Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST), the dividend paying gold producer and explorer, has delivered a sizable increase to reserves and resources at the company's Paulsens Gold Project in Western Australia.
JORC Reserves increase 81% to 204,000 gold ounces at 5.3g/t, with the grade up 23%. Total JORC Resources increase by 38% to 555,000 gold ounces at 5.7g/t after 50,250 ounces of mining depletion, with the grade up 14%.
Paulsens revised inventory does not include a series of outstanding drilling results recorded so far this year, which have been as high as 1135g/t. These results, along with those from ongoing drilling, will be included in a further upgrade expected later this year.
Paulsens Gold Mine now joins the +1 million ounce single deposit club, comprising gold mined plus current resources.
Importantly the revised inventory gives Paulsens +5-year mine life based on a strong historical conversion of Resources into mineral inventory, with the resource upgrade including a 156% increase in the Upper Levels at Paulsens which will provide supplementary ore for 5-7 years.
Paulsens is set to produce 100,000 - 115,000 ounces this calendar year, with total costs running at A$850-A$950/oz, generating up to $85 million in surplus cash.
Northern Star just declared a $0.01 interim dividend, following the $0.025 final dividend of late last year, putting the company on a 4% fully-franked yield.
The company had cash, bullion and investments of $62 million at the end of 2012.
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