OREANDA-NEWS. Polymetal International plc is pleased to provide an Exploration update for the year ended 31 December 2015 and an update of its Ore Reserves and Mineral Resources as at 1 January 2016 in accordance with the JORC Code (2012).

In 2015 Polymetal's gold and silver Ore Reserves decreased by 4% to 21 Moz of gold equivalent (GE) due to unfavourable movement in the gold/silver ratio. However, depletion from mining was fully offset by reserve additions, most importantly by resource-to-reserve conversion at Kyzyl and fresh discoveries at Dukat hub and the Omolon hub;

Mineral Resources (additional to Ore Reserves) decreased by 12% to 12.8 Moz of GE as material new additions at Dukat hub, Albazino, and Omolon hub did not to fully compensate for resource-to-reserve conversion at Kyzyl and resource attrition during re-evaluation at Voro hub;

Average Ore Reserves grade decreased by 3% to 4.2 g/t GE. Average Mineral Resources grade increased by 15% to 4.8 g/t GE as a result of initial estimates at several high-grade resource properties;

Company continue to use conservative gold and silver price assumptions, of $1,100/oz and $15/oz respectively, in both reserve and resource estimates in 2015 (2014: US$1,200/oz and US$17/oz);

Drilling volumes decreased by 14% year-on-year to 232 km, mainly as a result of completion of major drilling campaigns at Tarutin, Viksha and Albazino underground in 2014, while additional drilling volumes were allocated to the new deposits, including Lichkvaz, Dolinnoye, and Kyzyl.

"I am very happy that our key mines - Dukat, Omolon, and Albazino - all managed to largely replace mineral inventory ounces through exploration in 2015," - said Vitaly Nesis, Group CEO of Polymetal, commenting on the results. "We look forward to 2016 when we expect that continued spending on brownfield exploration will yield more high-quality reserves".