Bluebird
Merchant Ventures Ltd / EPIC: BMV.L / Market: FTSE / Sector:
Mining
29 May
2024
Bluebird Merchant Ventures
Ltd
('Bluebird' or 'the
Company')
Gubong
Update
"Progress following local JV
formation".
Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd, a
gold project development company, is pleased to announce that
yesterday it received formal notice from the Mining Registration
Office, a division of the South Korean Mining of Trade, Industry
and Energy (MOTIE) that the required spending commitments relating
to the Gubong 'Permit to Develop', have been fulfilled and
accepted.
The Permit to Develop is a
permission that was first granted on 7 November 2019 and is
associated with the Gubong 20-year Mining Right, which is valid
from 2 September 2009 until 1 September 2029. Under the law, the
Company now has a further three-year period to achieve Commercial
Operation or make a further 'Qualifying Investment'. Additionally,
the Mining Right can be extended for a further 20-year period upon
either Commercial Operations having commenced, or the appropriate
next Qualifying Investments made.
With the new JV partner in place,
who are providing Bluebird with a free carry to production, the
Company believes that the ability to navigate the South Korean
permitting environment and manage local community engagement is
greatly enhanced. Gubong was South Korea's second largest producing
mine and has a potential resource of +1Moz
Au in-situ, plus an estimated additional 300,000 oz Au from
satellite ore bodies.
Bluebird CEO Colin Patterson said, "The extension of the Permit
to Develop for Gubong means that we have maintained the licence
integrity. I believe the JV structure with our South Korean
partners, in addition to it contributing US$5m in investment,
importantly provides the Project with in-country gravitas, as their
team better understands the local, district and national
geo-political environment. Local knowledge is crucial to project
development, as demonstrated by our structure in the Philippines
where we are rapidly advancing the Batangas high grade gold
project."
**ENDS**
For
further information please visit https://bluebirdmv.com or
contact:
Jonathan
Morley-Kirk Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd
Email: jmk@bluebirdmv.com
Nick Emerson
SI Capital
Tel:
01483413500
About Bluebird
Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd
(BMV.L) is a London listed gold development company. It is led by a
team of proven mine rehabilitation experts, and currently has two
100% owned licensed high grade narrow vein mining projects, the
Gubong Gold Project ('Gubong') and the Kochang Gold and Silver
Project ('Kochang'), 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.
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.
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 several 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.
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.