Interim Management Statement
Anglesey Mining plc LSE:AYM
22 September 2009
Labrador Iron Mines progresses to production in 2010
The group is making steady progress towards its target to achieve production at
its Schefferville Area Iron Ore Project in Western Labrador in 2010. This
project is wholly owned by the group's 50% associate company Labrador Iron Mines
Holdings Limited ("LIM"), a Toronto-listed company (TSX-LIM). There has been no
major change in the status of the Parys project in North Wales or the Dolaucothi
gold property in south Wales. The directors are encouraged by the recent
strength in commodity prices and believe that, in addition to Labrador moving to
production, these other company projects can be progressed in 2010, as well as
external opportunities.
2009 field work in Labrador
The 2009 summer exploration program began in early June and comprises a total of
6,000 metres of reverse circulation (RC) drilling and 3,000 metres of trenching.
From June until early September, in excess of 3,600m of RC drilling in 56 holes
was completed at an average depth of 70m.
Drilling has been completed at the James and Redmond deposits, part of the phase
one deposits targeted for production in the summer of 2010. Drilling has also
been completed on the Knob Lake deposit and continues on the Houston deposit,
both scheduled for production in the second part of phase one. In addition, five
holes were drilled on the larger Howse deposit forming part of phase three.
Details are shown in the following table:
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Deposit No. of Holes Metres Number of Samples
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James 2 137 45
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Redmond 2B 6 219 77
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Redmond 5 8 420 150
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Houston 30 2,200 430
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Knob Lake 5 271 101
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Howse 5 396 125
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Total 56 3,643 928
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Concurrent with the drilling program, trenching on the Redmond and Houston
deposits has been completed with a total of 900m in 18 trenches.
During the remainder of the season, completion of drilling at the Houston
deposit is planned, as well as drilling some additional holes in James to test
the possible continuity of mineralization identified earlier.
The 2009 drilling program is designed to confirm and update the historical
resource base which, together with the results from the 2008 drilling program,
will be incorporated into a new resource estimate and applied to the final
engineering study, both expected to be completed later this year.
A second program of hydro-geological drilling and testing has also been
undertaken designed to confirm expected flow rates and water quality from future
mining operations. This work involves drilling three large diameter test wells
that will be used for future pit dewatering and will enable dewatering plans
including perimeter wells to be designed and installed in a timely manner.
Encouraging metallurgical test results
During 2008 a test mining program to excavate 6,500 tonnes of bulk ore samples
from the phase one deposits was carried out. This material was crushed and
screened to produce samples replicating the lump ore and sinter fines.
Some of this material was used by SGS Lakefield in the metallurgical testing
program and in the design of the process circuit required to meet market
specifications for the particular types of iron ore. The results indicated high
iron grades with low levels of impurities as shown below:
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Metallurgical Test Results (in %)
Iron Silica Aluminium Phosphorus Manganese
Fe SiO2 Al2O3 P2O5 MnO
James Deposit
Lump 67.7 1.34 0.12 0.03 0.10
Sinter 66.8 2.52 0.20 0.05 0.12
Redmond Deposit
Lump 62.4 6.55 0.24 0.05 0.44
Sinter 61.2 8.50 0.68 0.05 0.27
Houston Deposit
Lump 68.1 1.20 0.20 0.14 0.05
Sinter 65.8 3.80 0.43 0.18 0.07
Knob Deposit
Lump 58.9 5.02 0.69 0.26 0.09
Sinter 58.1 6.80 1.18 0.25 0.10
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In addition to earlier work at RPC, SGS Lakefield, Outotec and Derrick
Corporation, metallurgical testwork is being conducted at SGA and at Humboldt
Wedag in Germany, as well as at COREM in Quebec City. James sinter ore is being
tested for sintering properties at SGA. A BATAC Jig test will shortly be carried
out at Humboldt Wedag. The Redmond yellow ore is being tested at the COREM for
washability characteristics.
Permitting advances
In August 2009 a revised Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was submitted to
the Department of Environment and Conservation of Newfoundland and Labrador. The
revised EIS incorporates the original EIS submission of December 2008 and
specifically addresses the requests for certain additional information issued by
the Department in March 2009.
