Bema Announces Increase to Kupol Gold and Silver Resource Estimate.VANCOUVER, British Columbia British Columbia, province (2001 pop. 3,907,738), 366,255 sq mi (948,600 sq km), including 6,976 sq mi (18,068 sq km) of water surface, W Canada. Geography -- Bema Gold Bema Gold Corporation is a Vancouver, British Columbia based intermediate gold producer with operating mines and development projects in Russia, South Africa, Chile and Canada. Corporation (TSX TSX Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE before April, 2002) TSX Transfer from Stack Pointer to Index TSX True Space Extension :BGO BGO Bismuth Germanate BGO Baguio City (Philippines) BGO Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious BGO Bergen, Norway - Flesland (Airport Code) BGO Blue and Gold Officer (United States Naval Academy) )(AMEX AMEX See: American Stock Exchange :BGO)(AIM:BAU BAU Business As Usual BAU Bangladesh Agricultural University BAU Beirut Arab University (Lebanon) BAU Behavioral Analysis Unit (FBI NCAVC) BAU Al-Balqa' Applied University (Jordan) ) announces the updated Indicated and Inferred resource estimate for the Kupol gold and silver project, following the 2005 exploration program. Bema has added an additional 638,000 ounces of gold and 5.4 million ounces of silver representing a 15% increase in the Indicated gold resource since the Feasibility Study The analysis of a problem to determine if it can be solved effectively. The operational (will it work?), economical (costs and benefits) and technical (can it be built?) aspects are part of the study. Results of the study determine whether the solution should be implemented. resource estimate (Refer to press release dated March 22, 2005). In addition, exploration drilling has replaced all of the ounces which were converted from Inferred to Indicated and has added 78,000 ounces of gold and 314,000 ounces of silver to the Inferred resource. The increased Indicated resources are located in the South, Central, Big Bend Big Bend A region of southwest Texas on the Mexican border in a triangle formed by a bend in the Rio Grande. The area includes deep river canyons, desert wilderness, mountains rising to 2,386. and North zones at depths between 75 and 300 metres below surface. These new resources fall within the mine's current primary development plan and will improve production early in the mine life by displacing lower grade ore. Based on these results, Bema's operations team expects to complete an update of the mineable reserves and mine plan by May 2006. The Kupol project now has an Indicated resource of 7.4 million tonnes containing 4.8 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 20.2 grams per tonne (g/t) and 58 million ounces of silver at an average grade of 244.2 g/t. The Inferred resource is now 3.9 million tonnes containing 1.7 million ounces of gold and 22.2 million ounces of silver with average grades of 13.7 g/t and 177 g/t respectively. The updated Indicated and Inferred resources for vein material (with cut grades) above a 6 g/t gold grade cutoff by area for the Kupol property are summarized below:
Estimated Indicated Resources, Undiluted, Vein,
above 6 g/t Gold Cutoff
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Contained Metal Contained Metal
Gold Gold Troy Silver Silver Troy
Tonnes Grade Ounces Grade Ounces
Zone (000's) (g/t) (000's) (g/t) (000's)
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Big Bend 2,318 29.0 2,165 344.0 25,637
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Central 1,832 16.3 958 208.2 12,263
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North 2,365 16.7 1,267 197.9 15,045
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South 912 14.8 433 182.9 5,362
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Total 7,427 20.2 4,822 244.2 58,307
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Estimated Inferred Resources, Undiluted, Vein,
above 6 g/t Gold Cutoff
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Contained Metal Contained Metal
Gold Gold Troy Silver Silver Troy
Tonnes Grade Ounces Grade Ounces
Zone (000's) (g/t) (000's) (g/t) (000's)
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Big Bend 134 10.8 46 144.3 620
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Central 311 9.4 94 160.8 1,607
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North 797 11.0 281 168.8 4,329
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North
Extension 2,117 15.2 1,032 170.8 11,627
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South 354 14.5 165 263.1 2,993
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South
Extension 124 12.2 49 136.4 543
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Vtoryi II 68 21.8 48 231.9 506
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Total 3,904 13.7 1,714 177.0 22,225
