Bluejay Mining plc ("Bluejay"
or
the "Company") Exploitation
Licence Granted at Dundas
London, December 14th 2020 -- InvestorsHub NewsWire --
Bluejay Mining
plc , the AIM (LSE:JAY)
and
FSE
listed,
and OCTQB (USOTC:BLLYF)
traded,
exploration and
development company with projects in Greenland and Finland,
is delighted to
announce that it has been informed that
the
Exploitation
Licence (the "Licence")
for
the Dundas
Ilmenite
Project ("Dundas" or the "Project") will
be
granted and
signed by
the Government of Greenland
in
a virtual
ceremony later today. The Licence is being
granted
to
Dundas Titanium
A/S, Bluejay's 100% owned subsidiary.
Highlights
-
The
Licence will
allow Dundas
to progress towards
procurement,
construction
and ilmenite production
-
It
is valid for an
initial period of 30 years and can be extended if
required
-
The licence
grants Dundas Titanium A/S the rights to the ilmenite
resource
-
The
current Pre-Feasibility Study
("PFS") mine life is 11 years
and is
comprised
of an onshore Mineral Reserve of 67
million tonnes
("Mt") (1.6% TiO2 cut-off
grade) within a JORC compliant,
indicated
Mineral Resource of
117
Mt
-
The remaining
onshore indicated Mineral Resource, included within the
Licence, provide possibilities
for significant
increased
production
and/or extended mine life
-
There are
additional significant
shallow
marine
exploration
targets both within, and adjacent to,
the Licence area that could also add to the
mine life
-
The
Environmental
Impact Assessment
("EIA") and Social Impact
Assessment ("SIA") studies have both been approved as part of
the Licence granting
process
-
In conjunction,
the Impact Benefit Agreement ("IBA") between the Municipality of
North-West Greenland, the Government of Greenland and
Dundas Titanium A/S has also been signed
-
A
long life
and
sustainable
mining
operation at Dundas will bring significant
benefits to the local area, including employment, growth and additional infrastructure
developments. Strong relationships
with
the local
communities are well established, with training activities
already
underway in cooperation with
educational institutions in Greenland
-
The
Company is
actively working to reduce the Capital Requirements and
Operating Expenses determined in the PFS. This process
has/will
result in
cost savings
and alternative solutions
for
a
leaner and
greener
operation
-
The award of
the Licence allows
Bluejay
to further
progress financing discussions with existing, and new,
interested parties
Rod
McIllree, CEO of Bluejay,
commented:
"We
are extremely pleased to now have
an Exploitation
Licence for Dundas.
This marks
a major
milestone for Bluejay.
Having had our Environmental and Social Impact Assessments
approved
during the
first quarter of the year, the team,
with the
help of the authorities,
found a
mechanism for holding the successful
Public Consultations meetings during the
pandemic, which
were finalised in September. In October, the Navigation Safety
Investigation study was accepted by the Danish Maritime
Authority,
then
reaching agreement with Greenlandic stakeholders on the
IBA,
in
what was a
rigorous process,
is now
complete. We are
extremely proud of all the work the team has done to get us to this
point and all
of the
support we received from the
various authorities.
"The
extendable 30-year
licence allows
us to
now
implement the initial 440,000
tonnes
ilmenite concentrate
per annum operation and we
anticipate reaching
a
commercial agreement very soon with a large
multinational commodities
group for Dundas product,
allowing
us to move further forward towards
production.
Additionally,
the Company is currently completing an optimisation study, which
should materially enhance the economics of the Project. The PFS for
Dundas was established on a small portion of the identified
mineralisation and should eventually allow for many decades of mine
life to be added.
"The
ilmenite product market is very
robust
currently
with a
clear and strong upward price trend forecast
to
continue for
several years to come.
This tightening
of supply and increasing price forecasts provides a perfect
platform to now bring online one of the world's great deposits of
titanium.
"Recently
titanium
has received strong
support from
various governments with its
inclusion in the
List of
Critical Raw Materials' issued in September by the European
Commission and
its
inclusion,
since
2018,
in
the US State
Department of the Interior defined
list
of critical
metals for the US.
Additionally,
the
development
of the European
Union Action
Plan for Critical Raw Materials from the
European Union,
which,
enabled the
establishment
of European
Raw Material Alliance (ERMA),
where
Bluejay
is a
founding member,
along with
the US
Presidential Executive
Order on Addressing the Threat to the Domestic Supply Chain from
Reliance on Critical Minerals,
demonstrate
the potential
for significant ongoing political
and financial support in
developing
a stable and western source of ilmenite
production.
