Sherwood Copper Corporation (TSX VENTURE: SWC)(TSX VENTURE: SWC.DB)
today announced that exceptionally high rainfall over the past
several days, on top of an already wet summer, resulted in the
temporary closure of the Klondike Highway to Whitehorse, flooding
of its access road to its Minto Mine and excessive water inflows
into its water storage pond from the surrounding hills. Despite
diverting as much run-off as possible into the Phase 1 open pit
(below where mining is currently occurring), the water storage pond
was likely to overflow, so permission was requested from and
granted by the Yukon Water Board to discharge excess stored water
in a controlled manner. The Minto Mine stores water behind a dam to
ensure there is sufficient water available for processing
operations throughout the normally relatively dry summers and
frozen winters in the Yukon. The Klondike Highway has subsequently
opened to single lane traffic and repairs have begun on the mine
access road. The Minto Mine is owned and operated by Minto
Explorations Ltd. ("MintoEx"), a wholly owned subsidiary of
Sherwood Copper Corp.
"Following last year, when our principal concern was not having
enough water stored to sustain operations through the dry seasons,
this year we have had to deal with a very wet summer that was
topped off by a very high rainfall event over the past few days,"
said Stephen Quin, President & CEO. "Big Creek, which crosses
our mine access road, rose over two metres in 24 hours, and
overtopped protective dykes designed to keep water off the road
during flood conditions, temporarily affecting road access to the
mine. The Klondike Highway was also closed between Carmacks and
Whitehorse due to flooding. Water levels are now receding and
access is expected to be restored within two days," he said. "In
addition, excessive run-off from the hills surrounding the Minto
Mine quickly filled the water storage pond where water levels,
despite diverting as much run-off as possible into the lower
benches of the open pit (which are not currently being mined), rose
half a metre in eight hours. In order to manage its water
resources, we applied for, and received from the Yukon Water Board,
an amendment to our water licence to discharge excess stored water.
It is important to note that the stored water is non-toxic to
aquatic organisms and, while slightly above discharge levels set in
Minto's water licence, is considerably below Federal standards for
discharge set out in the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations.
Further, this is not a discharge from a tailings pond, since the
Minto Mine uses the dry stack tailings storage method, where
tailings are mechanically dried and stored in a compacted storage
facility, and therefore the mine has no tailings pond."
MintoEx's operating personnel and its environmental consultants
kept the Territorial and Federal regulators and Selkirk First
Nation informed at all times to ensure this rain event was closely
monitored, was carefully managed and that there would be no
negative consequences to the natural environment. At no time was
the integrity of the dam used to retain water in the storage pond
in question, since it is designed to standards well above those
related to recent rainfalls.
Mine Access Road
Access to the Minto Mine from Whitehorse is via the Klondike
Highway to Minto Landing, where vehicle traffic crosses the Yukon
River by barge in the summer and ice bridge in the winter, before
connecting to a 30km mine access road leading to the Minto Mine
site. The mine access road has one bridge, over Big Creek, which
has been the subject of flooding in prior years. The rapid rise in
water levels in Big Creek, over three meters in the past several
days and two metres in 24 hours, resulted in water overtopping the
protective dykes designed to keep water off the road in flood
events. Water levels in Big Creek have already started to recede
and access to the mine is expected to be restored in the next two
days. While concentrate trucking has been temporarily suspended,
Sherwood already has a ship load of concentrates stored at the port
of Skagway, which is expected to be shipped out in the next few
days. Trucking of concentrates is expected to resume as soon as
access is restored.
Mine site Water Levels
Given the dry summers and frozen winters in the Yukon, the Minto
Mine has a water storage pond designed to hold water for use in
processing copper ores in the dry seasons. After several weeks of
essentially stable water levels, the recent heavy rains resulted in
very high run-off from the surrounding hills and a 0.5 metre rise
in water levels in the water storage pond in eight hours, despite
diverting all possible run-off water into the Phase 1 open pit
(which was not being used). MintoEx had been treating the water in
the storage pond over the past several weeks to reduce slightly
elevated metal loadings prior to discharge and had successfully
reduced metal levels to well below Federal discharge standards as
set out in the Metal Mining Effluent Regulations ("MMER"), and was
approaching the levels set out under the mine's Territorial water
licence. Given that the water diverted into the open pit is dirtier
than the already treated water in the storage pond, MintoEx applied
to the Yukon Water Board for permission to discharge water from the
storage pond before pumping out the open pit and mixing the dirtier
water from the pit with the treated water in the storage pond.
