TIDMBMV

RNS Number : 6909I

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Limited

21 June 2017

21 June 2017

Bluebird Merchant Ventures LTD

(the "Company" or "Bluebird")

Key Permission at the Gubong Mine granted

Bluebird is pleased to announce that the formal procedure granting land access to the Gubong mine in South Korea has been granted today, some 3 weeks earlier than projected. The permit allows for ingress to the Gubong mine. In addition, agreement has also been granted by the Government Safety Department on the activity to be undertaken.

The Gubong mine closed in 1967 when the gold price was USD 35.50 per pounce and was nominally the second largest gold mine in South Korea. The mine is known to have 9 different veins with production coming from 6 of them over 60 years until its closure. There are over 50km of level development accessed by 2 vertical shafts and 6 incline shafts. Bluebird considers that the Gubong mine is its flagship project.

With the permission granted today, Bluebird now has the clearance to work at site and commence an evaluation of the viability to bring the mine back into production. The evaluation itself will take 6-9 months and will encompass Resource Estimation, Mining methodology, Metallurgical Process, costing and potential returns.

CEO, Colin Patterson said: "We are delighted to receive this approval for our project and we look forward to updating the market at regular intervals over the next 6 to 9 months."

Our partners, Southern Gold, have commenced the community relations program at the county level and have established an excellent relationship with the Mayor's Office of Cheongyang. At the request of the Mayor a request for co-operation has been submitted by Southern Gold and has since been officially ratified by the Cheongyang County Government.

Our second potential project at Taechang has progressed with all available data being digitized and a computer model created. Access to the site was at an advanced stage when additional information was found which indicated that what we thought was the complete mine area was, in fact, merely a part of a far larger gold bearing area. More investigative work will need to be undertaken to assess the size of the potential project.

Philippine news

There have been recent developments in the Philippines which could provide a brighter outlook for the mining sector. The President recently appointed Roy Cimatu to be the new Secretary for the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources. It is believed that the new Secretary will take a more moderate tone than his predecessor and has stated that he believes responsible mining is possible in the Philippines. Bluebird is aligned with this view and continues to monitor developments towards a more positive future for Philippine miners.

Enquiries:

 
 Bluebird Merchant Ventures 
  Ltd                           +44 (0)7797 859986 
 Jonathan Morley-Kirk, 
  Non-Executive Chairman 
  SP Angel Corporate Finance 
   LLP 
   Ewan Leggat                   + 44 (0)203 470 0470 
 
 Walbrook PR Limited            +44 (0)207 933 8783 
 Gary Middleton / Nick 
  Rome

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 21, 2017 02:06 ET (06:06 GMT)

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