Nordgold is an emerging-markets gold producer, with operations in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Kazakhstan and Russia. We have eight active mines, two development projects, five advanced exploration projects and a broad portfolio of early exploration projects and licences.

OAO Severstal began to create the business that became Nordgold in 2007, when it bought a controlling stake in Celtic Resources, which owns the Suzdal and Zherek mines in Kazakhstan. At the same time, Nordgold purchased the Aprelkovo and Neryungri-Metallic mines in Russia.

We have expanded rapidly through both acquisitions and organic growth. Our gold production has increased from approximately 21 Koz in 2007 to 589 Koz in 2010. We have also delivered strong financial growth. In 2010, our revenue increased by 46% to US$754.2m and our normalised EBITDA rose by 55% to US$366.9m.

We have a three pillar strategy for creating value for our shareholders:

• operational optimisation. We look to maximise production and efficiency, and apply best practice. When we acquire assets, we enhance their culture and strategic focus, and increase their operational performance. We address immediate issues such as cash constraints, then carry out a full audit of the mines’ management, operations and production facilities to identify the improvements we need to make.
• organic expansion and development. We make significant investments in expanding reserves at our mines and identifying and developing new greenfield and brownfield projects. This allows us to increase the life of our mines, expand our overall reserves base and generate growth. We make full use our central mining and geological expertise and our considerable experience on the ground in our regions.
• value accretive acquisitions. We identify underperforming mines or late-stage development projects, where we can create value through operational improvements or by providing expertise or capital. We will consider acquisitions in our existing regions, as well as in other countries. We exercise financial discipline in valuing targets and use our management’s considerable acquisition experience.

Our key development projects are at Bissa, Burkina Faso, and Gross in Russia. We continue to make good progress with the development of both mines.

We expect Bissa to begin production in 2013 and contribute 93 Koz and 161 Koz of production in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Gross is located four kilometres from the Neryungri-Metallic mine. We expect it to contribute 61 Koz and 110 Koz of gold production in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

At 1 June 2011, our proven and probable reserves stood at nearly 8.2 Moz of gold.

In addition to these reserves, at 1 June 2011, we had measured and indicated resources of 12.0 Moz and inferred resources of 10.6 Moz, giving us total resources of 22.6 Moz.

We are continually reviewing our strategic options, both in our existing regions and in other countries. Making value accretive acquisitions is one of the pillars of our strategy.

Our geographical spread of mines and countries reduces our risk and increases our security of production. It also allows us to identify more opportunities, create synergies across our sites and transfer technology and people around the business.

Our senior management is made up of highly qualified and experienced professionals, with gold mining, general mining, operational, consulting and financial backgrounds.

The management team has led Nordgold since the first acquisitions in 2007 and has a proven track record of executing acquisitions and increasing their efficiency.

Our team has in-depth knowledge and expertise across the full project development cycle from exploration to construction, operation and optimisation, and all types of gold mining operations.

The health and safety of our employees, respect for the environment and active engagement with local communities are fundamental to our success. We also believe we have a moral obligation to work in the right way.

We want to operate to the highest standards. This means that we aim to comply with either international best practice or national laws and practices, whichever sets the higher standards. We do this by maintaining and improving our existing health, safety and environmental systems and programmes and aligning them with these standards.

We also look for ways that we can help our communities with sustainable projects, which will continue to benefit them after our mines are gone.

Nordgold is committed to corporate governance and transparency. This is reflected in our decision to act as if it were listed on the London Stock Exchange, and therefore subject to the Dutch and UK Corporate Governance Codes.

We have a strong board and our directors have a wide range of industry experience. Our independent non-executive directors are well-respected and bring a wealth of experience which will benefit Nordgold in the years ahead.

We are committed to developing our employees so that we have the right mix of skills as Nordgold grows, and they are able to fulfil their potential.

We look to employ local people where possible. This is both good business practice, due to the cost of employing expatriates, and helps to develop the skills base and economies of the regions where we work. We do employ expatriates where they have the best skills and are able to train our people and pass on their knowledge.

Each of the countries we work in has its own laws, customs and lifestyles. This means that we take a flexible and pragmatic approach to managing our people. At the minimum, we always ensure that we fully understand and comply with our legal obligations to our employees.

Nordgold’s dynamic culture and potential for growth help us to attract the people we need. We aim to pay salaries that are in line with or ahead of the market, and use bonuses and other retention payments to incentivise and retain key staff. Our policy is to be clear and transparent about remuneration.