The Kisladag deposit consists of porphyry-style gold mineralization centred on a series of overlapping sub-volcanic intrusives of quartz syenite to quartz-monzonite composition.

“Kisladag is confirmed to be a true porphyry gold deposit, albeit possessing several distinctive geological features. These include the paucity of quartz veinlets, the dominance of molybdenum over copper and the exceptionally high gold values. The deposit is centred on a steep, multiphase latite porphyry intrusion of alkaline affiliation. Younger intrusive phases were emplaced progressively nearer the centre of the stock and are characterized by increasingly weaker alteration of lower gold contents. The centrally positioned late-mineral phase is essentially barren.”

Gold mineralization with traces of molybdenum, zinc, lead and copper encircles the late barren stock (Int-#3). Higher-grade gold mineralization (> 1 g/t Au) is associated with Intrusive #1 and forms a horseshoe shaped zone around the northern, southern and eastern sides of Intrusive #3. The higher gold grades are associated with multiphase quartz sulphide stockwork and pervasive silicification. The mineralized zones dip outward in a bell-shaped body; sub parallel to the contact of the stock.

Gold is associated with at least three phases of partially overlapping stockwork veining and brecciation. These include:
• Intense quartz-tourmaline stockwork veining
• Hydrothermal breccias (±gold)
• Multiple phases of quartz-pyrite veining with local silica flooding with gold
• Late sulphide rich quartz veining with traces of molybdenum, sphalerite, galena and tetrahedrite (± gold).

In general, the amount of stockwork veining decreases with depth, especially below 650 masl elevation. Higher-grade mineralization (above 2 ppm Au) has been traced from surface to depths greater than 250 m below surface. Lower-grade mineralization, grading between 0.5 and 1.0 ppm Au has been traced to the deepest levels drilled on the property approximately 600 m to 700 m below surface.

Ore is extracted via open pit mining methods using standard drill and blast, truck and shovel mining process. The current truck and shovel fleet is allowner operated and consists of 150 tonne and 240 tonne trucks along with suitably matched diesel and electric hydraulic face shovels, wheel loaders and drill rigs.

The Kisladag ore is processed in a standard heap leach facility containing a three stage crushing plant, an overland conveyor to the heap leach pad, mobile conveyors and a stacker for placing the ore and a carbon adsorption facility (ADR plant) for recovering the gold. The carbon is treated on site in a refinery and the final product is a gold doré bar.

The primary crusher is a 1,270 mm by 1,651 mm gyratory crusher capable of processing the ultimate design rate of 1,751 t/h. Run of mine ore is hauled from the open pit and direct dumped into the primary crusher. Initially, contract miners delivered the ore in 37 tonne trucks and the layout provides for two trucks dumping simultaneously. The dump pocket has a capacity of 300 tonnes and is adequate for the larger owner operated mine trucks in later years. Owner operated mining training and transition with 150 tonne trucks started in May 2008. In October 2008, the mine started to use its own equipment. The crushed ore is conveyed to a 20,000 tonne coarse ore stockpile. This is used as surge capacity to feed the fine ore circuit. Material is then conveyed from the base of this to a 300 tonne coarse ore bin and then on to the secondary crusher.

The final crushed product was prepared in a circuit consisting of one scalping screen, one MP1000 standard secondary cone crusher, three MP800 short head tertiary cone crushers, and four fine ore screens. The capacity of the circuit ranges from 1,300 t/h to 1,400 t/h when delivering a product containing 80% passing 6.3 mm.

Final product from the crushing and screening circuit is transported to the heap leach pad by two stage overland conveyors and a series of portable conveyors. A radial stacker distributes the ore onto the pad. Depending on the location and geometry of the pads, advance stacking is applied as well. Stacking is carried out in 10 m lifts to a projected design height of 60 m.

When the overland conveying is not available, to keep the crushing unit in operation, the final product is conveyed to a 25,000 tonnes fine ore stockpile via a radial stacker. The fine ore is then manually reclaimed from the pile by front-end loaders and re-introduced onto the overland conveyor belt via a hopper.

The heap leach pad is a permanent facility employing a two-part liner system of a compacted layer of low permeability soil, with a 2 mm thick HPDE/LLDPE synthetic liner. The initial pad had a capacity of 15 Mt and sequential expansions to the pad are accommodating the total tonnage mined.

The leach cycle for oxide ore, based on test work, is 90 days; this will change for the higher lifts, since the solution return takes longer as the pad height keeps increasing. The sulphide ore is much slower leaching. Testwork indicates that it could take as long as 120 days without taking increasing pad heights into account. Solution application rate is about 5 to 8 L/h/m2 of crushed ore. There are three process ponds installed to contain the heap leach solutions. The pregnant solution pond has the live capacity of 8,600 m3, barren pond has 17,400 m3 and intermediate pond has 7,200 m3 capacities. There is an 8,600 m3 volume spare pond available as well. The process ponds have a double HDPE liner and fitted with leak detection pipes and pumps. The pond surfaces were covered with floating 100 mm diameter HDPE plastic balls in order to reduce evaporation.

The gold adsorption facility (ADR plant) consists of two trains of carbon columns with each train consisting of five columns. Gold from the heap solutions is loaded onto the activated carbon and the carbon is removed periodically for treatment. The gold is recovered from the carbon in a standard Zadra process consisting of pressure stripping, electro winning and smelting. The final product is a gold doré bar suitable for final processing to 99.999% purity in domestic or offshore refineries.