Indonesia – North Lanut

The North Lanut gold mine, located 150 km south-west of Manado, on the northern arm of the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, was developed by Avocet from the exploration stage and has produced over 270,000 ounces since it was commissioned in 2004. Avocet purchased an 80% interest in PT Avocet Bolaang Mongondow ('PT ABM'), an Indonesian company holding a 6^th generation Contract of Work (‘CoW’), from Newmont Mining Corporation in 2002. The North Lanut gold mine is located within the CoW, which includes exploration and mining rights over approximately 50,000 hectares in an area highly prospective for gold. An Indonesian company, PT Lebong Tandai, owns the remaining 20%.

Gold production commenced in October 2004 following a one year construction period. Gold is extracted by heap and dump leach techniques at a production rate of 1,200,000 to 1,400,000 tonnes per annum. This particular treatment process results in no tailings being discharged from the mine site. Site management are presently able to treat a combination of the oxide (which exhibits more favourable leaching characteristics) and transitional ore types (less amendable to leaching) to achieve an overall recovery of 66% Au in the 9 month period ended 31 December 2009.  The fresh, unoxidised ore does not yield sufficiently high recoveries by heap leaching techniques at present, although testwork is being carried out on various processing options. Ore and waste is presently transported from the Riska and Rasik pits by articulated dump trucks, which allow the mine to operate in very wet weather. The mine employs approximately 400 people, approximately 80% of whom are from the local community.