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To date, a total of 671 diamond drill holes (122,548 metres) and 334 trenches (9,013 metres) were used to estimate Indicated and Inferred resources at Kupol. In addition to the increase of the Indicated resources, other highlights of the 2005 drilling include: deep drilling in the North Extension which extended Inferred resources 200 metres north of previous estimates; deep drilling under the Big Bend and South zones; the discovery of the Vtoryi II vein, which remains open in all directions; and, further delineation of the South offset zone located east of the main South veins. The resource estimate was completed using a three-dimensional computer block model built using Datamine software. The interpretation of veins, stockwork zones, dykes and faults were completed on vertical east-west trending cross sections with reconciliation of the interpretation done on levels. Three dimensional solids (wireframe An umbrella term for a general outline of some structure. For example, the rough design of Web pages may be called wireframes. See wireframe modeling. ) models were built from the interpretations and were the basis for coding the block model and drill hole assay intervals. A set of 39 estimation domains was used to control the search orientations for the inverse-distance-squared estimation. The Vtoryi II resource was estimated using inverse (mathematics) inverse - Given a function, f : D -> C, a function g : C -> D is called a left inverse for f if for all d in D, g (f d) = d and a right inverse if, for all c in C, f (g c) = c and an inverse if both conditions hold. distance to the 6th. Gold and silver grades were cut prior to grade estimation and resource reporting. The amount of metal removed is similar to the metal reduction targets recommended in the Feasibility Study. The gold and silver metal reduction for Indicated and Inferred resources is 6.2 and 6.8 percent, respectively as compared to the uncut estimation. Indicated resources are nominally drilled on a 50 x 50-metre hole and trench spacing with over 80 percent of Big Bend drilled at 25x50-metre spacing. Projection of Indicated resources is limited to 25 metres down dip and 12.5 to 25 metres along strike. Inferred resources are nominally on a 100-metre drill hole spacing with projection beyond a hole no more than 100 metres. Specific gravity specific gravity, ratio of the weight of a given volume of a substance to the weight of an equal volume of some reference substance, or, equivalently, the ratio of the masses of equal volumes of the two substances. measurements were completed in the 2005 drill campaign in the North Extension and Vtoryi II areas. A total of 109 measurements on vein and stockwork samples for North Extension give an average specific gravity of 2.52 and 78 measurements on vein samples in Vtoryi II gives a value of 2.54. Measurements (approximately 600) were made in 2003 and 2004 on the rest of Kupol including South, Big Bend, Central and North indicating 2.48 is an appropriate specific gravity for these areas. In late May 2006 an exploration program consisting of 20,000 metres of diamond drilling Diamond Drilling is a highly specialized industry used for mineral exploration around the world. Most commonly using wireline and core bits with diamond encrusted matrix. To drill holes to max depths of twelve thousand feet, for the recovery of core used in verifying mineral will commence designed to test other veins, structures and extensions of the main Kupol vein which continues to remain open in all directions. Bema has completed a Feasibility Study "A Feasibility Study" is an episode of the original The Outer Limits television show. It first aired on 13 April, 1964, during the first season. It was remade in 1997 as part of the revived The Outer Limits series with a minor title change. for the Kupol project demonstrating that it is technically feasible and can be developed as a high grade, low cost gold and silver mine with robust project economics. The project is fully financed and final permitting is expected in the next 60 days. Construction has commenced at Kupol and Bema is currently on schedule to commence production in mid 2008. The Kupol project is a joint venture between Bema (75%) and the Government of Chuktoka (25%). On Behalf of BEMA GOLD CORPORATION Clive T. Johnson, Chairman, C.E.O., & President Kupol Mineral Resource Quality Assurance / Quality Control ("QA/QC QA/QC Quality Assurance/Quality Control ") on Assay and Logged Database The geological interpretations were completed under the supervision of Hugh MacKinnon, project manager for the exploration activities at Kupol. The resource estimate was prepared by Bema personnel under the supervision of Susan Meister, manager of Bema's resource estimation group. Tom Garagan, Vice President Exploration is the Qualified Person on the resource estimate. The Kupol QA/QC program used to monitor the accuracy of the assay database was overseen by Bema's Qualified Person Tom Garagan and was audited by Smee and Associates, who found it to be compliant with 43-101 regulations. The lithology li·thol·o·gy n. 1. The gross physical character of a rock or rock formation. 