Hambledon Mining

• 15/05/12

  Drilling Update

• 30/04/12

  Total Voting Rights

• 25/04/12

  Holding(s) in Company

• 25/04/12

  Potential share fraud

• 20/04/12

  Production Update

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  20/04/12

  Hambledon Mining shares gain as it reveals rising gold production

  Hambledon Mining shares mounted something of a fight back this morning as it revealed rising gold production for the first quarter at the Sekisovskoye mine.

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  20/04/12

  Hambledon Mining reveals rising gold production at Sekisovskoye mine

   

  Production was helped by the efforts last year to ‘winterise’ operations. Mined output increased 18 per cent while produced gold ounces grew by 9.4 per cent.

   

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  15/09/11

  Hambledon Mining acquires two new Kazakh gold projects to boost future production

  The new projects will help boost the group’s output in Kazakhstan where it is already working to expand the Sekisovskoye mine. The most advanced of the new projects could begin gold production in the first half of 2013.

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  04/05/11

  Hambledon Mining’s improved financials give further evidence of turnaround at Sekisovskoye

  The Kazakhstan-based gold miner’s financial results provide further evidence of the turnaround in production at the Sekisovskoye mine according to the firm's broker Ambrian Capital - who upgraded its price target from 6.5 to 8 pence a share this morning.

   

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  12/04/11

  Hambledon reveals the early signs of progress as first quarter production rises 72pct

  Hambledon Mining this morning confirmed it will begin underground extraction at the Sekisovskoye mine in Kazakhstan in the fourth quarter as it revealed gold production from its open pit operation had increased by more than 72 per cent in the first three months of the year. 

• 15/05/12

  Hambledon Mining shares up as reveals further drill results

• 09/05/12

  Hambledon Mining - EBRD invests in Kazakhstan gold miner

• 25/04/12

  Hambledon tells shareholders to be alert as it warns on potential share scam

• 11/04/12

  Hambledon Mining confirms US$3 mln cash boost from EBRD investment

• 10/04/12

  Hambledon Mining’s expansion plans hit by acquisition delay and govt fines

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  03/03/2012

  Stocktube video - Hambledon Mining CEO says by the end of the year the underground mine will be flourishing

  1.3.12 Tim Daffern, CEO of Hambledon Mining (LON:HMB), tells Proactiveinvestors that 2012 will be a year of progress and that the underground mine, having been constructed early and under budget, has a target of producing 100,000 tons of rock this year and by December will be “flourishing”.
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  01/03/2012

  Hambledon Mining One2One Investor Presentation-1st March 2012 (PDF)

  Hambledon Mining One2One Investor Presentation-1st March 2012
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  01/03/2012

  Hambledon Mining - EBRD invests in Kazakhstan gold miner

  Tim Daffern, CEO of Hambledon Mining, talks about investment by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, cash costs coming down in 2012, producing around 30,000 ounces of gold this year, increasing to over 100,000 ounces/year over five years, and the new acquisition becoming cash generative next year
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  07/07/2011

  Hambledon Mining One2One Presentation - 7th July (PDF)

  Hambledon Mining One2One Presentation - 7th July
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  09/06/2011

  Stocktube video - Tim Daffern at Hambledon Mining says it’s on the cusp of growing gold production

  Tim Daffern, CEO at Hambledon Mining (LON:HMB), tells Proactive Investors that the company is targeting 2mln oz of gold and just over 3mln oz of silver, ultimately producing gold at a net rate of 4.2gms per tonne. By 2016, at the current gold price, the company is expecting to throw off $50mln free cash per year. Tim also talks of the opportunities to acquire other gold miners in Kazakhstan.

The Sekisovskoye open pit mine had been worked by the Soviets from 1976. Exploration and metallurgical studies were carried out from 1979 to 1994 on the open pit and underground ore bodies.

Hambledon Mining acquired the mining rights held by TOO Sekisovskoye in 1994. The mining licence is valid until 18 July 2020 with a contractual right to extend.

