Bluebird
Merchant Ventures Ltd / EPIC: BMV.L / Market: FTSE / Sector:
Mining
15 May 2024
Bluebird Merchant Ventures
Ltd
('Bluebird' or 'the
Company')
Declaration Of Mining Project
Feasibility Work Commencing At The Batangas Gold
Project
In The
Philippines
A further step forward in
developing the high-grade Lobo target with JV
Partner
Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd, a
gold project development company is pleased to announce that the
work required for the submission for the grant of a Declaration of
Mining Project Feasibility ('the DMPF') for an operating gold mine
at the Lobo high-grade gold mining target, within the Batangas
project area in the Philippines ('Lobo' or 'the Project'), has
commenced. Lobo, in line with the Company's free carry JV
model, is being developed in tandem with the Company's local JV
partner which is fully funding the Project's advancement to a
production decision. (See RNS 7th February
2023)
The DMPF together with the
Environmental Compliance Certificate are the two key outstanding
compliance permissions for the Project. In order to
coordinate and submit a Philippine Mineral Reporting Code 2020
compliant technical report for the grant of a DMPF, local external
contractors have been appointed to complete the multiple
workstreams and studies required. These include but are not
limited to:
·
Validation of the existing resource and the
development of a 'Final Exploration Report' on the resource
potential of Lobo along the 15km of identified mineralised
structures and the surrounding nine identified targets.
·
Produce a 'Metallurgical Engineering Study' to
define the metallurgical process.
·
Prepare the mine design and mill processing sheet
with associated CAPEX & OPEX modelling based on the minimum
10-year Life of the Mine.
·
Production of Financial Statements including the
IRR and the NPV calculations.
·
Research study for the formulation of Social
Development and Management Program (SDMP) based on the needs
assessment to the host and neighbouring communities.
·
Government liaison and submission of the final
DMPF resulting in approval. This is anticipated to take 6-9
months.
Having local contractors is
imperative to the success of the Project. Aside from having
the necessary technical expertise, they have in-depth regional
understanding and the knowledge and ability to effectively liaise
with the Philippine Government's Mines and Geosciences Bureau to
ensure the submission is compliant and covers all the relevant
economic and social aspects of bringing a mine to fruition.
E-Green Management & Environmental Consultancy Corporation are
already undertaking the Preparation of the Environmental Impact
Study and Application of an Environmental Compliance Certificate.
Bluebird CEO Colin Patterson said, "Momentum is everything, so I am delighted to announce the
next step in the advancement of the Batangas Gold Project in the
Philippines. Work streams towards both the Declaration of Mining
Project Feasibility and the Environmental Compliance Certificate,
the two key outstanding compliance permissions for the Project to
advance to the production decision, are now underway. As in
the case of Gubong, where we recently announced our second free
carry JV structure, the project development is being funded through
a JV, with a local company who has in depth local mining
experience. All the work streams including production of the
mine plan based on an initial 10 year mine life and a full resource
model to significantly scale the initial 82K oz Au, will allow us
to fully understand the production potential of Lobo.
"Mining in the Philippines is being actively promoted and we
feel that together with our two high grade South Korean projects we
are in a great position to take advantage of the highly favourable
long term gold price environment. With both Gubong and Lobo under
JV, going forward and multiple work streams being implemented, we
will be highly active on the news front and be able to communicate
developments regularly which will be to the benefit of all
stakeholders."
The Lobo licence covers
1,164-hectares. Multiple high grade target areas have been
identified and include the South West Breccia ('SWB'), West Drift,
Japanese Tunnel, historic Lobo copper mine, Camo, Acacia, Pica,
Balisong and Ulupong prospects. Lobo has an initial Probable
JORC Compliant Ore Reserves of 171,000 tons at 6.6 g/t for 36,000
ounces of gold excluding silver credits based primarily on the
South West Breccia ('SWB') area of the licence that can be mined in
the first 18 months of any operation. There is an Indicated
resource of 82,000 oz Au that is perceived as easily
convertible.