The EIS concludes that significant adverse environmental effects are not
predicted in relation to the Project's construction, operation, and
decommissioning phases. Filing of the EIS on 21 August 2009 is followed by a 50-
day public comment period and up to a further 20 days for the Minister of
Environment and Conservation to determine the Project's environmental
acceptability.
Newfoundland and Labrador Benefit Plan
As part of the preparation of the EIS, extensive discussions took place with the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and led to a "Newfoundland and Labrador
Benefits Plan," which is incorporated in the Socio-Economic part of the EIS.
Under the Benefits Plan, LIM has committed to the maximization of benefits,
including employment, procurement, education, training and economic development
to the Province and in particular to Labrador, and to providing full and fair
opportunity and giving first consideration to residents and businesses of the
Province to participate in, and benefit from, the Project.
In its Newfoundland and Labrador Benefits Plan, LIM has also committed to
achieving a minimum of 78 percent of construction, and operations phase
employment accruing to residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, and to achieving
a minimum of 85 percent of total value of construction and 85 percent of total
value of operations phase contracts and goods and services being
awarded/procured through companies and suppliers based in the Province.
It is expected that during both the construction phase and operations phase,
approximately 25 percent of total employees will be members of the Aboriginal
First Nations. In 2008, an Impact Benefit Agreement (IBA) was signed with Innu
Nation of Labrador. LIM has also signed Memoranda of Understanding with two
local Aboriginal First Nations communities, the Innu Nation of Matimekush-Lac
Jean (Schefferville) and the Naskapi Nation (Kawawachikamach), both located in
Quebec in proximity to the Project, and expects that a similar agreement will
also be signed with the Innu communities of Uashat and Mani-Utenam, near Sept-
Iles.
Plans for the remainder of 2009
Metallurgical testwork will continue aimed at improving expected recovery levels
from mined material while maintaining the high iron and low impurity levels in
the final product. This work will be associated with final design of the process
flow-sheet and selection of the suitable items of plant and equipment. This
selection will be based on achieving the expected initial start-up production
rate of one million tonnes per year, meeting the grade and product
specifications, while ensuring that the plant is easily movable from deposit to
deposit.
Extensive ongoing bio-physical and environmental baseline activities are being
conducted in the current James and Redmond project areas, as well as in the
proposed development areas of the second part of Phase One. The baseline data
collected will be used to support the preparation of the Project Registration
document for the next phase of the proposed development.
Upon release and approval of the EIS, LIM will submit the applications for the
necessary operating permits and licenses. Assuming the relevant permits and
licences are issued on a timely basis initial production of iron ore is
currently planned for the second quarter of calendar 2010.
Parys Mountain
Activities at the 100% owned Parys Mountain copper-lead-zinc project in North
Wales have been limited over the period. However the recent rise in base metal
prices has led to a much more favourable outlook for the production of base
metals and the directors intend to continue an active search for routes which
will result in the re-activation of this project. The recent changes in the
price of gold have also raised some interest in the group's exploration property
at Dolaucothi in south Wales and the directors will be keeping this under
review.
Summary
Labrador Iron is moving steadily closer to first production and the expected
generation of significant cashflows. Meanwhile, the outlook for Parys Mountain
is improving along with base metal prices, market sentiment and financing
conditions generally. In this situation, and with obvious caveats concerning the
strength of the recent rally in iron ore and base metals prices and markets, the
directors see reasonable and improving grounds for optimism about the future of
the group. In addition the directors continue to look for other favourable
opportunities that may present themselves in the ferrous, non-ferrous and
precious metals business both within Europe and elsewhere.
About Anglesey Mining
Anglesey Mining plc is a UK based company listed on the London Stock Exchange
with a 50% interest in a 90 million ton iron ore project in Labrador, Canada,
which is under active development towards mining production in 2010. The company
also holds the Parys Mountain base metals project with a historical resource of
7.7 million tonnes at 9.3% combined copper, lead and zinc in Anglesey, UK.
www.angleseymining.co.uk