WHERE WE OPERATE

New Zealand: Seafield Project

Seafield Resources was established in 2004 to locate and develop marine placer gold deposits off the Westland Coast of New Zealand. Seafield was guided by Placer Solutions Ltd (PSL), a New Zealand geological consultancy that developed a predictive geological model for the existence and distribution of placer gold deposits on the Westland continental shelf.

Following a rigorous process of legal consents and stakeholder engagement, Seafield commenced exploration activities in 2006, with De Beers Marine as initial operator. Airborne and offshore geophysical surveys added to the detailed geological model.

Seafield embarked on its first offshore sampling campaign during March and April 2010, in joint venture with De Beers and AngloGold Ashanti. The sampling tool deployed by Seafield’s appointed operators, AuruMar, from a specially converted support vessel, enabled high quality, continuous cores, of up to 10m in length, to be extracted from the seabed. These cores have enabled AuruMar geologists to validate the geophysical model.

Results from the sampling campaign have not shown gold in sufficient quantities to justify further exploration, and therefore the partners in Seafield have decided to suspend the project. Knowledge and data gained from the prospecting research and the technologies developed have enhanced New Zealand’s minerals industry and built on the country’s overall knowledge of the West Coast’s geological and ecological offshore landscape. The knowledge has been added to the national biodiversity database and has been shared with organisations such as the Department of Conservation and local Runanga to ensure that New Zealand benefits.

For more info go to the Seafield Resources website: www.seafieldresources.co.nz

South Africa: South African Sea Areas (SASA) Project The AuruMar joint venture partners (AngloGold Ashanti Limited and De Beers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with DBCM on 1 October 2010. In addition to its prospecting and mining rights in respect of diamonds, DBCM holds offshore marine prospecting rights for gold, heavy minerals, platinum group metals and sapphires off the West Coast of South Africa of approximately 28 000 km2. AuruMar has been appointed as the exclusive operator that will execute the exploration work programs that aims to find target minerals (all minerals for which DBCM holds prospecting rights other than diamonds) on the continental shelf. AuruMar plans to conduct a 80 day sampling program in SASA with the SVC sampling tool starting during November 2011.

Alaska: Nome Project

The Alaskan Seward Peninsula is a significant gold placer province. Nome was the site of one of the world’s major goldrushes around 1900 when gold was discovered, and the area surrounding Nome has been mined onshore and offshore ever since. The most significant offshore operation was conducted by an Anglo American subsidiary, WestGold, using the BIMA dredge from 1986 to 1990, recovering more than 118 000 ounces of gold.

Location of Nome in Alaska

On 21 June 2011, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR), proposed an offshore lease sale for locatable minerals for tide and submerged lands offshore of Nome, Alaska. The area of the sale extended a distance of 17.5 miles from approximately the mouth of the Nome River westward to Rodney Creek, and from mean high tide seaward to the three-mile limit of Alaska state waters. The proposed sale area covered some 52.5 square miles, or approximately 33,600 acres. On 23 August 2011, the DNR further advised that 86 lease tracts will be offered for bid, ranging from approximately 40 acres to 2,800 acres in size. The total acreage being offered for bid was 23,793 acres (96.3km2). AuruMar’s JV partners participated in the DNR auction on 28 September 2011 in Nome and were successful in acquiring 26 offshore tracts totaling 68 km2. AuruMar will prepare options on how to develop the Nome Project for the JV participants to consider and further announcements will be made in due course.

 

New Ventures

AuruMar is currently in the process of investigating and securing high potential marine concessions in a number of locations around the world. Once prospecting permits have been secured by the AGA/De Beers Joint Venture, further announcements will be made.