The Tardan ore cluster (prospective area)

License
License KZL 00367 BR for exploration and mining of hard rock gold within the borders of the ore cluster was received on 2007-08-22 and is valid until 2032-08-01. The area of the licensed lot is 549 km2.

Geographic location
The licensed plot is located in the central part of Tyva, 78 kilometres from the town of Kyzyl.
The district is dominated by a low-hill terrain, transforming into mid-hill terrain in the north and north-west. Actual elevation 830 – 1820,1 m above sealevel. Relative altitude of the valleys over the watersheds 150-600 m. The climate is continential.

The district is covered by taiga vegetation, with predominantly mixed forests. Average forest coverage of the area is about 80%. The nearest railway station is Minusinsk, having connection with Kyzyl along an asphalted road (415 km).

The property is accessible to motor and track transport. The Tardan mine is connected to the electrical power grid by way of Kyzyl.

The district has low exposure, the watersheds and specifically the northern slopes are covered by alluvial and delluvial formations with a thickness of 0,5-3,0 m.

Geological surveys
The general prospects of the district for natural resources were determined by the geological surveys in scale 1:200000-1:50000, and also by the geophysical, research and topical surveys during 1945-1970, as well as prospecting at the Tardan and Kopto gold ore deposits during 1967-2008.

Exploration
The prospectivity of the licensed plot is determined by its geological position on the rim of the Kaa Khem granitous batholiths at the intersection with the deep fault zone.

The following gold ore targets have been identified in the cluster: Tardan, Soruglug-Khem, Kopto, Barsuchye deposits, Tardan-2 and Pravoberezhnoe mineral occurrences as well as a number of locations of ore manifestations of Au, Fe, Cu, Zn, placer aureoles of gold, barite, scheelite, geochemical anomalies of Au, Cu, Zn, Pb in different formations subjected to hydrothermal alteration.

In 1993 the Federal State Scientific Institute for Research and Project Design in Precious Metals and Diamonds, based on the newly compiled conditions, recalculated the P1 resources within the license to the depths of 300 m, gold 16 metric tonnes and silver 20 metric tonnes. The Tardan-2 ore body was considered exploitable for extraction of stock work stringer-porphyry gold sulphide.
Gold reserves in the deposit Surugluk-Chem amounts to 46,900 ounces at a grade of 6-14 g/tonnes and corresponding to C2 level.

Exploration work

In 2008-2010, geological surveys of the secondary dispersion halos, as well as  lithogeochemical surveys in scale 1:25000 were performed. An exploration program for 2010-2014 for Tardan ore cluster has been elaborated. The estimated cost is 270 MRUB. The planned appraisal and exploration surveys in the area of the ore cluster will probably lead to reserves of at least 10 tonnes by 2014. Currently, the specialized geophysical works are being conducted.