GeoProMining Opened Sentachan Winter Road 2012/2013

12 March 2013, Moscow – GeoProMining (GPM or the Company), a diversified international mining group, is pleased to announce the opening of the ‘winter road’ for the 2012/2013 production season connecting the Sentachan gold-antimony mine in Yakutia with the federal highway.

This year the winter season in Yakutia has been relatively mild. Moreover, weather conditions have been changing often and rapidly. These factors have added certain complications to the process of constructing the winter road. However, the new equipment and vehicles purchased in 2012 allowed the company to prepare the road as planned and vehicles transporting mined ore to the Sarylakh-Surma processing plan have already completed their first trip. The special support crew maintains the winter road by monitoring the road condition, cleaning the snow blockades in a timely manner, arranging side-roads if necessary, and providing technical support to the transport vehicles.

The winter road is made through the frozen beds of the Elgi and Adycha rivers every year. From February until April it becomes the only ground-based transportation method to the mine located 700 km away from the town of Ust-Nera in the remote region with limited vehicle access. The rest of the year the mine can be reached by helicopter only. The winter road is used to transport mined ore and to supply the mine with technical resources and diesel fuel necessary for the next production season.