AUSTRALIA'S DRAGON EXPECTS 1ST GOLD POUR AT SWEDISH MINE IN Q4.

MELBOURNE, June 1 Asia Pulse - Perth-based miner Dragon Mining NL (ASX:DRA) yesterday said it expected to pour the first gold at its Swedish Svartliden Project in the September 2004 quarter.

Dragon said construction had passed the half-way mark revealing a significant increase in the project's inventory, with estimated reserves upgraded 21 per cent to 287,000 ounces.

The European-focused gold producer said mining at Svartliden, 700km north of Stockholm in northern Sweden, would commence in late July 2004, with first ore to be introduced to the project's 300,000 tonne a year plant in late August.

Dragon chief executive James Searle said the progressive wet commissioning of the plant and its grinding circuits, leaching and gold-in-carbon loading would result in first production in late September or early October.

"The construction phase is progressing extremely well, with recruitment and training of the operational team well advanced," Dr Searle said.

"This will be the most important step to date in Dragons strategy to develop a significant European gold business."

He said the next major steps would come from Dragon's ...