To date the company completed 98 drill holes in the upper levels of the ore zone with over 11,170m drilled. The results are consistent and in many areas exceed the geological and mineral resource modeling previously carried out at the site, according to the company. The two intersections with the highest grades (9.27 g/t Au and 10.92 g/t Au) were of 9m length each.

Underground mining at Sekisovskoye is now achieving 7,000 tonnes per month rate, which is in line with the company's planned volume of 100,000tpa for 2012.  In February, Hambledon plans to process 6,500 tonnes of underground ore.

Our view. We do not expect the announcement to have a pronounced share price impact at this stage, until the publication of updated resource estimate for Sekisovskoye underground. We currently have the stock under review.