"We would
also like to extend a special thanks to the Governments of
Greenland and
the
Greenlandic
authorities
for
their continued support throughout the
process. We would
also like to acknowledge the
strong financial
support,
in
November last year,
from
two important
Greenlandic and Danish Government backed financial
institutions,
Greenland Venture (Greenland
Government investment fund)
and
Vaekstfonden
(the
Danish state's investment fund) as well
as SISA
the
pension
fund of
Greenland,
all of
which clearly demonstrates
a strong
political desire to
grow the country's mineral resource industry.
"In a
period of unprecedented challenges for everyone, the granting of
the Exploitation Licence and all the work completed to get to this
point, marks a successful year for the Company. As we continue to
progress the Dundas Project, it was important to finish the year
strong, and we look forward to starting what will be an exciting
new year, very
much on the
front foot."
"Jens-Frederik
Nielsen, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Government of
Greenland, said:
"We are delighted
to be have granted Dundas Titanium A/S
the Exploitation
Licence for its Dundas Ilmenite Project and look forward to the
future mining operation at Dundas. The Project is well-suited to
progressing our emerging mining sector in Greenland to the next
level.
"Bluejay Mining Plc has been operating
in Greenland for a number of years now and we have been pleased
with the cooperative dialogue throughout the application process
for the Exploitation Licence. We look forward to having a
continued constructive working relationship with the Company and
look forward to the future benefits that the Dundas Ilmenite
Project and Bluejay's future projects will bring to
Greenland."
Palle
Jeremiassen,
Mayor of Avannaata
Kommunia
(Municipality
of North-West Greenland),
said:
"The
Dundas
Ilmenite
Mine will
provide significant benefits to the local communities as well as the
region, in particular creating
growth
through
employment and
additional infrastructure developments. Bluejay is already in the process of
training local people in order for
them to gain the
skills required to work at the Project, indicating that they are
committed to providing benefits to local people.
"Bluejay and Dundas Titanium is
well-recognised in the region with a team of
respected, well-known
and highly
professional individuals that have been operating in Greenland and
North-West Greenland for several decades. Bluejay is not only actively
developing the Dundas Ilmenite Project, its Disko-Nuussuaq
Project
and Kangerluarsuk
Project are
also
both
located within
the Municipality and we look forward to seeing these projects being
progressed.
"We have
had an extremely good relationship
with the
Company and look forward to supporting
the
next
phase of the Dundas Ilmenite Project as it
progresses towards
first
production."
Further
Information
Exploitation
Licence
The Licence will
allow Dundas to progress towards
procurement,
construction
and ilmenite
production, where mining will be carried out
through simple surface mining
on raised
beach sand deposits, simple wet gravity separation and magnetic
separation.
The
Licence,
which is valid for an initial period
of 30 years, with the option for future extensions,
will allow
Bluejay
to produce
440,000 tonnes per
annum, as indicated in the
PFS,
and initial production can be
upscaled under the Exploitation Licence.
Bluejay
is required
to obtain
the Government's approval (Section 19 – 43 permit)
for the
exploitation plan and closure plan by 31
December 2022 and to start mining no later than 31
December 2025 unless approved otherwise. These approvals are expected
to take a maximum of six months from submission
as stated by the
Ministry of Mineral Resources on Friday 11 December and will occur
in parallel with the company's mine development
planning.
The Exploitation
Licence will see a royalty paid to
the Government of Greenland of 1.0%, 2.0% and 2.5% on
years one, two, and three respectively and with 2.5%
being paid from years four onwards.
Mine
Life &
Future Exploration
The
current PFS mine life is 11 years and is
comprised of an onshore Mineral Reserve of 67 Mt (1.6% TiO2 cut-off grade)
within a JORC compliant, indicated Mineral Resource of 117
Mt. The remaining
onshore indicated Mineral Resource provides possibilities for increased
production and/or extended mine life. The remaining onshore
resources are included within the Exploitation Licence. Additional
onshore exploration targets east of the mineral resource provide
opportunities to further extend the onshore mine life.
A
JORC compliant
marine Exploration
Target
of 300 – 530 million tonnes at 0.4 - 4.8% ilmenite in-situ exists
adjacent to the Licence area. This target will eventually be
systematically tested, and
could be added to
the project based on an additional application to the Government of
Greenland.
