CGA Mining

CGA Mining Limited and its subsidiaries (formerly called Central Asia Gold Limited) (“the Company”) is a mining company focused on exploring, developing and operating resource opportunities throughout the world, with it’s principal asset being a new gold development project in the Philippines. It has been listed on The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX, code CGX) since April 1991 and on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX, code CGA) since 21 February 2005. The Company also currently has interests in Zambia and Nigeria.

The Company is focussed on developing the Masbate Gold Project in the Philippines, extending the reserve and resource base together with completing a feasibility study on its next development project, the Mkushi Copper Project in Zambia and aggressively pursuing exploration opportunities at the Segilola Gold Project in Nigeria.

MASBATE GOLD PROJECT


Introduction

The interest in the Masbate Gold Project was acquired by CGA in March 2007 and is now the largest operating gold project in the Philippines. It has been successfully developed by CGA in less than 2 years since acquisition, having first poured gold on 12 May 2009.

In the first year of operations, the project produced in excess of 150,000 ounces of gold and has a total indicated resource base of 4.55 million ounces, total inferred resources of 3.22 million ounces and a probable mining reserve of 3.03 million ounces of gold. In a steady state, the project is forecast to produce in excess of 200,000 ounces per annum, with a further expansion planned in the 2011 calendar year.

CGA also believes that the project has very good exploration potential, both from the further conversion of existing resource ounces to reserves, and the potential to further expand the existing 7.7 million ounce resource base of the project. Prior to CGA’s ownership, the project was held by parties who had limited financial resources and the focus was simply on proving up enough reserves and resources to enable a commitment to development.

The Philippines is rich in natural resources, with large scale gold, copper and nickel deposits attracting investment from a number of major international mining companies including Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Xstrata, Sumitomo and Anglo Gold.

The Philippines Government has been very supportive of the development of natural resources within the country and offer many attractive incentives including an initial 6 year income tax holiday (with a possibility to extend by a further 2 years) for projects of this nature. The excise tax rate is 2% on gross revenue.


Location

The Masbate Project is located on the island of Masbate approximately 350 kilometres south of the State capital, Manila. The project can be accessed by a daily commercial airline service to Masbate city (population of 350,000) and a 70 kilometre drive on partially sealed road to the project site. Alternate access to site from Masbate city is via a 1 hour boat ride. The site is equipped with a barge loading jetty where equipment and consumables during operations can be delivered and offloaded.
Previous Operation

The Masbate Project was originally operated for 14 years (1980 – 1994) by Atlas. The previous operations included open pit and underground mining of oxide, transition and fresh material with subsequent processing using CIL and heap leach processing. A total of 17.4 million tonnes were processed at a grade of 2.12g/t resulting in gold production of 1,078,326 ounces of gold and 944,474 ounces of silver. Overall plant recovery of 86% was achieved during the operating period. It is evident from the records of past production that CIL metallurgical recovery was closely related to the grade of ore mined i.e. increase in grade resulted in increased recovery. The operation reportedly closed due to the forced closure of the Atlas group operations as a result of falling commodity prices, and the inability of Masbate to cover group overheads from other operations of the company at the time.

The Masbate Project was a brownfield site with established infrastructure including an airstrip, dedicated jetty, roads, accommodation, offices, clubhouse, workshops, assay laboratory, bunker fuel tanks and general reticulation. The mine is readily accessible by sea and materials and supplies can be barged in via Manila or other large ports. The existing infrastructure allowed construction to start relatively quickly and reduced capital expenditure requirements relative to those of a greenfield site.
  

Geology

Gold mineralisation is located within quartz veining in the form of fracture filling and silification of the host rock. Sulphides are not abundant but are found within the veins and selvidges. Gold can be associated with the sulphides. The gold is finely distributed (grain size 5 micron to 20 micron).

The depth of weathering is dependant on the lithology and varies from zone to zone e.g. 20m - 40m in the main vein zone, 50m - 60m in the Colorado zone. The massive quartz veins are not subject to weathering other than in areas of brecciation.
Reserves and Resources

As set out in the NI 43 – 101 compliant technical report dated 20 May 2008 prepared by Mining Associates (“MA”) the resources of the project are as follows:

Indicated Resources of 135.33mt @ 0.96g/t containing 4.55m oz
Inferred Resources of 127.15mt @ 0.79g/t containing 3.22m oz

Both of the above were calculated at a 0.36g/t cut-off based on a US$750 / ounce gold price and represents an overall increase of 62% in resources since CGA first acquired the project.

