Brisbane, Nov 6, 2007 AEST (ABN Newswire) - The Board of Republic Gold (ASX: RAU)("Republic" or the "Company") is very pleased to today announce that it has appointed Mr Neb Zurkic as the Company's new Technical Director. The Directors see this appointment as a significant coup for the Company given the calibre of Mr Zurkic as a geologist and his worldwide experience.
Commenting on the appointment, Republic's Managing Director, Mr John Kelly said "I've been able to watch Neb's career from his early days straight out of university when he was a night-shift sampler in the pit and was being tutored by the Company's inaugural Exploration Director, Chris Roberts. To see his achievements with Newmont and now have the opportunity to work with him again is fantastic."
The addition of Neb to the Republic team sees Republic with a very powerful geological team, unusual for a small company. Neb joins the team that consists of Chris Roberts as Chief Geologist, a mine and exploration geologist of +35 years of experience, Trevor Jackson as Exploration Manager, a mine and exploration geologist of +25 years of experience, Kerrin Allwood, a specialist modelling geologist of +15 years experience, Dr Steve King, a consulting structural geologist of +25 years of experience and Denise Cochrane, a geologist and environmental scientist of +15 years of experience. Trevor is also blooding two new graduates, Andy McLellan and George Ross, who have both been with the Company for a few contract stints and have impressed so far.
Neb graduated from RMIT in 1989 with a BAppSc (Applied Geology). In 1995 he was awarded a Masters in Mineral and Energy Economics. He is a member of both the AusIMM and the AIG. Neb's primary areas of expertise are deposit modelling, resource estimation and ore control. He has been involved in resource estimation, due diligence reviews and ore control for a range of commodities (gold, silver and copper) and geological settings in Australia, Indonesia, Peru and Kazakhstan. Neb is a Competent Person under the JORC Code for several types of deposits and he also familiar with SEC and NI 43-101 reporting standards.
Neb started his career as a mine geologist in 1990 for Perseverance Corporation Limited at one of Australia's lowest grade gold mines at Nagambie in Victoria. In 1993 he moved to Fosterville to take on more senior mine geology roles including taking the lead in the first feasibility study to mine the significantly larger sulphide resource.
In 1999 Neb joined Newmont Mining Corporation, the world's largest gold producer. He was part of the team that was responsible for commissioning the giant Batu Hijau porphyry copper-gold project in Indonesia. Following the successful commissioning, he was an integral part of the drive to increase mill throughput. Later, Neb initiated and led the project team that identified and quantified sampling biases that culminated in the addition of 4 million equivalent reserve ounces in the 2002 reporting year.
It was in the team leader role that saw Neb announced as Newmont's worldwide employee of the year for 2003.
Neb then moved to Newmont's giant Yanacocha gold mine in Peru in 2004. The mining group was restructured and expanded to manage the transition from heap leachable oxide ores to deeper sulphide resources; mine production peaked and Yanacocha was the highest producing single site mine in the world in 2004. Neb's prime responsibilities were again resource estimation, near mine deposit optimisation and ore control activities, along with actively being involved in internal audits of ore reserves at other sites on an ongoing basis.
Neb joined AMC Consultants in July 2006 for short stint. AMC is a premier worldwide mining consulting company. Neb now consults to Newmont in his own right. He is available to the Company for some 25% of his time over the next six months rising to +50% of his time once some of his existing consulting commitments free him up.
The Directors have offered Mr Zurkic options in the Company as an incentive. The issue of these options requires a vote by shareholders. The Company will recommend to shareholders that Mr Zurkic, or his nominee, be issued with 10,000,000 unlisted options exercisable at 11.75 cents (which was 25% above the Company's closing share price on the day before Mr Zurkic was appointed a director) and expiring 3 years after the day of Mr Zurkic's appointment. Upon receipt of shareholder approval to the issue of the 10,000,000 options, 5,000,000 of these options will vest immediately. The second 5,000,000 will vest on 30 June 2008 or such earlier date that Mr Zurkic indicates to the Board that he can spend at least 50% of his time on Company matters.
Contact
Greg Barns
TEL: +61-419-691-846
John Kelly
TEL: +61-418-577-759
Republic Gold Limited
E-mail: info@republicgold.com.au
www.republicgold.com.au
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