Frontier Mining shares lifted by first gold pour at Kuskuduk deposit in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan operating gold producer and copper developer Frontier Mining (LON:FML) announced it has commenced gold production at its Koskuduk deposit. Shares in the company rallied 7.5% on the news in early trade.
the group has so far shipped Dore containing 289 oz (ounces) gold and 1,890 oz of silver to Metalor AG in Switzerland. All of the Dore, which consists of 113 ounces of gold and 341 ounces of silver from Koskuduk ore with the balance coming from 2009 Naimanjal stockpiles, was produced at the Koskuduk production facility.
“The first gold pour at Koskuduk confirms the excellent work that our FMLK team has already achieved at this deposit. To build the plant and achieve gold production within six months, during one of the harshest winters in recent times, is an exceptional performance and also reinforces management's decision to re-evaluate the company's strategy and shift focus from Naimanjal to Koskuduk,” said chief executive Erlan Sagadiev.

Frontier plans to spend US$2.8 million at Koskuduk this year after spending US$0.8 million last year, expecting it to provide 10,000 oz (ounces) of gold from 500,000 tonnes of ore in 2010.

Back in March, the company secured the extension of the licence period over the Koskuduk, Baitimir, Naimanjal, Beschoku and associated satellite deposits from the government, which allocated the company 12 months to confirm its reserves and submit its development working programme for those reserves.
The total resource at the Naimanjal project, which hosts all these deposits, stands at 1 Moz (million ounces). The company’s Benkala project has a resource of 2.8 Mt (million tones) of copper along with associated gold and molybdenum.