Status of Berezitovy Gold Mine Commissioning

TORONTO, ON - High River Gold Mines Ltd. reported on the status of the Berezitovy Gold Mine commissioning. The Berezitovy Gold Mine, located in the Amur region of Russia, is owned 99% by High River and 1% by the Russian government. Reserves consist of 13.9 million tonnes grading 2.3 g/t gold and 11.7 g/t silver for a total of 1.0 million ounces of gold and 5.2 million ounces of silver.
Mine and mill construction was essentially completed by the end of 2007 and gold was being produced from the carbon-in-pulp leach circuit in mid-December. However, during production ramp-up early in 2008, problems were encountered with the reliability of the filter cloth used in the tailings filter plant. This resulted in a plant capacity utilization rate of only 29% for the first quarter of 2008. The problem has been resolved with the installation of new, specially modified, filter cloth manufactured in Canada.
The filter plant became operational on April 6th and has been running at 80% or higher capacity since that time. As a result, the process plant is currently processing approximately 3,700 tonnes per day (approximately 85% of design capacity of 4,300 tonnes per day). Experts in filtration have been on-site and have made recommendations, including the installation of additional equipment, that once implemented should improve the efficiency and productivity of the filter plant with the objective of reaching design capacity. Meanwhile, the tailings storage area is being expanded with the new section capable of storing wet tailings. The ability to store dry tailings from the filter plant combined with the ability to store wet tailings bypassing the filter plant should enable the process plant to reach 100% of design capacity before the end of May.
Mining is currently proceeding at design capacity of 27,000 tonnes per day of material moved (waste and ore). As at the end of the first quarter, approximately 500,000 tonnes of ore have been stockpiled, which equates to 4 months of production.
The Berezitovy process plant is expected to achieve commercial production during Q2 2008. Commercial production is defined as 30 consecutive days of production at 60% or more of design capacity. The Berezitovy Gold Mine plans to produce approximately 75,000 ounces of gold in 2008 attributable to High River. Gold production to the end of March 2008 totaled 5,183 ounces.
The company's address is 155 University Avenue, Suite 1700, Toronto, ON M5H 3B7, (416) 947-1440, fax: (416) 360-0010, email: [email protected].