MintoEx's application was supported by both Federal and Territorial
regulators and permission has been granted. It is important to note
that the water in the storage pond has been extensively tested and
has been demonstrated to be non-toxic to fish and meets MMER
discharge standards. Further, the considerable run-off below the
Minto mine site will have a significant dilutive effect on the
water being discharged. The objective of MintoEx's application to
the Yukon Water Board was to allow for a reduction of water levels
in the storage pond to provide sufficient room in the pond for
continued precipitation over the remainder of the summer and fall,
and for storage of the water currently contained in the open
pit.
Once water levels in the storage pond are reduced, MintoEx
personnel will pump out the water captured in the open pit and
treat it before it is discharged. MintoEx has a water treatment
plant on site to ensure waters meet the appropriate standards
before discharge. Water levels in the open pit are below the level
of the current Phase 3 push-back and should not affect MintoEx's
ability to meet its mine production objectives. Milling operations
have continued throughout the recent days and there should be no
affect on Sherwood's production targets for the year. MintoEx
continues to have air access to the mine for its personnel and crew
changes.
About Sherwood Copper
Sherwood Copper's current focus is profitable production of base
and precious metals from high grade, open pit mines in Canada.
Sherwood's first operating mine, the high grade Minto copper-gold
mine in Yukon, Canada, was built on budget and ahead of schedule.
The Minto Mine is one of the highest-grade open pit copper-gold
mines in the world, and is forecast to be a low cost producer.
Aggressive exploration on the Minto property has yielded
significant success, providing Sherwood the opportunity to 'grow
from within' by expanding the resource and reserve base,
potentially leading to further production increases. To further
accelerate its production growth, Sherwood intends to pursue merger
& acquisition opportunities that fit its business model and, in
May 2008, Sherwood acquired 100% ownership in Western Keltic Mines,
owner of the high-grade Kutcho copper-zinc-gold-silver deposit in
northwestern British Columbia. Sherwood expects to lever off its
successful development of the Minto Mine and advance the Kutcho
project to a production decision.
Additional Information
Additional information on Sherwood and its Minto Project can be
obtained on Sherwood's website at
http://www.sherwoodcopper.com.
On behalf of the board of directors
SHERWOOD COPPER CORPORATION
Stephen P. Quin, President & CEO
This document may contain "forward-looking statements" within
the meaning of Canadian securities legislation and the United
States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this document
and the Company does not intend, and does not assume any
obligation, to update these forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future
performance and reflect management's expectations or beliefs
regarding future events and include, but are not limited to,
statements with respect to the estimation of mineral reserves and
mineral resources, conversion of inferred mineral resources to the
measured and indicated categories, the realization of mineral
reserve estimates in mining, the timing and amount of estimated
future production, costs of production, capital expenditures,
success of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated
reclamation expenses, title disputes or claims and limitations on
insurance coverage. In certain cases, forward-looking statements
can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or
"does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled",
"estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not
anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases
or statements that certain actions, events or results "may",
"could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be
achieved" or the negative of these terms or comparable terminology.
By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the
actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements. Such factors include, among others, risks related to
actual results of current exploration activities; changes in
project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices
of metals; future currency exchange rates; conversion of mineral
resources to higher confidence levels or to mineral reserves;
possible variations in mineral reserves, grade or recovery rates;
accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry;
changes in the legal or regulatory regime affecting the Company's
operations; delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing
or in the completion of development or construction activities; as
well as those factors detailed from time to time in the Company's
interim and annual financial statements and management's discussion
and analysis of those statements, including those for the Current
Period, all of which are filed and available for review on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify
important factors that could cause actual actions, events or
results to differ materially from those described in
forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause
actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements
will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events
could differ materially from those anticipated in such
statements.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on
forward-looking statements.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press
release.
Contacts: Sherwood Copper Corporation Stephen P. Quin Investor
Contact (604) 687-7545 Sherwood Copper Corporation Neil MacRae
Investor Contact (604) 687-7545 (604) 689-5041 (FAX) Website
www.sherwoodcopper.com
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