GBG - Great Basin Gold Limited - Great Basin Reports Financial Results For The

GBG - Great Basin Gold Limited - Great Basin Reports Financial Results For The  
Quarter Ended September 30, 2009                                                
GREAT BASIN GOLD LIMITED                                                        
(Incorporated in Canada and registered as an External Company in South Africa)  
(Registration No. 2006/021304/10)                                               
Share Code: GBG      ISIN Number: CA3901241057                                  
("Great Basin Gold" or "the Company")                                           
GREAT BASIN REPORTS FINANCIAL RESULTS FOR THE QUARTER ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2009  
November 9, 2009, Vancouver, BC - Great Basin Gold Ltd. ("Great Basin" or the   
"Company") (TSX: GBG; NYSE Amex: GBG; JSE: GBG) announces results for the       
quarter ended September 30, 2009. Highlights include commissioning of our       
newly refurbished Esmeralda Mill facility, commencement of long hole stoping    
trial-mining methods at the Burnstone Project in South Africa and a CDN$110     
million bought deal convertible debenture offering negotiated during the        
quarter which was announced in October.                                         
Great Basin incurred a loss of CDN$0.05 per share during the quarter as         
compared to CDN$0.04 per share for the quarter ended June 30, 2009. No          
revenues were recorded during the quarter because the Company elected to        
retain the high-grade ore produced from its Hollister Project in Nevada, USA,   
in order to treat it at its Esmeralda Mill. Pursuant to an agreement with       
Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp, the Company can also process excess tonnage at Yukon-   
Nevada`s Jerritt Canyon facility at a cost of US$88 per ton.  Cash cost per     
gold equivalent (Au eqv) ounce extracted, excluding milling costs, were 14%     
lower in the third quarter at CDN$379 (US$324) per Au eqv ounce as compared to  
CDN$439 (US$375) per Au eqv ounce for the quarter ended June 30, 2009.  A       
total of 18,232 tons of ore grading 0.99 Au eqv ounces (1) per ton or 34.1      
g/t, containing 18,026 Au eqv ounces was extracted during the quarter as        
compared to 18,442 tons containing 18,219 Au eqv ounces in the quarter ended    
June 2009.  The year to date production costs of CDN$390 (US$333) per Au eqv    
ounce and CDN$439 (US$375) per ton are below budgeted costs of CDN$425          
(US$363) per Au eqv ounce and CDN$515 (US$440) per ton.                         
At September 30, 2009, the Hollister ore stockpile contained 32,219 tons with   
an estimated metal content of 27,336 Au eqv ounces.                             
Pre-development expenses for the Hollister property decreased from CDN$8.5      
million to CDN$8.4 million, quarter on quarter. To date, an amount of CDN$79    
million has been expensed relating to our Hollister operations. Underground     
waste development continued with 3,247 ft (984 m) being completed, totaling     
8,872 ft (2,688 m) in the year to date. Ore access development was higher at    
1,104 ft (336 m) compared to 416 ft (127 m) planned.                            
Underground evaluation and exploration drilling for other mineralized           
structures totalled 22,017 ft (6,710 m) for the quarter.  Exploration expenses  
for the quarter decreased to CDN$3.5 million from CDN$4.4 million in the        
quarter ended June 30, 2009, of which CDN$3 million was spent on an             
underground exploration program at Hollister.  Follow-up drilling on the newly  
discovered Gloria vein system will continue after the construction of the       
Western Alimak raise for which the BLM issued a permit during October 2009.     
The first phase of refurbishment and commissioning of the Esmeralda Mill was    
completed in September 2009. Following the granting of a permit by the Nevada   
Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP), the Company commenced Phase II   
of the project, which includes installation of the Gekko float and gravity      
section during the fourth quarter of 2009.  An application to the NDEP to       
construct a refinery on site is being prepared for submission and can only be   
granted once an analysis of the milled material from the operational plant has  
been completed.  The approval process typically takes six months to complete    
during which gold concentrate will be processed off-site.                       