Lower Quartile Solutions Pty Ltd (“LQS”) prepared a NI 43 – 101 compliant technical report dated 20 October 2008 in which it stated the total mineral reserve at the Masbate Project.

Indicated Reserves of 92.2Mt @ 1.0g/t containing 3 m oz

The reserve is based on a selling price of US$750/oz. This represents a 53% increase in reserves from the figure reported in the Technical Report dated 30 April 2006 prepared by IMC Consultants Pty Ltd.


FIND OUT MORE

Mark S. Savage
Chairman

Mr Savage was born and educated in the United States of America ("US") where he received a business degree from the University of Colorado and was a senior executive for a number of US banks. He then joined an Australian based merchant bank and completed the Securities Institute of Australia course.

Mr Savage has gained experience in the debt and equity markets as well as in the corporate advisory area. He has held a directorship positions with Global Petroleum Limited since 1999, Tower Resources Plc since January 2006 and Ratel Gold Limited. Mr Savage was appointed a director of the Company on 17 April 2000.

Michael J. Carrick
President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr Michael Carrick is a Chartered Accountant with 20 years experience in the resources sector. He was previously Executive Chairman of AGR and Chief Executive Officer of Australian listed Company, Resolute Limited. Prior to joining Resolute, Mr Carrick was a partner of Arthur Andersen.

Mr Carrick holds degrees majoring in economics, law, business administration and accounting and has been responsible for the acquisition, development, and operation of a number of major gold projects, both in Australia and internationally.

Mr Carrick was appointed a director of the company on the 5 January 2003.

Justine A. Magee
Director

Ms Magee is a Chartered Accountant with extensive experience in the resource sector having headed the corporate and finance areas for Resolute Limited for 6 years. She was formerly with Arthur Andersen and a director of AGR Limited. Ms Magee's principal responsibilities are the arranging of debt and equity issues and negotiation and execution of mergers and acquisitions in the resources sector. Ms Magee holds a Commerce Degree from the University of Western Australia.

Ms Magee was appointed a director of the Company on 23 November 2004.

Robert N. Scott
Non-Executive Director

Mr Scott is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia and a tax advisor specialising in the mining sector. Mr Scott has over 35 years experience as an advisor on corporate services and taxation. Mr Scott is deputy a former senior partner of the international accounting firms of KPMG and Arthur Andersen, and is currently a consultant to the firm of Gooding Pervan Chartered Accountants. Mr Scott currently holds directorships on Australian Renewable Fuels Limited, bioMD Limited, Amadeus Energy Limited, Neptune Marine Services Limited and Homeloans Limited.

Mr Scott is the chair of the CGA Mining Limited Audit Committee and the Disclosure Committee.

Phil C. Lockyer
Non-Executive Director

Mr Lockyer is a Mining Engineer and Metallurgist with more than 40 years experience in the mining industry, with an emphasis on gold and nickel, in both underground and open pit mining operations.

Mr Lockyer was employed by WMC Resources for 20 years reaching the position of General Manager of Western Australia responsible for that company’s gold and nickel divisions. At that time WMC employed 4,000 people and produced 750,000 ounces of gold and 57,000t of nickel metal annually.

Mr Lockyer was appointed a director of the Company on 9 January 2009.

David A. Cruse
Non-Executive Director

Mr Cruse has extensive experience in both the mining industry in the Philippines and also equity capital markets having held senior management positions in a number of leading broking and investment houses including HSBC and Citigroup.

Mr Cruse was appointed a director of the Company on 13 November 2009.

Geoff G. Jones
General Manager – Technical

Mr Jones is a Mining Engineer with 34 years experience in the resources sector in Australia, Africa, Indonesia and Central Asia. During the last decade he has been responsible for the identification, acquisition and development of 6 major gold mining projects in Australia, Ghana, Tanzania, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines. Mr Jones' principal responsibilities include preparation of feasibility studies and identification, review and acquisition of new gold development opportunities.

Mark Turner
Chief Operating Officer

Mr Turner is a highly experienced Mining Engineer who holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Mining) with Honours from the University of New South Wales, in Sydney and is also a Chartered Professional (Management) accredited by the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Turner was appointed as Chief Operating Officer with CGA on 15 October 2008 having previously been with Resolute Limited for over 16 years, with the last 9 years as General Manager Operations. Prior to that Mr Turner held operational positions at Newcrest Mining and Hamersley Iron (Mt. Tom Price).

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