Norton entered into an agreement to purchase Mount Morgan on 17...

Norton entered into an agreement to purchase Mount Morgan on 17 January 2007.

The Mount Morgan Gold Project is based on the Mount Morgan Gold Mine which operated from 1886 to 1981 and was for a time the largest gold mine in the world - the mine produced over 8M oz of gold from more than 41M tonnes of ore.

Between 1981 and 1991, ~28M tonnes of tailings were treated; operations were suspended due to rising chemical costs and other factors. Norton intends to establish a tailings treatment project based on the remaining tailings dams and mullock dumps which contain more than 8M tonnes of material. The plan is to initially process a measured resource of approximately 4M tonnes containing ~218,000 oz of gold at an average grade of 1.7 grams per tonne. This extends operations to exploit additional resources over an additional eight years.

A feasibility study for the project has been completed and is to be presented to the board in July 2008. Detailed advice on the project will be made available publicly following the board review.

The plan is to dismantle, relocate and re-establish the Kundana plant acquired as part of the Paddington Gold Mine acquisition. This has been on care and maintenance since 2003.

Reserves and Resources

A drilling program has been completed that provides confidence with a high degree of certainty for 4.0 Mt at 1.7g/t of gold for 219,000 oz.

It is expected that operation will be extended to exploit all economic resources on the mining lease. The company has expressions of support from the authorities in terms of “every effort [be made] to achieve a positive outcome” [regarding the extension of mining activity].

Production

Mount Morgan is planned to produce 40 – 50,000 oz pa of gold.