For Burnstone, development costs of CDN$29 million were capitalized in the      
quarter compared to CDN$33 million in the quarter ended June 30 2009. In the    
nine months ended September 30, 2009, development costs of CDN$69 million were  
capitalized as activities related to the construction of the mine               
infrastructure accelerated.                                                     
Good progress continues to be made with the development of surface and          
underground infrastructure at the Burnstone Project. As at September 30, 2009,  
8,009 ft (2,441 m) of decline development had been completed.   A total of 824  
ft (251 m) of on-reef development has been completed during the quarter with    
good continuity in reef exposed. The first Long Hole Stope was also accessed,   
and a number of blasts taken. The Company plans to implement this higher level  
of mechanized mining on a trial basis over a period of 9 to 12 months before    
final evaluation. The establishment of more stopes is underway in Block B,      
with activities in Block C mainly focused on reef development.  At October 31,  
2009, a total of approximately 29,000 tons have been accumulated on the         
surface ore stockpile.                                                          
Sinking of the vertical shaft at Burnstone continued and at September 30 2009,  
the shaft had reached a depth of 1,339 ft (408 m) below surface with 261 ft     
(79 m) remaining to shaft bottom.  The final depth of the shaft is planned at   
1,598 ft (487 m). Development of 40 Level Station commenced with 131 ft (40 m)  
being completed and 771 ft (235 m) remaining before shaft sinking to 41 Level   
re-commences.                                                                   
The refurbishment of the mills continues to be on schedule. Foundation          
excavations for the metallurgical facility were completed and construction of   
the mill infrastructure has commenced.                                          
President and CEO Ferdi Dippenaar commented on the quarter "The Company         
continues to make solid progress at both its gold development projects.  While  
the project funding facility for our Burnstone Project was approaching          
finalization, we saw an opportunity to substitute unsecured convertible debt    
with a competitive coupon and we were delighted to be able to capitalize on     
it. The net proceeds of CDN$105 million, or CDN$121 million if the over         
allotment is exercised, will be used to repay the project funding drawn down    
to date and together with CDN$55 million cash on hand we have fully funded the  
remaining costs to completion of the Burnstone project. With the convertible    
debentures representing only 10% dilution of fully diluted capitalization and   
no gold hedging required as part of this financing, Great Basin shareholders    
will benefit from increased leverage to the current gold price momentum."       
Johan Oelofse, Pr.Eng., FSAIMM, Chief Operating Officer of Great Basin and a    
qualified person, as defined by regulatory policy, has reviewed and assumed     
responsibility for the technical information contained in this release.         
For additional details on Great Basin and its gold properties, please visit     
the Company`s website at www.grtbasin.com or contact Investor Services:         
    Tsholo Serunye in South Africa                    27 (0) 11 301 1800        
    Michael Curlook in North America                  1 (888) 633 9332          
Barbara Cano at Breakstone Group in the USA       (646) 452 2334            
No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained   
in this news release.                                                           
Cautionary and Forward Looking Statement Information                            
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking    
statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of           
historical facts, that address possible future commercial production, reserve   
potential, exploration drilling results, development, feasibility or            
exploitation activities and events or developments that Great Basin expects to  
occur are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the         
expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on          
reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future            
performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from       
those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual        
results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include   
market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability   
of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions.  
Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future   
performance and those actual results or developments may differ materially      
from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information    
on the Company, Investors should review the Company`s annual Form 40-F filing   
with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and its home          
jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.                       
Cautionary Note regarding Non-GAAP Measurements                                 
Cash cost per ounce produced is a not a generally accepted accounting           
principles ("GAAP") based figure but rather is intended to serve as a           
performance measure providing some indication of the mining and processing      
efficiency and effectiveness of test mining at the Hollister project. It is     
determined by dividing the relevant mining and processing costs excluding       
royalties by the ounces produced in the period. There may be some variation in  
the method of computation of "cash cost per ounce produced" as determined by    
the Company compared with other mining companies. In this context, "ounces      
produced" in-process and dore inventory along with ounces of gold sold in the   
period. Cash costs per ounce produced may vary from one period to another due   
to operating efficiencies, waste to ore ratios, grade of ore processed and      
gold recovery rates in the period. We provide this measure to our investors to  
allow them to also monitor operational efficiencies of test mining at           
Hollister.  As a Non-GAAP Financial Measures cash cost per ounce should not be  
considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance          
prepared in accordance with GAAP. There are material limitations associated     
with the use of such Non-GAAP measures.                                         
(1) Gold equivalent here, and elsewhere in this document, was calculated using  
a gold price of US$800 per ounce and a silver price of US$12 per ounce          
Date: 09/11/2009 15:00:02 Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za                     
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