GOLD NEWS

Focus has Diggers off to a golden start.

This year's Diggers and Dealers forum gets under way in full today, but local gold miner Focus Minerals got the event off to a good start with a party and presentation at its nearby minesite.

KALGOORLIE - 

The annual Diggers and Dealers mining forum kicked off in fine style last night with Focus Minerals inviting their supporters out to site for a sumptuous dinner Maggie Beer style at its nearby Coolgardie Tindals gold operation. The cookery icon served guests with a variety of Australian style foods tempting guests on arrival at the specially set up marquee overlooking the mine site and the newly re-commissioned Three Mile Hill gold treatment facility .

Kalgoorlie during the day at this time of year is a balmy place to be but, come nightfall, the temperature drops considerably and last night was no exception. The Focus team had that covered though,jackets were on hand to ward off the chill and then kangaroo tail pies were served to warm us up before we were invited into the marquee for a sit down dinner and to hear from Campbell Baird, Focus's Managing Director, about the goals that Focus had achieved since the last Diggers forum. Campbell made a point to thank the team for the hard work and time they had put in to get Focus to ramp up gold production and to increase throughput at the mill.

Focus says its Coolgardie Gold Project comprises an extensive surface and underground resource inventory within multiple deposits totalling close to 2 million ounces of gold at a grade of around 2.5 g/t. The project includes the fully permitted 1.2 million tonnes per year Three Mile Hill gold processing facility and a highly prospective 210km² tenement package, which the company reckons offers an outstanding pipeline of exploration and development opportunities.

Focus produced over 41,000 ounces in its 2009 financial year and 62,296 ounces in the recently-ended FY2010 with plans to ramp up to +100,000 ounces per annum ahead.

After dinner was served, the famed West Australian journalist, Paul Murray, gave a presentation on his views of the current state of politics and spoke strongly about the fact that politics has become a media darling with no substance. He suggested that politicians have become terrified of saying anything unless it is focus grouped. At a time when the Australian election is only weeks away his comments were timely.

Today is the first day proper of Diggers and we kick off with Niall Ferguson giving a keynote address. The mining industry is keen to hear Mr Ferguson's views on both the Chinese and the US economic situation and the impact that may have on the industry.   We will report back on what he has to say in due course.