Additionally, the Lobo licence area
has multiple epithermal and high-grade targets already identified
for resource expansion with 15km of identified mineralised
structures with results across the nine identified targets yielding
excellent results. These include 2.1m @14.4g/t Au and 3m at
12.1g/t at West Drift, which already has an Indicated and Inferred
resource of 350,000t at 3 g/t Au, 8.35m at 18.3 g/t Au and 6.0m at
31.2 g/t Au located immediately west of the SWB Extension, 19m
surface channel sample with intersections of 19m grading 9.8 g/t Au
at Ulupong and trenching at Limestone Target yielded 3.5m at 25.9
g/t Au including 1.5m at 56.8 g/t Au.
**ENDS**
For
further information please visit https://bluebirdmv.com or
contact:
Jonathan Morley-Kirk
Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd
Email: jmk@bluebirdmv.com
Nick Emmerson
SI Capital
Tel:
01483413500
About Bluebird
Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd
(BMV.L) is a London listed South Korea-focused resources company
centred on bringing historically producing gold mines back into
production. The Company, led by a team of proven mine
rehabilitation experts, currently has two 100% owned licensed high
grade narrow vein mining projects, the Kochang Gold and Silver
Project ('Kochang') and the Gubong Gold Project ('Gubong'), which
each have a defined route to low cost/ low capex production with a
cumulative target of producing 100,000 oz + Au per
annum.
The management team has invested
cUS$2 million personally into the Company and believe, following
analysis of historic production and exploration data, as well as
extensive sampling, geological, geophysical, and engineering
studies, there is potential for in excess of 1.5 million oz of
mineable gold in its Korean projects alone.
Kochang is an epithermal vein
deposit with parallel vertical ore bodies covering 8.3 sq km that
reportedly produced 110,000 oz of gold and 5.9 million oz of silver
between 1961 and 1975. Consisting of a gold and silver mine,
there are currently four main veins and a number of parallel
subsidiary veins vein which have been identified, as well as a
newly identified cross-cutting vein. Historic drilling indicates
the veins continue to depth below the current 150m mine and mapping
shows the veins on surface providing potential above and below the
old workings. The veins extend to the NE providing a strike length
of 2.5km with 600m between the two mines not exploited. There
is potential to expand operations to the southwest/northeast and to
depth, as well as exploit the already mined areas. The total
resource potential is between 550,000 and 700,000 tonnes, with a
range of grades between 5.2 g/t to 6.6 g/t gold, and 27.3 g/t to
34.8 g/t silver. Following the granting of a Mountain Use
permit, there is an estimated 6-to-9-month development time to
trial mining.
Gubong, which was historically the
second largest gold mine in South Korea has 9 granted tenements
covering c.25 sq km. Gubong is moderately dipping with 9
veins extending 500m below surface and known to extend at least a
further 250m. However, the production opportunity for Bluebird
prior to looking at deepening the mine is the 25 levels already
developed with all the remnants and unmined areas left by the
original miners. The 25 levels extend over 120km in total
length which indicates the size of the opportunity. The Korea
Resources Corporation ('KORES') estimated 2.34M tonnes at some
7.3g/t Au garnered from 57 drill holes over 17,715.3 metres.
With additional sampling, mapping, pit modelling and grade
analysis, plus the fact that Gubong is an orogenic deposit, which
typically have a depth of 2km compared to the current depth of
500m, the Board believe it has a geological potential of 1 million
+ oz Au in-situ, plus an estimated additional 300,000 oz Au from
satellite ore bodies.
Additionally, the Company has the
highly prospective Batangas Gold Exploration Project in the
Philippines, where it has an agreement with a Philippine company,
whose owners have decades of experience in mining, to develop the
Project. The JV covers the entire Batangas Project area,
which has a current JORC compliant resource of 440,000 ounces,
including a maiden ore reserve of 128,000 ounces (including silver
credits). Exploration expenditure to the tune of c.$20m has already
been invested. Work is focused on completing exploration and
environmental work programmes initially targeting the high-grade
Lobo area, although there is excellent exploration potential across
the licence with high-grade targets already identified and 14km of
identified mineralised structures. The staged agreement is
based on the JV partner achieving defined development goals and
provides Bluebird with a free carry on the development of Batangas
with a view to advancing to construction.