2. The microscopic study, description, and classification of rock. database was verified by redundant checks against original and quick log information. Resource Classification Mineral Resources Noun 1. mineral resources - natural resources in the form of minerals natural resource, natural resources - resources (actual and potential) supplied by nature have been categorized cat·e·go·rize tr.v. cat·e·go·rized, cat·e·go·riz·ing, cat·e·go·riz·es To put into a category or categories; classify. cat using the classification of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) is a technical society of professionals in the Canadian minerals, metals, materials and energy industries. It was founded in 1898. In 2006, the organization had 12,000 national members. (2000), relevant definitions being quoted below. This classification is the basis for Technical Reports by Qualified Persons in Canada, and the classification is virtually the same as that of the JORC JORC Joint Ore Reserves Committee code (Australia), SME (1) (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) See SMB. (2) (Subject Matter Expert) An individual who is well-versed in the policies and procedures of a particular department or division. guidelines guidelines, n.pl a set of standards, criteria, or specifications to be used or followed in the performance of certain tasks. (USA), SAMREC SAMREC South African Mineral Resource Committee (South Africa South Africa, Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. ) and that of the European Union European Union (EU), name given since the ratification (Nov., 1993) of the Treaty of European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, to the European Community . The CIM (1) (Computer-Integrated Manufacturing) Integrating office/accounting functions with automated factory systems. Point of sale, billing, machine tool scheduling and supply ordering are part of CIM. Mineral Resource Definitions state that an Indicated Mineral Resource is that part of a Mineral Resource for which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shapes and physical characteristics can be estimated with a level of confidence sufficient to allow appropriate application of technical and economic parameters, to support mine planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. The estimate is based on detailed and reliable exploration and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that are spaced close-enough for geological and grade continuity to be reasonably assumed. Mineral resources under NI 43-101 must show a reasonable chance of economic viability however are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. An Inferred Mineral Resource can be estimated on the basis of geological evidence and limited sampling and reasonably assumed, but not verified geological and grade continuity. The estimate is based on limited information and sampling gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes. Due to the uncertainty which may attach to Inferred Mineral Resources, it cannot be assumed that all or part of an Inferred Mineral Resource will be upgraded to an Indicated or Measured Mineral Resource as a result of continued exploration. Confidence in the estimate is insufficient to allow the meaningful appreciation of technical and economic parameters or to enable an evaluation of economic viability worthy of public disclosure. Bema Gold Corporation trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) Canada's largest stock exchange, trading approximately 1,200 company stocks and 33 options. and the American Stock Exchange American Stock Exchange (AMEX) Stock exchange in the U.S. Originally known as “the Curb,” it began as an outdoor marketplace in New York City c. 1850. It moved indoors to its present location in the Wall Street area in 1921. . Symbol: BGO. Bema also trades on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investments Market. Symbol: BAU. Some of the statements contained in this release are "forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. " within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this release include statements regarding: the Company's projections regarding gold production in future periods. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include risks and uncertainties such as: risks relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc estimates of reserves, mineral deposits and production costs; mining and development risks; the risk of commodity price fluctuations; political and regulatory risks; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the Company's Form 40-F Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2004, which has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Company's Renewal Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2004, which is an exhibit to the Company's Form 40-F and is available under the Company's name at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The Toronto Stock Exchange neither approves nor disapproves the in formation contained in this News Release. Bema Gold Corporation (TSX:BGO) (AMEX:BGO) (AIM:BAU) |
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