It paid 2 mln usd to purchase 'put options' for a third of its current gold reserves, equivalent to 300,000 ounces, at the Toka Tindung mine in Indonesia.

The options for the remaining 50,000 oz will end in various dates over the first two years of production and will ensure that output will be sold for at least 440 usd per oz.

It is expected to annually produce an average of 160,000 oz for the initial five years of the current six-year mine life commencing in late-2006.

'The put options provide considerable protection against the effects of a substantial fall in the gold price, one of the largest variables affecting a metal mining project like Toka Tindung and thereby constitute insurance to revenues necessary to support the debt financing for the project,' the group said in a statement.

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