“The outlook for our company is great, largely because we’re moving back into a commodity-driven market,” declared Komarnicki during a recent conversation with Metalsnews.com. “Of course, gold has appreciated very significantly and I believe that it will continue to appreciate somewhat from here.”

Komarnicki, a member of the Association of Petroleum Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta, and former president of the Canadian Gas Processors Association, received his Bachelor of Applied Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto. Quickly passing up through the ranks of management in several Canadian energy firms, he eventually headed up two exploration and development companies between 1989 and 2005, Hurricane Hydrocarbons Ltd. and Tartan Energy, Inc. It was in 1995, during his tenure at the former, where Komarnicki not only became acquainted with business practices in Kazakhstan, but also landed the first major state energy privatization tender.

A vastly resource-rich country, Kazakhstan has been the focus for Komarnicki since the late 1980s and the focus of Alhambra Resources since 2002, 5 years after Kazakhstan granted Saga Creek the rights to its two 25-year licenses. According to the Subsoil Use laws of Kazakhstan, these licenses may be granted another 20 years beyond their expiration date of 2022. To date, Alhambra Resources has had more than 100 very significant gold occurrences within the Uzboy Project, its bustling 2.7 million acre flagship project situated in the Charsk Gold Belt. Initially purchased in 2003, the project currently features five exclusive advanced exploration targets. As a result of the in-depth reviews on these properties, heap leach mining on the oxide portions of the West and East zones of the Uzboy gold deposit were initiated in 2004. This is one location where Komarnicki and company plan to drastically expand operations.

“Historically, we have been producing approximately 20,000 ounces of gold per year and we anticipate that in 2010 we will achieve a similar result at this pilot facility as we test some of our operating parameters and fine-tune our recovery information,” he said. “We’ve been in production at this site since December 2004, extracting from the higher oxide layer. Underlying this we have sulfide gold mineralization which we will be developing in the next 1-2 years.” A recently updated Preliminary Economic Assessment (Scoping Study) conducted by ACA Howe International Ltd. on the resources at the company’s Uzboy Gold Deposit confirmed for Komarnicki that the deposit “has the potential to develop into a long-life mine, one that will be the cornerstone of our growth and the future of the corporation.”

In a press release dated March 4, 2010, Alhambra noted four major objectives lined up for the company in 2010, the most important of which is the expansion of its NI 43-101 compliant resources and reserves concurrent with its slated exploration schedule for the year. Alhambra has five advanced exploration targets: the Uzboy Gold Deposit, Shirotnaia, the Dombraly Gold Deposit, Mamay and Stepnyak. In 2010, Alhambra will be focused on three priority projects: the Uzboy Gold Deposit, Shirotnaia and Dombraly as these three projects provide the greatest opportunity for the earliest growth in resources and reserves.