The Kumtor gold project is located in Kyrgyzstan originated in 1992 when Cameco Corporation, while pursuing uranium prospects in the republic was presented with an opportunity to follow up on the discovery of gold mineralization at Kumtor in 1978 and subsequent extensive exploration work by the USSR Ministry of Geology when the republic was part of the former Soviet Union.
The project is comprised of a Central Deposit (historically often referenced as the Central Pit or Kumtor Pit) and a series of smaller satellite deposits, the Sarytor, Southwest and Northeast. Open-pit mining since 1996 has concentrated on the Central deposit, with a smaller tonnage mined from the Southwest Deposit. Within the Central deposit, parts of the high-grade Stockwork and SB Zones are located directly underneath the economic limit of the Central pit and are currently being investigated as potential underground mining targets by Centerra.
Since late 1996, the Kumtor mill has produced approximately 7.8 million ounces of gold from 76 million tonnes of ore with an average gold grade of 4.0 grams per tonne (g/t) and at average cash costs of $278 per ounce over a fourteen-year period. As at December 31, 2010, the estimated Kumtor project proven and probable mineral reserves from the existing ore stockpiles and the Central, Southwest, and the Sarytor pits were 62.4 million tonnes containing 6.3 million ounces of gold at an average gold grade of 3.1 g/t. Based on these mineral reserves, the new open-pit life-of-mine plan has been updated and extended to 2021.
As at December 31, 2010, the estimated Kumtor project measured and indicated mineral resources in addition to the proven and probable mineral reserves for the Central, Southwest and Sarytor deposits were 58.6 million tonnes containing 4.1 million ounces of gold at an average gold grade of 2.2 g/t tonne and the estimated open pit inferred resources for the Central, Southwest, Sarytor and the Northeast deposits were 11.0 million tonnes containing 759,000 ounces at an average gold grade of 2.2 g/t. In addition to the open pit inferred mineral resources outlined above, the high grade underground Stockwork Zone accounted for an estimated additional inferred mineral resource of 1.6 million tonnes containing 628,000 ounces of gold at an average gold grade of 12.1 g/t and the underground SB Zone, an estimated additional inferred mineral resource of 2.8 million tonnes containing 1.4 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 15.3 grams of gold per tonne.
