Community group Protect Karangahake is preparing to protect the conservation forest at Karangahake, following an announcement from New Talisman Gold Mines Ltd that it will immediately start mining related activities on site.

The company says activities will include fencing off the area, installing a generator and a ventilation fan, establishing a security office, sampling and drilling.

'The new plans put forward by New Talisman are an affront to our community and the very point of Conservation land,” says chair of Protect Karangahake, Duncan Shearer.

'Locking off the Portal Pad from recreational users in this magnificent natural park will deny locals and tourists a chance to visit this historically vital part of the mountain, which is an increasingly popular picnic spot.

'This is the start of an invasive industrial operation being slowly put in place by a private gold mining company in a DOC reserve enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people annually.'

Protect Karangahake is setup by locals and supported nationally to raise awareness of the threat to the ecological and recreational values of Mt Karangahake and the gorge.

Spokesperson for Coromandel wide anti-mining Coromandel Watchdog, Ruby Powell, says the group opposes New Talisman's plan to mine within Mt Karangahake and will be staunchly supporting Protect Karangahake.

'This is the industrialisation of some of the Coromandel's most precious conservation estate. For a business that has no place in our future; gold mining is environmentally toxic, economically unstable and the local community doesn't want it,” says Ruby.

'New Talisman may think they can start digging about on site and drum up some investment, but I think they will find the re-ignited and passionate community opposition will have the opposite effect on potential shareholders.”

Protect Karangahake is organising an acoustic concert and picnic on the Portal Pad this Sunday featuring musicians from their CD Songs For The Mountain.

Meanwhile, in a letter to the NZ Stock exchange, Talisman states it will immediately begin building safety and security perimeter fencing around the portal site, the construction of the portal pad and associated structures, and establish a site office and security office.

It will also install a new ventilation fan at the entrance to the mine, install a generator and air compressor, and install reticulation services throughout the underground workings. Talisman also intends to remove old beams and replace underground structures.

New Talisman's interest in the Karangahake mine is a result of the company acquiring a large database of historical mine maps and geochemical data which has greatly added to the company's knowledge of the historic mine workings and ore grades mined during the mine's operational history.

Historic mine workings have been digitally captured and modelled into a three dimensional wireframe and structural modelling of the Maria Vein is complete within the Dubbo and Bonanza Sections.

The modelling and analysis completed to date supports NTL's belief that the gold mineralised vein material may extend below the existing mine workings.

Analysis of 926 samples taken from raise sampling in the lower workings of the Talisman and Bonanza Zones, highly productive areas of the historical mine and source of the majority of the 3.5 million bullion ounces produced, indicate a mean grade of 36.75grams per tonne gold equivalent in a range of trace to 219.55g/t.

There is evidence on the mine plans that no stoping took place below No 15 level but that high grade ore persists in this area.

New Talisman Ltd was granted a certificate of compliance on April 21 which will allows immediate commencement of activities at the site.

As detailed further below the company has been working on the Talisman deeps project which has resulted in identification of a number of additional areas of mineralisation which can potentially be included in the bulk sampling project.

Accessing these areas will require opening up and making safe a number of the historical drives, particularly those connecting 8 Level with 7 Level above and 10 Level below.

In order to commence these works the company lodged with the Hauraki District Council in December an application for a certificate of compliance to undertake permitted activities under the district plan in order to evaluate the Talisman deeps and Talisman mine projects.

The activities, which have been outlined as separate from activities to be undertaken under the resource consent held for bulk sampling, allows the company to begin site works immediately.

During the period under review the company has been busy establishing further components to the Talisman Deeps project development which is proving significant for the long term future of the Talisman Mine. The team has also been

The Certificate of Compliance has been granted which will allow the company to immediately commence activities on site and begin sampling work at the mine to test Talisman and Talisman Deeps geological data. Many of the activities are core to safe operations at the site and will not have to be duplicated upon commencement of bulk sampling under the resource consent.

'It is a pleasure to say we are commencing works at the Talisman site area. With access now available to establish the site we are well on our way to progressing our ambitions for the historically productive Talisman Mine,” says chairman Charbel Nader.

'We intend to undertake sampling operations to establish the deeper orebody immediately whilst finalising the Traffic management plan. We are very excited by the prospect of Talisman Deep and believe it will likely enhance the bulk sampling project and ultimately the long term future of the mine.”

NTL currently have no quantified mineral resources in this area. Four raises below 15 level, covering a strike length of some 500m and a dip extent of 49m have geo-referenced historic sample values. Some 249 samples taken from these raises indicate a mean grade of 20.19g/t gold equivalent over a mean width of 1.1m and sample spacing of approximately 1.5m. Samples range from below detection to 131.36g/t and sample widths between 0.15m and 2.5m.

Advanced statistical modelling of geochemical data is now underway in preparation for estimating the gold equivalent content of the modelled vein material.

The company expects to be in a position to announce the results of this project within the coming months, once peer review of the final report is complete. It is uncertain at this stage of the Talisman Deeps project if all or parts of the mineralisation modelled will be able to be classified as mineral resources or reserves under the 2012 JORC code, due to uncertainty over verifying the quality control and assurance procedures in place at the time.,

However, the information certainly supports the company view that gold mineralisation may extend to depth and that there may be some areas of vein marginal to and below historic stoping that will constitute mineral inventory.

Beyond providing evidence of depth extensions of the vein system below 16 Level, work to date has identified several potential ore sources in close proximity to the No 8 Level drives which, if they can be included into the scope of the Bulk Sampling Project, is likely to have a material effect on the final Mineral Resource and Ore Reserve position of the Talisman Mine.