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One step closer to a nickel mine that will fund the gold mining !
Mindoro Resources Ltd.: Key Mining Engineers Acquired to Advance Agata Nickel Laterite
EDMONTON, ALBERTA, Jul 13, 2007 (CCNMatthews via COMTEX News Network) --
Mindoro Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:MIO)(FRANKFURT:WKN 906167) is pleased to announce that the company's Philippine subsidiary, MRL Gold Phils., Inc., has hired key mining engineers to advance the Agata nickel laterite project towards production. Mr. Dallas Cox, BE (Min), has been commissioned to design the open pit mine and prepare an initial scoping study. Mr. Romeo Rebadomia, Jr. has been appointed Agata Mine Manager and will assist with the open pit mine design and development.
Mr. Cox has 26 years of experience in open pit mine technical services, mine operations and management in China, Indonesia and the Philippines. His engineering, mine design and development experience in the Philippines includes the Rusina Mining (ASX, AIM) Acoje nickel project, the Platinum Group Metals Corp. (unlisted) Caga nickel project, and the Filminera Resources and Thistle Mining (TSX) Masbate gold project. Mr. Cox's experience with designing open pit gold mines will also be utilized as the company continues to advance the Kay Tanda gold project.
Mr. Rebadomia, Jr. is a Philippine citizen and a licensed mining engineer with 22 years of engineering and mine management experience. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Rebadomia held the position of Resident Mine Manager for the ACT nickel project of Surigao Integrated Resources, CTP Construction, and Manila Mining Corporation. Mr. Rebadomia was responsible for the pre-construction, construction, operation and exploitation stages of the ACT nickel project. He also spent eight years with the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Philippines where he was extensively involved with environmental and social management issues for the MGB.
Five coring drill rigs are currently operating on the Agata nickel laterite project, with the objective of defining a NI 43-101 compliant resource adequate, initially, for three to five years of production at a rate of 500,000 to 700,000 wet metric tonnes per annum of direct shipping-grade material for the very high demand ferro-nickel markets of China, India and Korea. Mindoro has been contacted by at least 15 agencies interested in purchasing nickel laterite ore. Mindoro has a target production date of the first half of 2008 with the objective of increasing annual production to one million wet metric tones by 2010. The current drill program covers less then 10 percent of the area of nickel laterite mineralization mapped to date at Agata. On June 20, 2007, Mindoro released a revised global Exploration Target for the northern part of the Agata Project (see "About The Agata Nickel Laterite Project" below).
ABOUT THE AGATA NICKEL LATERITE PROJECT
The nickel laterite prospect is situated on the Agata Project, Surigao Gold District, northern Mindanao, Philippines. There are several nickel laterite mines already in production in the Surigao District, providing direct shipping-grade ore to markets and processing plants in China, Japan, Korea and Australia. The geological extension of the Agata nickel laterite mineralization into an adjacent property, one kilometer south of Agata, is in production and product is being shipped to markets in China. Mindoro's Exploration Target for the various laterite horizons in the northern laterite area is as follows:
Combined ferruginous overburden, limonite and saprolite horizons: 50 to 60 million wet metric tones (WMT) at a grade of 0.9 to 1.1 percent nickel and 28 to 32 percent iron. This includes the following division of tonnage between the overburden/limonite horizon and the saprolite horizon:
- Combined ferruginous overburden and limonite horizons: 30 to 35 million WMT of material at a grade of 0.9 to 1.1 percent nickel and 40 to 44 percent iron.
- Underlying saprolite horizon: 20 to 25 million WMT of material at a grade of 1.0 to 1.4 percent nickel and eight to 10 percent iron.
The northern nickel laterite mineralization covers approximately 340 hectares. A total of over 90 drill holes have been completed to date within this area. Average thicknesses and grades encountered and a specific gravity of 1.5 grams per cubic centimeter were used to arrive at the revised Exploration Target. The Exploration Target does not include significant thicknesses of low-grade, partially lateritized saprolitic rock, grading in the 0.6 to 0.8 percent nickel range, that also has market potential. Nor does it include additional areas of nickel laterite mineralization further south on the Agata Project.
The drilling program has been extended with the objective of defining the revised Exploration Target. This revised Exploration Target will form the basis for evaluating several attractive value-added processing options, which includes constructing a local blast or electric furnace for nickel pig iron production. In the meantime, Mindoro will continue to fast-track the direct shipping ore scenario with the objective of achieving production in 2008.
The very high demand for ferro-nickel feedstock for nickel pig iron production in the Asia-Pacific region, and high nickel prices, present a great opportunity to get the Agata Project into production fast, and to generate early cash flow. Uniquely, direct shipping grade nickel laterite deposits have a low-capital cost and offer a rapid route to production and cash-flow.
The reader is cautioned that the potential quantity and grade of the Exploration Target described is conceptual in nature, that there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource. Until a feasibility study has been completed there is no certainty that the Company's projections will be economically viable.
Programs are carried out under the supervision of Tony Climie, P.Geol., president of Mindoro, who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Sample preparation and assaying is being performed by McPhar Laboratory of Manila, an ISO 9001/2000 accredited laboratory. Ni, Co, Fe, MgO and Al2O3 assays are performed by AAS after an HCl-HNO3-HClO4 digest, and SiO2 by gravimetric method. Normal Quality Control and Quality Assurance procedures are being carried out, using a system of duplicate, standard and blank samples.
ABOUT MINDORO
Mindoro is a Tier 1 Issuer trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (MIO) and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (WKN 906167). In addition to advancing the Agata nickel laterite project towards production, Mindoro is carrying out a major resource delineation program on its Kay Tanda gold-silver project. The company has also identified 22 porphyry copper-gold prospects in the Philippines and has an aggressive strategy of drilling multiple targets in 2007.
This release may contain forward-looking statements including management's assessments of future plans and operations, and expectations of future production. These statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to, the risks associated with the mining and exploration industry (e.g. operational risks in development, exploration and production; delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve estimates; the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production). The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.
SOURCE: Mindoro Resources Ltd.