REG - Bluebird Mining Vnt. - Final Results

Bluebird Mining VenturesAnnouncement

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RNS Number : 7104G  Bluebird Mining Ventures Limited  30 April 2025

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

30 April 2025

Bluebird Mining Ventures Ltd ('Bluebird' or 'the Company')

Final Results

 

Bluebird Mining Ventures Ltd, a gold company primarily focused on bringing
historic mines back into production, announces its Final Results for the
12-month period ended 31 December 2024.

 

Chairman's Report

 

The asset base of Bluebird Mining Ventures remains exciting and with the
various government permissions that are required they each hold the promise of
unlocking value for shareholders. Gaining the required permissions is
challenging in any jurisdiction and is subject to rigorous regulatory
processes that evaluate both technical and environmental standards.

 

Our focus continues to be on advancing the development of our high-grade
precious metal projects, which consists of the Kochang Gold and Silver Mine
(Kochang) and Gubong Gold Mine (Gubong) in South Korea, and the Batangas Gold
Project (Batangas) in the Philippines.

 

Our objective of creating long term value for shareholders by bringing our
projects into production remains the core proposition of the Board. Whilst
progress has been frustratingly slow in South Korea the Philippines has made
more progress as the Group seeks to gain a further two-year extension of the
exploration period within the context of the twenty-five year mining license.
This extension once granted will allow the completion of the required
technical and environmental studies as part of the process to secure the two
remaining permissions to allow for construction to commence. Our local
partners are proving to be invaluable in seeking these permissions.

 

With an optimal structure in place, we believe we can develop the assets and
drive value for shareholders. I would like to thank you for your patience but
can assure you we have been doing all we can to make progress. The in-ground
value of the portfolio remains constant and something we remain focussed on
realising. The Board believes the sum of the parts are not reflected in the
share price; despite the delays we have experienced in South Korea.

 

On a macro scale, the gold price environment is also positive, with many
commentators highlighting that geopolitical uncertainty and ever-increasing
government debt is underpinning the long-term fundamentals for gold as an
asset class. Worth noting is that the current gold price of over USD 3,000 per
oz is a significant premium to what the gold price was when preliminary
economic analysis was undertaken for our projects.

 

The Company has undergone significant changes to its Board during the
period.  In July both Charles Barclay and Clive Sinclair-Poulton stepped down
from the Board and Colin Patterson moved to Non-Executive Director.
Subsequently after the period, Colin stepped down from the Board after the
period for family related reasons and Aidan Bishop became Interim CEO. I would
like to thank Colin who has been an invaluable part of the team and has
invested considerably over the years, and on behalf of the Board, I wish him
well. I am pleased that he continues to be a supportive shareholder.
Furthermore, I would like to thank both Charles and Clive for their
contribution in the development of the Company and wish them both well in
their retirement. The Company is currently actively seeking to recruit an
additional member to the Board as well as a CEO with the appropriate technical
and industry expertise.

 

Jonathan Morley-Kirk

Chairman

 

Interim Chief Executive's Comment

 

With many of the general operations and corporate issues covered in the
Chairman's report, I want to take this opportunity to draw to shareholders
attention the Batangas project, being the first project in the portfolio when
the Company listed in 2016.

 

Shortly after listing the development of the Batangas project was put on hold
due to a change in Government in the Philippines with the investment in the
project being written down to USD Nil in 2019. This project has since "come
back to life" largely due to the fact that when the government changed in 2022
a far more supportive approach was taken towards the mining industry as a
whole.

 

The entire Batangas project area has a total JORC compliant resource of
440,000 ounces, including a maiden ore reserve of 128,000 ounces (including
silver credits). The high-grade Lobo area is now the focus due to its
abundance of data, high prospectivity and two 25-year Mineral Production
Sharing Agreements.

 

Lobo has an initial Probable JORC Compliant Ore Reserves of 171,000 tons at
6.6 g/t for 36,000 ounces of gold excluding silver credits based primarily on
the Southwest Breccia area of the licences, which can be mined in the first 18
months of any operation. There is an Indicated resource of 82,000 oz au that
is perceived as easily convertible.

 

Our local partner has commenced the technical and environmental work that is
required for the remaining two permissions that will enable the project to
move into production. Once the renewal of the two-year period is granted it is
expected that this work will be completed during this period. Once the
remaining permissions have been granted, Batangas then has "the green light"
to go into production.  The Directors have thought it prudent that Batangas
remain impaired to reflect the historical challenges with permitting and the
requirement for the key permissions to enable the project to enter the
construction phase. The Board will reconsider this position upon the key
permissions being granted.

