Centerra Gold - Operations - Boroo


	The Boroo construction camp in July 2002.

The Boroo deposit was discovered in 1910. Industrial mining began shortly thereafter but ended in the 1920s when the facilities were destroyed in a civil war. Mining resumed in 1933 and a refinery was installed in 1942 that treated gold from the mining of a number of near-surface quartz veins. There are no production records from this time and events in the ensuing years until the mid-1960s remain undocumented.
Prospecting activities in the late 1960s led to the recognition of Boroo's potential as a bulk-mineable deposit and ultimately a program of detailed evaluation by a joint East German-Mongolian Geological Expedition from 1982 to 1990. The joint expedition was terminated following German reunification.
Several parties held the property during the next few years including the Altai Holding Company, which was granted the Boroo licenses in 1996.
Australian gold company AGR acquired an 85% interest in the property in 1998 and completed a feasibility study the following year. An Environmental Impact Assessment was also completed and approved by the Mongolian government in March 2000. An additional 10% interest in the project was acquired by AGR in August 2000.
A Stability Agreement was signed with the government of Mongolia in July 1998 with a final amendment negotiated in May of 2000. AGR worked closely with the government to achieve official status for stability agreements culminating in December 2001 legislation, which recognized stability agreements under Mongolian tax law. The Stability Agreement provides assurance of the stability of the tax regime for the life of the project.
A feasibility study was completed for development of the Boroo deposit in 1999. The reserves were independently estimated by SRK Consulting (Australasia) in May 2000 with an update in February 2001.
In the 2001 review, AGR reported probable reserves at Boroo of 9.4 million tonnes at an average grade of 3.76 grams per tonne for a total of 1.14 million ounces of gold, at a cut-off grade of 1.2 grams per tonne. The reserves were estimated based upon an average gold price of $290 per ounce.
Centerra's predecessor company, Cameco Gold, purchased a controlling interest in AGR in April 2002 and a construction contract was signed with an Australian based construction company for the engineering, procurement and construction management of the process plant in May 2002.
Construction began on the site in July 2002 and was completed by late 2003 when commissioning of the mill began. Start-up of commercial production began on March 1, 2004.

Updated September 24, 2008