2015 Year-End Reserve and Resource Update

2015 Year-End Reserve and Resource Update

published: 26 February 2016

Centerra Gold Inc. and Kumtor Gold Company have updated their 2015 year-end estimates for reserves and resources at Kumtor
The Companies have used a gold price of US$1,2003 per ounce as the basis for their reserve estimates.

Reserves

At the Kumtor mine, in the Kyrgyz Republic, proven and probable gold reserves decreased by 495,000 contained ounces, after accounting for processing of 658,000 contained ounces in 2015. In 2015, reconciliation of production against the KS2014YE resource model was very good for total ounces produced, but the model continued to over-estimate tonnage in the +3 g/t fraction and under-estimate tonnage in the 1.1 g/t to 3 g/t fraction. For this reason, a new resource model, KS2015YE was developed for 2015 year-end reserve estimation and to incorporate additional in-fill drilling that had been completed during the year. As a result, 164,000 contained ounces were added and Kumtor’s proven and probable reserves now total an estimated 5.6 million ounces of contained gold (69.2 Mt at 2.5 g/t gold) including 4.1 million contained ounces of gold (44.3 Mt at 2.8 g/t gold) in the Central Pit at the end of December 2015. This compares to the previous total of proven and probable reserves at Kumtor of 6.1 million ounces as of December 31, 2014.

Resources

At Kumtor measured and indicated open pit resources decreased by 240,000 contained ounces of gold, to an estimated total 2.6 million contained ounces of gold (29.6 Mt at 2.7 g/t gold) at December 31, 2015.
Kumtor’s open pit measured resources increased by 313,000 contained ounces to an estimated 1.8 million contained ounces (19.5 Mt at 2.9 g/t gold) while indicated resources decreased by 553,000 contained ounces of gold to an estimated 777,000 contained ounces of gold (10.2 Mt at 2.4 g/t gold). These changes are attributable to the development of the new KS2015YE resource model, as discussed above, resulting in the lower grade and fewer ounces.
As of December 31, 2015, Kumtor’s inferred resource estimate totals 1.8 million contained ounces of gold (8.6 Mt at 6.5 g/t gold) of which 1.7 million estimated ounces of gold (4.7 Mt at 10.9 g/t gold) are contained within the high-grade underground inferred resources in the SB and Stockwork Zones.
There was a minor positive change in the 2015 year-end inferred underground resource estimate at the Stockwork Zone due to the reclassification of 54,000 contained ounces to the inferred category from the indicated resource category a year earlier.

Reserves and resources at Kumtor as of December 31, 2015*, **,****

Thousands of tonnes

Grade (g/t)

Contained gold

Thousands of oz

Tonnes

Gold reserves:
– proven  8,832 1.4 402 12.5
– probable 60,406 2.7 5,240 162.98
Total Reserves 69,239 2.5 5,641 175.46
Resources****,*****:
– measured Open Pit 19,450 2.9 1,787 55.58
– indicated Open Pit 10,151 2.4 777 24.17
Total Measured and Indicated Resources 29,602 2.7 2,564 79.75
Inferred Resources****,*****
– Open Pit 3,894 1.2 148 4.60
– Underground Stockwork Zone**** 931 11.6 348 10.82
– Underground SB Zone**** 3,806 10.7 1,315 40.9
Total Inferred Resources 8,631 6.5

 

1,811 56.33

1 – One Troy ounce equals to 31.10348 grammes
2 – Numbers may not add up due to rounding.
3 – Unless specified otherwise, all dollar figures in this news release are in US dollars
4 – The open pit reserves and resources at Kumtor are estimated based on a cut-off grade of 0.85 grams of gold per tonne for the Central Pit and 1.0 grams of gold per tonne for the Southwest and Sarytor deposits. Underground resources occur below the open pit resources shell and are estimated based on a cut-off grade of 6.0 grams of gold per tonne.
5- Open pit resources at Kumtor are constrained by a pit shell developed using a gold price of $1,450 per ounce.

About Centerra
Centerra Gold Inc. is a Canadian based gold mining company focused on operating, developing, exploring and acquiring gold properties in Asia, North America and other markets worldwide. Centerra is the largest Western-based gold producer in Central Asia. Centerra’s shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol CG. The Company is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Additional information on Centerra is available on the Company’s web site and at SEDAR.