KORES Grant Approved for Kochang Drilling

RNS Number : 3976Y

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Limited

09 May 2019

 

9 May 2019

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd

(the "Company" or "Bluebird")

KORES Drilling Grant Approved for Kochang Drilling Programme

Bluebird Merchant Ventures (EPIC: BMV), the Korean focused gold development group, is pleased to announce that it has now officially received confirmation of the drilling grant from KORES for its Kochang Drilling Programme.

Highlights:

·      Official confirmation of drilling grant received from KORES

·      Drilling to commence from 1 July 2019

·      A further six old adits located with evidence of historic mining noted in three

KORES sent official confirmation of the drilling grant on 1 May 2019. The initial subsidy will help fund three underground holes, which will be a total of 280 metres. There is the potential for the grant to be extended, depending on success and KORES' funds. The grant will enable drilling to commence by 1 July 2019 for completion by 30 September 2019.

There are currently three identified vein structures at Kochang to a depth of 150 metres below surface. Following surface mapping and modelling in 2016, the veins can be projected to depths below the lowest current level of the mine and along strike to connect with the Kochang silver mine, thus leaving a 600 metre extension of the veins between the two mined areas.

The three KORES-funded holes target the area below the current mine and are expected to intersect at least two of the veins. It is important to note that the primary objective of drilling is to pinpoint the positioning of the veins. As gold is not evenly distributed in grade throughout the veins, intersections with high grade values will be considered a bonus.

Bluebird is pleased to report that it has located a further six old adits entering the mine some 100 metres to the northeast of the current entrance. Evidence of historic mining was noted in two of these adits, in addition to a strong ventilation flow which suggests there are further adits. Only two of these adits exist on plans in the Company's possession. The existence of these adits continues to point to a potential increase in the general size of the deposit.

Upon completion of this short program, the company can update its model and commence a program to develop a JORC compliant resource. Further drilling will be carried out to fill in the gaps, with the expectation of showing a viable project with a multi-year mine life.

Bluebird expects to commence construction of the processing plant in September of this year, with production coming from currently identified resources such as broken ore, vamping (cleaning) and remnant pillars.  The construction period is expected to be completed within four to five months as the initial plant is small and given that the Kochang mine is open production will commence shortly thereafter. 

Colin Patterson, CEO, commented:

"We are delighted to have received official confirmation of the drilling grant from KORES. This demonstrates the level of confidence the South Korean authorities have in the prospectivity of the Kochang Mine and Bluebird as a company. We also find it significant that this assistance is being provided to Bluebird, a foreign company. The funds will subsidise the drilling of three holes and enable the completion of drilling by 30 September 2019. This is hugely exciting for Bluebird and its shareholders, especially as our work continues to yield evidence of prospectivity, such as the location of two previously mined adits.

"We look forward to updating the market on our progress at this hugely exciting project."

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE MARKET ABUSE REGULATION EU 596/2014 ("MAR")

Enquiries:

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd	[phone]
Jonathan Morley-Kirk, Non-Executive Chairman
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Ewan Leggat	+ 44 (0) 20 3470 0470
Blytheweigh	[phone]
Tim Blythe / Camilla Horsfall / Julia Tilley

www.bluebirdmv.com

@BluebirdIR

Notes to Editors

The Gubong mine was once the second largest producing gold mine in South Korea until its closure in 1971 when gold prices were US$40 per ounce. The mine consists of nine shallow dipping stacked veins. Although production was mainly from vein number six, five other veins were mined from 1928 until its closure. Over 17,000 metres of drilling was carried out over the years and there are over 120 kilometres of existing underground development.

The Kochang mine is a gold-silver mine that operated between 1928 and 1975 and produced over five million ounces of silver at over 1000 g/t and 110,000 ounces of gold at 19.6 g/t. This gold production was mainly derived from the three main veins at the North East end of the "Gold Mine" part of Kochang, with the majority of the silver production from the "Silver Mine" some 2.5 kilometres to the south west.  The mine closed in 1975 when the gold price was USD 140 per ounce. Today the mine consists of three steeply dipping veins. Bluebird has opened up three kilometres of original development, taken over 400 samples and has confirmed process viability by carrying out initial metallurgical test work.

 

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