In 2004, Hambledon listed on AIM, raising £2.5m (gross) at 5p per share. It subsequently built a brand new treatment plant capable of treating 850,000 tonnes per annum for $25m. In all, the Company spent just $40m on its mining and treatment plant facilities.

In May 2007, Hambledon acquired a processing plant at Ognevka from its creditors in bankruptcy. In the past, it had treated tantalum, niobium, lithium and feldspar from ores located below the plant, and more recently had been treating zinc clinker containing high values of copper, gold and silver. It was intended to re-open it to treat some of these minerals, but is currently on care and maintenance,

Various modifications have been made to the plant and the crushing circuit, enhancing its capacity up to 1m tonnes per annum. In September 2009, Hambledon raised £2.8m from shareholders to enable it to proceed with its long stated aim of developing the underground pit.

The Hambledon Mission:

To maximise the value of the business by development and continuous improvement of gold assets in Kazakhstan.

• Expansion at existing mines

• Productivity and cost improvements

• Identifying and developing new gold based projects

• Respect local communities and promote schemes

  for their benefit

The Sekisovskoye deposit

The mineral rights at Sekisovskoye are held by a 100% owned subsidiary. TOO Sekisovskoye and the processing plant is held by the 100% owned subsidiary TOO Altai Ken-Bayitu.

Image above shows Plant Entrance

Location
The Sekisovskoye deposit is located at the village of Sekisovka , approximately 40 kilometres from the East Kazakhstan regional capital, Ust Kamenogorsk. The road from Ust Kamenogorsk to Sekisovka is sealed and provides the main route between Ust Kamenogorsk and Ridder (formerly Leninogorsk) and further on in to Russia.

Geology & Mineralisation

The deposit occurs in the northwest marginal zone of the 40 thousand sq.km Rudny Altai Palaeozoic metallogenic belt that occupies the eastern border of Kazakhstan and the Altaisky region of Russia. The mineral hosting intrusives are of late Devonian age.

Hambledon's extensive infill diamond drilling programmes within the upper horizons of the deposit have provided a higher confidence in the delineation of the gold zones, which better reflects the complexity of the gold distributions, in both shape and spatial continuity. Consequently, the number of mineralised zones has increased significantly: totalling 244 zones within the higher levels above the 250m elevation and a total of 307 zones for potential underground exploitation below the 250m level. True thickness of these tabular-like zones may change rapidly along strike and down dip, with a maximum delineated thickness of 45m, and the continuity of mineralisation may reach 700m downdip and 150m along strike. Most of these zones are parallel to sub-parallel within the hosting breccia pipe, with dips averaging 65 to 80 degrees northeasterly. It has now been shown that several of the “barren” igneous dykes within the hosting breccias can contain noteworthy gold levels and these have been incorporated into the modelling of the gold zones.

Gold is associated with hydrothermal alteration of the breccia zone matrix and also with hydrothermal sulphide veining. A high percentage of the gold occurs as intergrowths and free grains, with only a minor percentage locked within sulphides. Gold particles can be coarse, up to 0.4mm, and this contributes to an erratic grade distribution, in addition to the presence of unmineralised breccia fragments. CRS suggest that the presence of listvenite alteration indicates that the gold and silver mineralization may have emanated from hydrothermal solutions that developed from differentiated deep-seated ultrabasic magmas.

Exploration

The priority given to resolving production issues at Sekisovskoye restrained exploration activity in 2008 but a limited amount of exploration was carried out at Tserkovka. Though no significant discoveries were made, we plan to undertake bulk sampling of the surface exposure of its ore zones. By extracting and processing a total of 2,200 tonnes of ore at an expected grade of 2.45 grammes per tonne, we will determine the grade more accurately than is possible from sampling in this highly variable deposit. Former Soviet assessments showed higher grades and tonnes. If the bulk sampling exercise proves successful, further exploration will be carried out. In accordance with the terms of the subsoil use licence 30 per cent. of the 29 square kilometres of licensed territory at Tserkovka has been relinquished.

At Sekisovskoye, once we have established the initial underground decline, we plan to drill 183 holes totalling 24,000 metres from the 320m, 240m and 120m levels in order to upgrade the reliability of the resource estimate and as part of the project approval process. Test-mining will take place on orebody 11 from level 240m up to level 400m.

