Bluebird
Merchant Ventures Ltd / EPIC: BMV.L / Market: FTSE / Sector:
Mining
04 March
2024
Bluebird Merchant Ventures
Ltd
('Bluebird' or 'the
Company')
Environmental Impact Study at
Batangas Gold Project to Commence
A further step forward in
developing the high-grade Lobo target with JV
Partner
Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd, a
gold company primarily focused on bringing historic mines back into
production, is pleased to announce E-Green Management &
Environmental Consultancy Corporation ('E-Green') has been
appointed to undertake the Preparation of the Environmental Impact
Study ('EIS') and Application of an Environmental Compliance
Certificate ('ECC') for the Lobo high-grade gold mining opportunity
within the Batangas project area in the Philippines ('Lobo' or 'the
Project').
The Project is being developed in
tandem with the Company's local Joint Venture partner which is
fully funding the Projects advancement to production decision,
including the EIS. The JV has already received the Certificate of
Approval from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau ('MGB') for its
Two-Year Community Development Plan and the Project has two 25-year
Mineral Production Sharing Agreements ('MPSA') in place. The EIS,
along with a Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility are the two
key outstanding compliance permissions for the Project.
Under the terms of the of Agreement,
E-Green, a Philippines focussed environmental consultancy based in
Quezon City, has committed to enact the following which is
estimated to take in the region of 12 months:
·
Public Scoping to present the proposed project and
EIA process to the stakeholders particularly the general public and
provide an open forum to gather project related issues and
concerns.
·
Enact baseline data studies and methodology for
the project will include land surveys, site assessments, pedology,
terrestrial ecology, hydrology and hydrogeology, climate and
meteorology, air quality and noise analysis, demographic and
socio-economic profiling, and public analysis.
·
Submit a code compliant EIS.
·
Facilitate public hearings to present the results
of the EIS to the stakeholders provide an open forum to gather the
remaining issues, concerns and clarifications.
Bluebird CEO Colin Patterson said, "The appointment of E-Green by our JV company to conduct the
EIS is a positive step forward for the advancement of activities at
Lobo in the Batangas Gold Project area, one of three high grade
gold projects in our portfolio. Our local partner, which is funding
all work including permitting to a production decision in return
for 60% of the Project, believe that this is the most important
activity at this time for the Project to be advanced. It has
already been instrumental in securing the Community Development
Plan underlining the importance of having local partners and we
look forward to reporting the milestones as the work
progresses."
The Lobo licence area covers
1,164-hectare. The mineral resources are associated with a linear,
steeply dipping, epithermal lode with high grade 'shoots' of
mineralisation. 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:
Colin Patterson
Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd
Email: colin@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.