OREANDA-NEWS. August 20, 2010. JSC “Polymetal” (LSE, MICEX, RTS: PMTL) (“Polymetal” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the successful completion of a Feasibility Study (“FS” or the “Study”) for the Birkachan deposit, part of the Omolon project, reported the press-centre of Polymetal.

HIGHLIGHTS
The Feasibility Study has been prepared by Polymetal Engineering and independently audited by SRK Consulting (UK) Limited (“SRK”)1. SRK considers the Study to be of a sufficient level to demonstrate that the Birkachan project is technically and economically feasible to be developed as a combined open pit and underground operation

Total Mineral Resources are estimated to contain 2.0 Moz of gold at an average grade of 2.4 g/t Au in 26.2 Mt of mineralized material

Total Ore Reserves (estimated assuming a long term gold price of USD900/oz) are estimated to contain 1.0 Moz of gold at an average grade of 2.7 g/t Au in 12.1 Mt of ore

The Ore Reserves are sufficient to support a 13 year mine life including 8 years of open pit mining with peak production of 1.8 Mtpa followed by 5 years of underground mining at a rate of 180 Ktpa

The mined ore will be split into two processing streams: the lower grade ore will be heap leached on the mine site whereas the higher grade ore will be processed at the existing Kubaka Carbon-in-Pulp (“CIP”) plant located 42 kilometers from the mine

The total pre-production capital expenditures for the project are estimated at USD33 million, of which US\\$22 million has already been invested

Mining at Birkachan is already in progress, heap leaching on the mine site started in June of this year, and the Kubaka CIP plant is to be restarted shortly

“We are pleased with the results of the Feasibility Study and its audit,” said Vitaly Nesis, CEO of Polymetal.

“Birkachan is a valuable asset for Polymetal and an important part of the Omolon project – it will be the first of our existing development projects to enter production.”