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GREAT BASIN GOLD LIMITED - GBG - Subsidiary seeks creditor Protection pending loan negotiations

Release Date: 19/09/2012 07:20
Code(s): GBG     PDF:  
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GBG - Subsidiary seeks creditor 
Protection pending loan negotiations

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" or "the Company")


GREAT BASIN GOLD SUBSIDIARY SEEKS CREDITOR
PROTECTION PENDING LOAN NEGOTIATIONS


September 18, 2012, Johannesburg, SA - Great Basin Gold Ltd. (“Great Basin Gold”), (TSX: GBG; NYSE
MKT: GBG; JSE: GBG) announces that its principal South African subsidiary, Southgold Exploration (Pty)
Ltd. (“Southgold”) owner of the Burnstone mine, has filed for protection under the South African business
rescue (“BR”) procedures. Great Basin Gold itself expects to seek creditor protection this week. The
insolvency filings are intended to allow Southgold and the Company a period of time to seek buyers and
partners for Great Basin Gold’s two gold mining projects and/or corporate level financiers in an effort to
return to solvency. The BR proceeding constitutes a default under the Company’s unsecured convertible
debentures (TSX:GBG.DB) which have a principal amount of $126 million. Trading in Great Basin Gold’s
shares and debentures will remain suspended and the NYSE MKT, TSX and JSE are expected to initiate
delisting procedures for these securities.

Great Basin Gold is currently endeavoring to negotiate a debtor-in-possession working capital loan with
certain lenders which if successfully concluded and if approved by any necessary Court approvals, would
provide Great Basin Gold with liquidity to pursue an orderly shutdown of Burnstone while it seeks a
restructuring and/or sale of its assets. As of the time of this news release there can be no certainty the
negotiations will succeed.

Lou van Vuuren, interim CEO, commented, “The BR creditor protection filing was necessary to provide the
Company with some additional time to see results from its strategic restructuring process. Assuming our DIP
loan negotiations are successful, those funds will be used firstly to ensure the orderly suspension of
operations at Burnstone and to provide some additional funds for Hollister.”

Lou van Vuuren
CEO (interim)


For additional details on Great Basin Gold Ltd. and its gold properties, please visit the Company’s website at
www.grtbasin.com or contact Michael Curlook, Head of Investor Services at 1-888-633-9332.


Cautionary and Forward Looking Statement Information

This document contains “forward-looking statements” that were based on Great Basin’s expectations, estimates and projections as of
the dates as of which those statements were made. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of
forward-looking terminology such as “outlook”, “anticipate”, “project”, “target”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “should” and
similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may
cause the Company’s actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or
implied by such forward-looking statements. These include but are not limited to:
- uncertainties related to the Company’s liquidity challenges and need for near term financing
- uncertainties related to project realization values
- uncertainties and costs related to the Company’s exploration and development activities, such as those associated with
determining whether mineral resources or reserves exist on a property;
- uncertainties related to feasibility studies that provide estimates of expected or anticipated costs, expenditures and economic
returns from a mining project; uncertainties related to expected production rates, timing of production and the cash and total costs
of production and milling;
- uncertainties related to the ability to obtain necessary licenses, permits, electricity, surface rights and title for development
projects;
- operating and technical difficulties in connection with mining development activities;
- uncertainties related to the accuracy of our mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates and our estimates of future
production and future cash and total costs of production, and the geotechnical or hydrogeological nature of ore deposits, and
diminishing quantities or grades of mineral reserves;
- uncertainties related to unexpected judicial or regulatory proceedings;
- changes in, and the effects of, the laws, regulations and government policies affecting our mining operations, particularly
laws, regulations and policies relating to
- mine expansions, environmental protection and associated compliance costs arising from exploration, mine
development, mine operations and mine closures;
- expected effective future tax rates in jurisdictions in which our operations are located;
- the protection of the health and safety of mine workers; and
- mineral rights ownership in countries where our mineral deposits are located, including the effect of the Mineral
and Petroleum Resources Development Act (South Africa);
- changes in general economic conditions, the financial markets and in the demand and market price for gold, silver and other
minerals and commodities, such as diesel fuel, coal, petroleum coke, steel, concrete, electricity and other forms of energy, mining
equipment, and fluctuations in exchange rates, particularly with respect to the value of the U.S. dollar, Canadian dollar and South
African rand;
- unusual or unexpected formation, cave-ins, flooding, pressures, and precious metals losses (and the risk of inadequate
insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks);
- changes in accounting policies and methods we use to report our financial condition, including uncertainties associated with
critical accounting assumptions and estimates;
- environmental issues and liabilities associated with mining including processing and stock piling ore;
- geopolitical uncertainty and political and economic instability in countries which we operate; and
- labour strikes, work stoppages, or other interruptions to, or difficulties in, the employment of labour in markets in which we
operate mines, or environmental hazards, industrial accidents or other events or occurrences, including third party interference that
interrupt the production of minerals in our mines.
- There is currently no certainty that Southgold Exploration (Pty) Ltd will successfully emerge from business rescue proceedings
and thereby prevent liquidation.


For further information on Great Basin Gold, investors should review the Company’s annual Form 40-F filing with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission www.sec.gov and home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.

Johannesburg
19 September 2012

Sponsor
Sasfin Czspital (a division of Sasfin Bank Limited)


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