Aurora committed to Indonesian mine

Aurora committed to Indonesian mine

CANBERRA (Dow Jones): Australian-based gold miner Aurora Gold
Ltd. is committed to its Mount Muro project in central
Kalimantan, Indonesia, but still wants to sell its suspended Toka
Tindung operation in northern Sulawesi, Chief Executive Alan
Scott said Tuesday.

Indeed, Aurora, which is 35 percent-owned by global mining
giant Rio Tinto PLC, is evaluating and clarifying details of
offers for Toka Tindung, he said.

"I don't think it will be a long time before we've actually
got something to announce there," he told Dow Jones Newswires in
an interview.

Rio Tinto acquired its stake in Aurora following its
acquisition of Australia's Ashton Mining Ltd. in 2000.

Aurora put its 85 percent-owned Toka Tindung gold project on
care and maintenance in September 1999, when in a major period of
unrest in Indonesia, the satellite Talawaan operation was overrun
by thousands of illegal miners.

It announced early in 2001 it wanted to sell the project,
which has been written off completely in the company accounts, to
stem the "cash bleed" and to focus on other interests.

Scott believes a sale of Aurora's interest in Toka is
possible, despite the illegal miners remaining at Talawaan and a
lack of action by authorities to resolve the problem.

That is because Talawaan is isolated geographically from the
main Toka mine site, and because Toka needs to be mechanically
mined.

"It's those two combinations that give us a possibility" to
sell, he said, while admitting any sale will be difficult.

"The viability of an operation at Toka isn't affected by the
loss of Talawaan," he said.

The company is seeking a buyer as soon as possible that is
prepared to explore the area further and provide Aurora with an
income if and when mining is resumed, he said.

Scott agreed an Indonesian company will have more leverage
over authorities to resume operations.

Aurora was hard hit as lawlessness hit many parts of Indonesia
in recent years. It posted a A$93.9 million loss in fiscal 1999,
with most of this coming from a full 100 percent or A$67 million
writedown of its Toka Tindung assets.

The company also wrote off A$30 million from the value of its
Mt. Muro operations in Kalimantan in 1999, but remains committed
to the project.

Mt. Muro gold equivalent output jumped 13 percent to 253,250
ounces in 2000 from 224,085 ounces in 1999.

This lift in production occurred despite serious constraints
by illegal mining in the first half of calendar 2000, which
corresponds to its fiscal year, the company said.

Since then things have been quiet following action by nearby
communities and authorities against illegal miners, who remain in
the area, Scott said.

But overall "touch wood things are extremely good there," he
said.

Now, he said, Aurora has pushed a lot more money into
exploration at Mt. Muro and intends to provide details of new
exploration success at the project at Wednesday's scheduled
annual general meeting in Perth.

The Mt. Muro contract of work area was previously believed to
cover two volcanic areas only, he said.

"We believe there's a third there and identified it and have
actually got some good results," that will be announced at the
meeting, he said.