REG - Bluebird Merchant - Board Restructuring

Bluebird Mining VenturesAnnouncement

10/07/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 7844V  Bluebird Merchant Ventures Limited  10 July 2024

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd / EPIC: BMV.L / Market: FTSE / Sector: Mining

10 July 2024

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd

('Bluebird' or 'the Company')

 

Board Restructuring

 

Reduced board to manage new free carry JV structure to develop gold mining
operations

 

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd, a gold company primarily focused on bringing
historic mines back into production, is pleased to announce that it has
restructured its Board of Directors following the implementation of its new
free carry orientated joint venture ('JV') focussed business model.

 

Executive Director Charles Barclay and Non-executive Director Clive
Sinclair-Poulton are stepping down with immediate effect. Jonathan Morley-Kirk
remains as Non-executive Chairman while Colin Patterson will move to
Non-executive Director. Aidan Bishop, who was instrumental in signing the JVs
with the Company's South Korean and Filipino partners, will move to interim
CEO.

 

The Company has adopted a JV business model to mitigate project risks and
reduce development obligations while retaining exposure to its high-grade gold
assets. In this model, local partners contribute capital and local expertise,
while Bluebird offers a deep knowledge that encompasses all aspects of mining.
This structure guarantees that each asset follows its optimal development
path.

 

In line with this, the Company has reduced its Board to better reflect its
advisory/consultancy obligations to the JVs and lower its corporate
overheads.  Additionally, Bluebird aims to change its name whilst retaining
its ticker; further details will be provided in the upcoming Notice of AGM.

 

In South Korea, the Gubong project, with an estimated 1.3 million ounces of
gold, is being advanced to production with a consortium of South Korean
businessmen investing US$5 million to acquire up to 60% ownership. In the
Philippines, the Company has a JV with a local partner who brings decades of
mining experience and is investing approximately US$2 million to secure 60%
ownership of Batangas and provide Bluebird with a free carry to mine
construction. The Board is currently exploring a similar structure for its
Kochang Gold & Silver Project, also in South Korea, and hopes to provide
further details soon.

 

Bluebird Executive Director and Interim CEO Aidan Bishop said, "I would like
to start by thanking Charlie, who has spent five decades in the mining
industry, for his dedication to Bluebird, and Clive, who has spent nigh on 50
years of active involvement in the City, for his invaluable contribution to
the Company. Their corporate and technical experience has been instrumental in
developing our exciting high-grade gold portfolio and we wish them every
success in their future endeavours. I would also like to thank Colin for his
unwavering stewardship and am delighted that he will continue to offer his
technical insights in his new role as a Non-executive Director.

"We look forward to working with our JV partners to develop the Gubong and
Batangas gold projects. The new structure of the project companies means that
the local investors in each provide finance, which is a cumulative c. US$7
million, management and as well as corporate and planning expertise at local,
district and governmental levels, while Bluebird provides billable consultancy
and technical expertise. Accordingly, a slimline Board better reflects the
input needed by Bluebird while enabling us to reduce our corporate overheads.

 

"We are already seeing positive outcomes from this new arrangement and aim to
replicate the strategy at our second project in South Korea, Kochang. In this
regard, our project manager, Graeme Fulton, a mining engineer with over 30
years of industry experience, and I met with our prospective partners last
week and agreements are now in the final drafting stage."

 

**ENDS**

 

For further information please visit https://bluebirdmv.com or contact:

Jonathan Morley-Kirk    Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd
              Email: jmk@bluebirdmv.com
(mailto:jmk@bluebirdmv.com)

Nick Emerson                  SI Capital
                                     Tel: 01483413500

 

About Bluebird

Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd (BMV.L) is a London listed South Korea-focused
resources company centred on bringing historically producing gold mines back
into production. The Company, led by a team of proven mine rehabilitation
experts, currently has two 100% owned licensed high grade narrow vein mining
projects, the Kochang Gold and Silver Project ('Kochang') and the Gubong Gold
Project ('Gubong'), which each have a defined route to low cost/ low capex
production with a cumulative target of producing 100,000 oz + Au per annum.

 

The management team has invested cUS$2 million personally into the Company and
believe, following analysis of historic production and exploration data, as
well as extensive sampling, geological, geophysical, and engineering studies,
there is potential for in excess of 1.5 million oz of mineable gold in its
Korean projects alone.

 

Kochang is an epithermal vein deposit with parallel vertical ore bodies
covering 8.3 sq km that reportedly produced 110,000 oz of gold and 5.9 million
oz of silver between 1961 and 1975.  Consisting of a gold and silver mine,
there are currently four main veins and several parallel subsidiary veins vein
which have been identified, as well as a newly identified cross-cutting vein.
Historic drilling indicates the veins continue to depth below the current 150m
mine and mapping shows the veins on surface providing potential above and
below the old workings. The veins extend to the NE providing a strike length
of 2.5km with 600m between the two mines not exploited.  There is potential
to expand operations to the southwest/northeast and to depth, as well as
exploit the already mined areas. The total resource potential is between
550,000 and 700,000 tonnes, with a range of grades between 5.2 g/t to 6.6 g/t
gold, and 27.3 g/t to 34.8 g/t silver.  Following the granting of a Mountain
Use permit, there is an estimated 6-to-9-month development time to trial
mining.

 

Gubong, which was historically the second largest gold mine in South Korea has
9 granted tenements covering c.25 sq km.  Gubong is moderately dipping with 9
veins extending 500m below surface and known to extend at least a further
250m. However, the production opportunity for Bluebird prior to looking at
deepening the mine is the 25 levels already developed with all the remnants
and unmined areas left by the original miners.  The 25 levels extend over
120km in total length which indicates the size of the opportunity. The Korea
Resources Corporation ('KORES') estimated 2.34M tonnes at some 7.3g/t Au
garnered from 57 drill holes over 17,715.3 metres.  With additional sampling,
mapping, pit modelling and grade analysis, plus the fact that Gubong is an
orogenic deposit, which typically have a depth of 2km compared to the current
depth of 500m, the Board believe it has a geological potential of 1 million +
oz Au in-situ, plus an estimated additional 300,000 oz Au from satellite ore
bodies.

 

Additionally, the Company has the highly prospective Batangas Gold Exploration
Project in the Philippines, where it has an agreement with a Philippine
company, whose owners have decades of experience in mining, to develop the
Project.  The JV covers the entire Batangas Project area, which has a current
JORC compliant resource of 440,000 ounces, including a maiden ore reserve of
128,000 ounces (including silver credits). Exploration expenditure to the tune
of c.$20m has already been invested.  Work is focused on completing
exploration and environmental work programmes initially targeting the
high-grade Lobo area, although there is excellent exploration potential across
the licence with high-grade targets already identified and 14km of identified
mineralised structures.  The staged agreement is based on the JV partner
achieving defined development goals and provides Bluebird with a free carry on
the development of Batangas with a view to advancing to construction.

 

 

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