 

Moving beyond exploration to production is a lengthy phase for any mining
project.  In South Korea the Company has underestimated the timeline at its
projects. That being said, both Gubong and Kochang have granted 'Mining
Rights' and maintain significant value. The Board remains optimistic to be
able to advance these projects this year.

 

The Group is fortunate that it benefits from a small cash burn. In October
2024 the Company announced raising GBP 350,000 through equity and debt
funding. The debt funding portion of this funding is provided to the Company
monthly and provides adequate funding for the Company until Q4 2025.

 

I would like to thank shareholders for their continuing endurance as we seek
to progress towards gold production.  I would like to close with the comments
of Colin Patterson who stated that "I still firmly believe that the projects
are excellent and at today's gold price would be hugely profitable when given
the opportunity to develop them."  To this end, I echo Colin's sentiments and
hope that 2025 becomes the year where value can be finally unlocked for all
shareholders.

 

We look forward to updating shareholders on our progress as the year advances.

 

Aidan Bishop

Interim Chief Executive Officer

 

The Annual Financial Report can be downloaded in PDF format from the following
link: http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7104G_1-2025-4-29.pdf
(http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7104G_1-2025-4-29.pdf)  and
will shortly be available via the National Storage Mechanism.

 

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of article 7 of
the market abuse regulation EU 596/2014 ("MAR").

 

**ENDS**

 

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

Aidan
Bishop
Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd               Email:
aidan@bluebirdmv.com

Nick Emmerson                                  SI Capital
                                               Tel:
01483413500

 

About Bluebird:

 

London listed Bluebird Mining Ventures Ltd is focused on developing high
grade, low capex gold projects. With a cumulative estimated 1.8M oz Au across
three projects, including two historic mines in South Korea and a development
project in the Philippines, the Company looks to JV its assets with local
partners to provide free carry structures to advance its assets to production.

 

Bluebird recognised the most effective strategy to develop projects in South
Korea and the Philippines involved adopting a Joint Venture model; by securing
local partners with in-country operational knowledge and investment capital at
the project level, assets can be advanced to production on a de-risked basis.

 

The Company has three JV's providing a cumulative c.US$9m investment: US$5m
for the development of the historic Gubong Gold Mine and US$2m for the Kochang
Gold and Silver Mine, in South Korea and c.US$2m (funding to a production
decision) for the Batangas Gold Project in the Philippines. With committed
development capital at the project level, the Company has free carries to
production/mine construction on all its projects, which reduces its reliance
on the international capital markets.

 

Bluebird continues to provide technical assistance to these projects,
utilising its internationally experienced mining team, which has a track
record of bringing gold projects into production across Southeast Asia.  Both
JV parties recognise each sides competencies and the mutual belief that
together they can bring the projects into production and generate significant
value for all stakeholders. Importantly the management team has personally
invested cUS$2 million into the Company, highlighting their belief in the
quality of the portfolio.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Batangas is a 1,160-hectare licence with a 25-year Mineral Production Sharing
Agreement ('MPSA') granted. The Project has a current JORC compliant resource
of 440,000 ounces, including a maiden ore reserve of 128,000 ounces (including
silver credits) as well as multiple additional targets providing extensive
resource upside. 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 1,164-hectares Lobo licence.  This has an
initial Probable JORC Compliant Ore Reserves of 171,000 tons at 6.6 g/t for
36,000 ounces of gold excluding silver credits based primarily on the South
West Breccia ('SWB') area of the licence that can be mined in the first 18
months of any operation.  There is an Indicated resource of 82,000 oz Au that
is perceived as easily convertible.  Additionally, the area has multiple
epithermal and high-grade targets already identified for resource expansion
with 15km of identified mineralised structures with results across the nine
identified targets yielding excellent results.  These include 2.1m @14.4g/t
Au and 3m at 12.1g/t at West Drift, which already has an Indicated and
Inferred resource of 350,000t at 3 g/t Au, 8.35m at 18.3 g/t Au and 6.0m at
31.2 g/t Au located immediately west of the SWB Extension, 19m surface channel
sample with intersections of 19m grading 9.8 g/t Au at Ulupong and trenching
at Limestone Target yielded 3.5m at 25.9 g/t Au including 1.5m at 56.8 g/t Au.

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