Curious on what price they will execute a cap raising. Anyways,...

Curious on what price they will execute a cap raising. Anyways, an article in "International Resource Journal Magazine" of this feb is long, but nice:

Western Australia’s next multi-mine gold triumph
Excelsior Gold Limited’s Kalgoorlie North Gold Project already houses over 723,000 ounces of diverse gold resources, but the team is just getting started as it takes priority pits to pre-feasibility study for a multi-mine gold operation and embarks on further resource definition

The Eastern Goldfields’ Kalgoorlie region has been an inherent part of Western Australia’s gold mining history for well over a century. It has and continues to host some of the most diverse, exciting and commercially viable mineral deposits known to man, and as for the doomsayers who believe that the region’s potential has been exploited to the full?

Don’t count on it—just look at Norton Goldfields Limited’s (ASX: NGF) Paddington Gold Operations, Integra Mining Limited’s (ASX: IGR) evolving Majestic discovery, and gold explorer-developer Excelsior Gold Limited’s (ASX: EXG) (“EXG”) 100 per cent-owned, 98 square kilometre, 723,000 ounce Kalgoorlie North Gold Project located 45 kilometres north of Kalgoorlie, surrounded by bore fields, mills and multimillion ounce deposits.

There are some excellent deposits being found in the Kalgoorlie region at present and there is potential for even better discoveries than some of those deposits that have been mined in the past 10 years,” says EXG executive director David Hamlyn.

“We believe Kalgoorlie North is an excellent area with the potential to offer several great deposits in the future. We believe that given the extensive and widespread mineralisation there exists a multitude of opportunities to develop a series of mines in these tenements.”

Now progressing with the pre-feasibility study for a multi-mine heap leach / toll treat processing operation at Kalgoorlie North’s Excelsior and Zoroastrian previously producing deposits—which house approximately 618,000 diverse grade gold ounces on their own—and six satellite deposits within a four kilometre radius from Excelsior, EXG has high grade and base feed ore, backed by conceptual mining works (2011) and strong resource model drill testing results released in January 2012.

“We have concentrated on the Excelsior-Zoroastrian area and got to a stage where resources are large enough for us to initiate our pre-feasibility studies. In future, our exploration charge will move into other areas where there’s still very good exploration and resource growth potential,” Hamlyn explains, noting that the extensive drilling database the company acquired has enabled it to act quickly on priority areas.

“There are another 22 resource targets and 51 other areas where there’s quite significant drill intercepts and we simply haven’t had the time to do resource modelling on them. Those areas can likely be brought into the resource quite quickly.”

Pre-feasibility backed by January success

Stacked at 723,000 ounces gold resource and counting—more than enough to warrant its development model—Kalgoorlie North possesses all manner of location-specific advantages for EXG. It boils down to proximity to processing facilities, operating mines, workforce, Kalgoorlie itself, existing infrastructure and known mineralisation. Onsite, Excelsior (currently 405,300 ounces) and Zoroastrian (123,000 ounces) are just 300 metres apart, and the six satellite deposits within a four kilometre radius of Excelsior house another 73,000 ounces of resources.

“That’s where our idea of the heap leach and toll milling scenario comes into play,” Hamlyn says.

“Regarding the conceptual pit design, the Excelsior shear zone is broad and the grade is modest, but the extent of the mineralisation means that when we do our pit optimisations it pulls down very deep on the deposit.”

Grades average around 1.3 to 1.4 grams at a 0.6 grams per tonne (g/t) cut-off, he says, but the shear zone produces so much mineralisation that the conceptual pit pulls down to a vertical depth of about 175 metres. As a result, Excelsior offers excellent base feed potential from a sizable standalone pit, and when the satellites are incorporated its significance becomes clear—as EXG’s December-run drilling programme results showed on January 13, further supporting the resource model and potential to push the open pit deeper.

“A lot of the drill holes in that programme are outside the conceptual pit design. The idea was to test areas around its margins to see if we could get sufficient or better grades in some areas of our model and extend the pit down deeper, particularly in the northern end,” Hamlyn explains.

“The results have provided encouragement about that, particularly in the north, and it looks like it’ll be a bigger pit.”

Initial assay results include 13 metres at 1.85 g/t gold from 156 metres; 18 metres at 2.97 g/t gold from 81 metres; 7 metres at 1.90 g/t gold from 20 metres; and 5 metres at 4.25 g/t gold from 101 metres.

December drilling also collected metallurgical samples from both Excelsior and a number of the satellites, which are now in the laboratory for testing, and pit optimisation works are well underway.

Simultaneously, Zoroastrian’s multiple high grade quartz veins within the same dolerite unit as the Paddington mine to the south prove how diverse the mineralisation at Kalgoorlie North truly is. Describing how the “bonanza” gold bearing rock chip samples up to 916 g/t Au (true width of 300mm) returned from the previously mined Zoroastrian open pit have enabled EXG to define high grade resources beneath it, Hamlyn says Zoroastrian’s high grade potential as a lower tonnage underground operation complements Excelsior’s extensive base feed grade; a favourable scenario for any mill operator interested in securing offtake from the initial five-year mine life envisaged.

“We haven’t tied down contracts yet, but we have been speaking with parties about potentially doing toll treating,” Hamlyn says.

“It’s really a case of putting together the mining scenario for a long-term toll treatment option rather than a small one-off open pit.”

Initial results for the multi-mine scenario are on course for release during the second half of 2012. Meanwhile, EXG will commence the resource modelling for the 22 areas of interest outside of Excelsior, Zoroastrian and the satellites accounted for in its pre-feasibility study.

Resource & team definition

In readying for works aimed at further resource definition across the Kalgoorlie North tenements, EXG has bolstered its ranks with another geologist and plans to draw from the strong local knowledge of its team. The company plans to make the transition to producer rather than take Kalgoorlie North to saleable commercial levels and exit, Hamlyn says. And given its uncapped potential for resource expansion, it’s plain to see that options for building on first production success at Excelsior-Zoroastrian are great; rarely the wholly owned preserve of juniors in such infamous gold provinces.

“We haven’t sought additional tenements because given our development stage we’d see that as a distraction of funds away from the main game,” Hamlyn says, noting that discovery costs stand at less than $10 per ounce.

“We’re concentrating fully on Kalgoorlie North and we’re likely to for the next couple of years to get it into production, of course, we’re always keeping our eye out.”

EXG’s market activity is equally well-managed, he notes. With a strong team of discerning brokers and largely long-term company stakeholders, EXG’s share price doesn’t fluctuate greatly despite the financial volatility hindering many gold juniors today.

At the heart of the company’s value, stock activity and sustaining interest, sits an outstanding gold project with historic production, surrounded by bulk infrastructure and processing, and a team focused on systematically taking priority portions to pre-feasibility levels while getting the most out of the wider tenement area.

EXG is keenly watched by investors and neighbouring explorer-producers with good reason. January’s drilling results have expanded the project’s development potential ahead of the 2012 pre-feasibility study release, and Kalgoorlie North is shaping up to be a gem in Western Australia’s long-established number one gold address.

www.excelsiorgold.com.au

Cheers