Proactiveinvestors Australia

Norseman Gold plc owns Australia ’s longest continuously running gold mining operation, which has produced over 5.5 million ounces of gold over a period of more than 70 years, and oversees manager performance.  The 2,360 sq km project, located in the highly prospective Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt in Eastern Gold fi elds, Western Australia , is managed and operated by resource specialist Tulla Resources Group Pty Ltd.  Tulla is currently undertaking a review of operations, with a view to increasing future production and reducing costs. 

There are currently two operating mines: the Harlequin high-grade underground gold mine; and the North Royal Open Pit mine.  Both mines feed the Phoenix gold processing plant, which utilises conventional milling and carbon-in-leach technology for the recovery of gold and has a total processing capacity of approximately 720,000 tonnes per annum. Other mines include OK, Bullen and Crown, which may be brought back into production in the future. 

The Norseman Gold Project’s potential has been demonstrated by its previous performance, when in 2009, at a time when only two of the mines were operational, a total of c. 80,000 ounces of gold was produced. 

Exploration aimed at increasing the lives of the mines is ongoing as does exploration across the wider project area aimed at increasing resources and identifying other mines to support future production.  Extensive data has already been amassed across all the tenements, demonstrating the huge potential of the entire project. 

HARLEQUIN DECLINE

Mining at the Harlequin mine, located 9 km north of Norseman and 11 km from the Phoenix Mill under Lake Cowan , a large salt lake, commenced in 1995.  Access to the mine is via twin 5.5 x 5.3 metre declines, located on the main landmass due to the dif fi culties developing through the lake mud sediment.  One decline serves for access and the other as an escape way / primary return airway.  Mining takes place at a depth of 200-700 metres below surface, focussed on the Red fi n, HV1, HV5, HV6, Marlin and Perch reefs. 

NORTH ROYAL OPEN PIT

The North Royal Open Pit mine lies 10 km from the Phoenix Mill and has historically produced 3.5 million tonnes of ore at a grade of 16 g/t for 1.8 million ounces of gold from both open pit and underground mining.  Current resources total 1.6 million tonnes at 11.6 g/t gold for 600,000 ounces.  Production recommenced in 2011, with hard rock being reached in early 2012. 

Drill programmes on extensional reef targets adjacent to the open pit support a significant extension to the mine life. 

EXPLORATION & DEVELOPMENT

The Norseman Project offers a plethora of project opportunities at all stages of development including three previously operating underground mines, Bullen, OK and Crown, which may be brought back into production in the future.  The wider project area provides signi fi cant potential for other high-grade gold mines to be developed.  Considerable data has already been amassed and a number of new targets generated.  Exploration programmes are ongoing.

The potential for magnetite iron ore also exists within sediment hosted iron formations of the Noganyer Formation.  Very little iron ore exploration has occurred at Norseman and the little that has taken place was invariably in conjunction with gold exploration.  The fact that there are thousands of metres of geological logging records and drill core available ready for assessment together with stored historic pulp drill samples means that the time to development would be considerably shorter than for a conventional iron ore project.

David Steinepreis (54) - Chairman 

David Christian Steinepreis (aged 54) is a Chartered Accountant and a former partner of International accounting firm, KPMG, where he specialised in strategic corporate advice and taxation for listed companies. In 1987, Mr Steinepreis entered commerce as a director, adviser and shareholder of a number of ASX listed companies in the gold, diamonds, oil and new mining technology sectors and since that time he has gained a reputation in the junior mining sector for building a series of successful enterprises in Australia and the UK.

Mr Steinepreis, a UK resident since 2006, is Managing Director of AIM listed North River Resources Plc and was formerly a director of Norseman Gold Plc, having resigned on 30 July 2010 to pursue other interests.

Gary Steinepreis (45) - Non Executive Director

Chairman of the Audit committee

Gary Steinepreis holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Western Australia and is a chartered accountant.  He provides corporate, management and accounting advice to a number of companies involved in the resource, technology and leisure industries. 

He is also currently  a director of  Minerals Corporation Ltd, New Horizon Minerals Ltd, WAG Limited, Monto Minerals NL and Agri Energy Limited companies listed on ASX.  Mr Steinepreis is also Managing Director of Ascent Capital and a 50% beneficial shareholder.

David Thomas - Exploration Manager

David Thomas is an exploration professional of 20 years experience in all facets of mineral exploration from grass roots to resource definition.  He has worked throughout Australia and in Africa in the search for gold, base metals and mineral sands.  David is a Chartered Professional (Geology) of the Australian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy and a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists.  David has previously held exploration management positions in multinational mining houses.

Directors Shareholdings As At 15 December 2011:

Major Shareholdings As Notified To The Company In Accordance With FSA's Disclosure And Transparency Rules As At 28 September 2011:

Updated from Norseman Gold website 20.03.2012