Great Basin Gold Announces the Granting of the Mining Right for its Burnstone Mine in South Africa

Great Basin Gold Announces the Granting of the Mining Right for its Burnstone Mine in South Africa

Great Basin Gold Ltd. announced the granting of the Mining Right for its Burnstone Mine in South Africa by the Department of Minerals and Energy. The Mining Right was granted on 28 October 2008 to the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Southgold Exploration (Pty) Ltd (“Southgold”) and authorizes Southgold to mine for gold, silver and aggregate in the Burnstone Project area. The Burnstone property is located in the Witwatersrand Goldfield of South Africa.

In terms of the requirements of the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act, Tranter Gold (Proprietary) Limited (“Tranter Gold”), a Black Economic Empowerment (“BEE”) company, acquired 26% of the Burnstone Project using the then Feasibility Study as a basis for valuation. To enable Tranter Gold to gain full exposure to the international asset base of Great Basin Gold, approval was given to convert the 26% see-through value of their holding in the Burnstone Project to shares in the listed entity.

Ferdi Dippenaar, President and CEO commented: “Great Basin Gold and Tranter Gold, our BEE partner, view this as a significant milestone which paves the way to deliver the project as planned. What is just as important is that Tranter Gold, which is Great Basin Gold’s largest shareholder with some 9.3% interest in the listed entity, is making good progress in becoming a black-owned operating mining company in its own right.

Development of the Company’s Burnstone Project is progressing well. The cross-cut to the mineralized reef is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2009, at which time trial stoping to extract a bulk sample of approximately 26,000 tons will commence, and simultaneously development of the vertical shaft and decline shaft will continue. The Company plans to mine approximately 40,000 oz of gold at Burnstone in 2009.”

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