VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 14, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wellgreen Platinum Ltd. ("Wellgreen") (TSX-V:WG) (OTC-QX:WGPLF) announced an agreement with Ferus Natural Gas Fuels Inc. (Ferus NGF) that advances the natural gas market in Canada's Yukon Territory. This new partnership supports the delivery of clean liquefied natural gas (LNG) to power Wellgreen's PGM-Nickel-Copper mining project. The site is located in the southwest region of the Yukon, and could be the first mining project in Canada powered by LNG.
Ferus NGF's LNG facility in Elmworth, AB supplies clean alternative fuel for Western Canada's high horsepower and clean power sectors – including mining, rail, drilling, pressure pumping, trucking, marine, and remote power generation. This agreement with Wellgreen would enable communities in the Yukon to benefit from this low-cost, low-emission LNG in place of diesel generators, strengthening the region's economic and environmental vitality.
In signing this MOU, both companies have agreed to work with other Yukon businesses, communities and First Nations to explore additional clean fuel opportunities, and will assess the need for an LNG plant in proximity to Wellgreen's mine, which would reduce transport cost and make LNG even more readily available to other mining and power projects in the region.
"Ferus NGF is committed to building the required LNG infrastructure across Canada and the United States to supply this proven alternative fuel for remote power generation and to high horsepower markets," said Dick Brown, CEO of Ferus NGF. "This innovative project with Wellgreen Platinum exemplifies how one company's strategic vision to adopt LNG can result in economic and environmental benefits to an entire region including First Nations and other nearby communities. We are proud to be a part of that solution with Wellgreen Platinum."
Wellgreen Platinum's President & CEO, Greg Johnson, stated, "This clean energy project is a natural fit for Wellgreen and gives us a second source of cost-effective and clean energy that can meet the energy needs and timelines of the project. Our platinum group metals are used in catalytic converters to significantly reduce harmful vehicle emissions, and we are searching for ways to use clean energy to produce those metals. In addition to the environmental and economic benefits of LNG for our project, we see the potential for LNG to benefit our neighbouring Yukon communities, many of whom currently rely on diesel for power generation. We are pleased to be in discussions with Ferus NGF for their Western Canadian based supplies of LNG."
Wellgreen Platinum has also entered into an MOU with General Electric Canada ("GE"), a global leader in power and automation technology, to deliver a complete power generation and transmission network for the project. The company recently released a Mineral Resource update (July 24, 2014) which, together with the updated metallurgical testing results anticipated to follow this month, will be incorporated into the Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Wellgreen project targeted for completion in September 2014.
About Wellgreen Platinum
Wellgreen Platinum Ltd. is a Canadian mining exploration & development company focused on the acquisition and development of platinum group metals (PGM) projects in politically stable, mining-friendly jurisdictions. One of the largest undeveloped PGM-nickel-copper deposits outside southern Africa or Russia, our 100% owned flagship Wellgreen project located in Canada's mining-friendly Yukon Territory is 14 kilometres by all-weather road from the paved Alaska Highway leading to deep sea ports in Haines and Skagway, Alaska. Wellgreen Platinum Ltd. has an experienced management team with a track record of successful large scale project discovery, development, operations and financing and is focused on advancing Wellgreen towards production. For more information about Wellgreen Platinum or the Wellgreen PGM-Nickel-Copper project, please visit www.wellgreenplatinum.com.
About Ferus Natural Gas Fuels
Ferus Natural Gas Fuels (Ferus NGF), formerly Ferus LNG, is privately held by The Energy & Minerals Group. Ferus NGF provides end-to-end LNG and compressed natural gas ("CNG") fueling services including liquefaction, compression, transportation, storage and delivery to our customers in all end-use industries. Ferus NGF built the largest merchant LNG plant in Canada and is jointly building two LNG liquefaction facilities with ENN Canada in Alberta and British Columbia. Ferus NGF's sister company in the United States is an equal partner in Eagle LNG Partners, a consortium dedicated to building out LNG infrastructure across the United States, and is partnered with GE Oil & Gas in The Last MileTM Fueling Solution which is a fully-integrated natural gas fueling system providing natural gas fuel for oil and gas and other high horsepower operations, often using gas that would have otherwise been wasted as flare. For more information, visit www.ferus.com.
About The Energy & Minerals Group
EMG is the management company for a series of specialized private equity funds. The Firm was founded by John Raymond (majority owner and CEO) and John Calvert in 2006. EMG focuses on investing across various facets of the global natural resource industry including the upstream and midstream segments of the energy complex. EMG has approximately $15.4 billion of regulatory assets under management (RAUM) and approximately $7.1 billion in commitments have been allocated across the energy sector since inception. For additional information, please visit www.emgtx.com.
Quality Assurance, Quality Control: The technical information disclosed herein was prepared under the supervision of John Sagman, P.Eng., Wellgreen Platinum's Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer and a "Qualified Person" as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). In addition, Mr. Sagman has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.
Forward Looking Information: This news release includes certain information that may be deemed "forward-looking information". Forward-looking information can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "believe", "continue", "plans" or similar terminology. All information in this release, other than information of historical facts, including, without limitation, the entering into of supply agreements relating to liquefied natural gas, the potential of the Wellgreen project, engineering and mine planning, general future plans and objectives for the Wellgreen project are forward-looking information that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in such forward-looking information are based on reasonable assumptions, such expectations are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking information include changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, delays in receiving government approvals, the Company's ability to maintain the support of stakeholders necessary to develop the Wellgreen project, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulatory authorities in Canada. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information. For more information on the Company and the risks and challenges of our business, investors should review our annual filings which are available at www.sedar.com. The Company does not undertake to update any forward looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
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CONTACT: Wellgreen Platinum Ltd.
Chris Ackerman
Manager, Corporate Communications
cackerman@wellgreenplatinum.com
604-569-3634
Ferus Natural Gas Fuels Inc.
Blaire Lancaster
Director, External Relations
blairelancaster@ferus.com
403-605-9755