Impact
Benefit Agreement
In conjunction
with the award of the Exploitation Licence, the IBA between the
Municipality of North-West Greenland, the Government of Greenland
and Dundas Titanium A/S has been signed.
The
IBA intends to
promote the cooperation between the Licensee, the
Municipality of North-West Greenland
(Avannaata Kommunia) and the Government of
Greenland for developing
Dundas
into a
sustainable mining project and an integral part
of Greenlandic society.
EIA and
SIA
The EIA and SIA
studies have been approved as part of the Licence granting process. An
environmental monitoring programme, based on the EIA,
will also
be
established.
The process of granting the
Exploitation Licence included a Public
Consultation on the EIA and SIA. Comments and questions from the
public during the public consultation period were documented and
responded to by Dundas Titanium A/S and the Greenland Authorities
in White Books for the EIA and SIA. In addition, the Project has
consulted Canadian authorities as part of the 'Convention on Environmental
Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context' ("ESPOO"). The consultation
was successfully completed at the end of November
2020.
Optimisation
Study
The
Company is
actively working to reduce the Capital Requirements and Operating
Expenses determined in the PFS. This process
has/will
result in
cost savings
and alternative solutions
for a leaner and
greener mining operation. Options for renewable energy
input to the
operation are also being considered.
Market
Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure
Certain
information contained in this announcement would have been deemed
inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU)
No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.
**ENDS**
For further
information please visit http://www.bluejaymining.com or
contact:
Roderick
McIllree
|
Bluejay
Mining
plc
|
+44 (0) 20 7907
9326
|
Kevin
Sheil
|
Bluejay
Mining
plc
|
+44 (0) 20 7907
9326
|
Ewan
Leggat
|
SP Angel
Corporate Finance LLP
(Nominated
Adviser)
|
+44 (0) 20 3470
0470
|
Adam
Cowl
|
SP Angel
Corporate Finance LLP
(Nominated
Adviser)
|
+44 (0) 20 3470
0470
|
Andrew
Chubb
|
Hannam
& Partners
(Advisory) LLP
|
+44 (0) 20 7907
8500
|
Tim
Blythe
|
Blytheweigh
|
+44 (0) 20 7138
3205
|
Megan
Ray
|
Blytheweigh
|
+44 (0) 20 7138
3205
|
Notes
Bluejay
is dual listed on
the London AIM market and Frankfurt Stock Exchange
and its shares
also trade on the OTCQB Market in the US. With projects in Greenland and
Finland,
its most
advanced project is the Dundas Ilmenite Project in Greenland, which
is being developed towards production in the near
term. The Dundas Ilmenite Project
has been proven to be the highest-grade mineral sand ilmenite
project globally, with a JORC Compliant Resource of 117 million
tonnes at 6.1% ilmenite and a maiden offshore Exploration Target of
between 300Mt and 530Mt of ilmenite at an average expected grade
range of 0.4 - 4.8% ilmenite in-situ.
The
Company's strategy is focused
on securing an offtake partner and
commencing commercial production at Dundas in the near term
in
order to create
a company capable of self-funding exploration on its current
projects and future acquisitions.
Bluejay
holds three
additional projects in Greenland - the 2,897sq km
Disko-Nuussuaq
('Disko') Magmatic Massive Sulphide
nickel-copper-cobalt-platinum group element-gold project
('Ni-Cu-Co-PGE-Au'), which has shown its potential to
host mineralisation similar to the world's largest nickel-copper
mining district at Noril'sk-Talnakh,
northern Russia; the 692sq km Kangerluarsuk
zinc-lead- silver
project ('Kangerluarsuk'),
where historical work has recovered grades of 41% zinc, 9.3% lead
and 596 g/t silver and identified four large-scale drill ready
targets; and the 2,025 sq km Thunderstone project which
has the potential to host large-scale base metal and gold
deposits.
The Company also
has a 100% interest in a portfolio of copper, zinc and nickel projects in
Finland. This multi-commodity
portfolio has been restructured to be cost-sustainable whilst
determining the best plan for future development.
For its
Enonkoski
Ni-Cu-PGM-Co
Project in Finland Bluejay has entered a
joint-venture
and
earn-in agreement with
a
mining
major.
Further Information:
Latest company video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKxnnwn5zhA
Tim talks to Rod McIllree, CEO of Bluejay Mining on what is a
particularly exciting day for the firm. Becoming the first Titanium
extractor in Europe is no mean feat, but how did the comapny get to
this point, and what does it mean for the future of
Bluejay?
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