Our geologists have been researching other potential deposits which might be available in Kazakhstan, either by taking new licences from government or by contract with existing owners. Several potential targets have been identified and initial discussions have been held with the appropriate authorities. For the present, the government of Kazakhstan has suspended such negotiations generally, although we expect them to restart later in 2009.

Mining

The current open pit design consists of some 4.2 million tonnes of ore at a gold grade (diluted) of 1.2 g/t and a stripping ratio of 4.7:1, estimated to yield 213,352 ounces of gold and 366,280 of silver. This pit was deliberately curtailed in depth because of the benefit of keeping use of certain existing underground development which reduces the cost of mining from underground ore which would otherwise be economic from open pit. In the light of recent rises in the gold price this plan is being reviewed.

The initial planned mining rate of 850,000 tonne per annum gave a pit life of approximately 5 years. Mining operations are conventional drill and blast with excavator and truck haulage. Mining is carried out by Sekisovskoye’s own mining fleet as a detailed cost analysis conducted prior to commencement of operations showed there were considerable cost savings to be gained. The mining fleet consists of two Hitachi Zaxis 850H, 85 tonne excavators with a fleet of 45 tonne BelAZ 7547 mining trucks. The addition of a Kaneks EK450 45 tonne excavator in August 2009 has increased mine capacity which will enable mining operations to satisfy the enhanced capacity of the process plant. Drilling is carried out using Atlas Copco COPL7 drilling rigs. Ancillary mining equipment is a mixture of Russian and Chinese equipment.

For further information please Click Here.

George Eccles - Chairman (Non-Executive)

George graduated with a law degree from the London School of Economics and then trained as a Chartered Accountant. He became a Partner in the London office of Deloitte Haskins & Sells before moving to Moscow where he was a Partner in Coopers & Lybrand and later in Deloitte & Touche. More recently, he has worked in Kazakhstan as Chief Operating Officer of the Central Asian-American Enterprise Fund, a US government sponsored development fund. George is a member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees.

Nicholas Bridgen - Non-Executive Director

Nicholas trained in London with Peat Marwick Mitchell & Co. (now KPMG) as a Chartered Accountant and then spent 14 years with Rio Tinto plc group accounting, business evaluation and group planning. From 1995 he worked for companies operating in the FSU. In 1997 he formed Hambledon Mining Company (the forerunner of Hambledon Mining plc.). From then until 2010 he was Chief Executive of the Company. He lived in Kazakhstan with his family for 7 years and speaks Russian. He now lives in Kazakhstan.

Tim Daffern - Chief Executive

Tim Joined the Company in November 2010 from Angel Mining Plc where he was director of mining and exploration. He gained an honours degree in mining engineering from the University of New South Wales with a masters in business administration from the Open University.  He has more than 22 years of experience of both underground and open pit operations in Australia, Europe, the FSU and Kazakhstan. Tim is a Fellow of the Institution of Minerals, Mining & Metallurgy, and of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.

Baurzhan Yerkeev - Executive Director, General Director, TOO Altai Ken-Bayitu

Baurzhan has a degree from the Tomsk Polytechnic Institute, Geological Faculty (Russia). He is an experienced exploration geologist, with extensive knowledge of Kazakhstan, the CIS and Altai Region (where Sekisovskoye is located). He has managed projects for the State Geophysical-Geochemical Expedition and the State Exploration Expedition. More recently, he has been a director of CRS, the Company's geological consultants. Baurzhan is experienced in working with the various State bodies responsible for approving the Company's development plans and has worked with many western and local companies. He has received specialist training in the UK from Datamine International and is a qualified Datamine trainer.

William Morgan - CFO & Company Secretary

Bill is a UK Chartered Accountant with 30 years accountancy and financial management experience. He has worked in the UK, Russia, the Far East, Africa and previously in Kazakhstan between 1994 and 1997. He has been instrumental in several successful start-ups and restructuring of companies, in the telecoms and mining industries.

Updated from Hambledon Mining website 19.03.2012

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