersected the extension zone ahead of its initial timeframe of the December Quarter 2012, meaning the sharply higher grade ore will boost the project's production profile sooner. The second development level has recently been intersected in the extension zone with consistent high grade faces.
The high grade extension zone is part of the Voyager 1 lode, which is currently the main ore source at Paulsens and has produced 175,000 ounces over the past two years. The lode continues to be open down plunge and the Company believes this lode will continue to grow and be the mainstay for production for a number of years.
All these latest drilling results from Voyager 1 are excluded from the new resource estimate of 403,000oz1.
Plans to increase the mine and processing plant capacity to 450,000 tonnes per annum by the end of the year are on track. The major capital upgrade to the mine ventilation has been completed, with the new surface fan located on top of a 600 meters raise bore.
The new mobile mining fleet is further improving the mine productivity. July's record ore tonnage was beaten by 10% in the month of August, with 42,795 ore tonnes mined, equal to an annualized rate of 513,500 tonnes.
This mining rate is rapidly increasing the stockpiled ore tonnes on the surface. It is also important to note that the mine is now producing more than the expanded mill capacity.
The mill expansion is on track for completion by the end of the year. COMO Engineering have mobilized to site, formwork is underway with concrete currently being poured.
Mr Bill Beament MD of Northern Star said that "We are delivering on all our key forecasts and in some cases, such as the mine and plant expansion, we are beating our targets."
Source - Northern Star Resources Limited
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