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(Mkt News Pub) General Minerals Corporation: Joint Venture Agreement for To
General Minerals Corporation: Joint Venture Agreement for Towerbeck Gold
Prospect Approved by Chinese Government
General Minerals Corporation ("GMC") is pleased
to announce Chinese government approval of the GMC-Chinese Joint
Venture to explore the Towerbeck gold prospect, located in
northwestern China. A Certificate of Approval was issued on
December 8, 1999, for the Sino-Foreign Joint Venture Agreement
relating to the Towerbeck Minerals Joint Venture (a joint venture
comprised of GMC and its Chinese partners) by the Bureau of
Foreign Trade and Economic Corporation of Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region. This approval follows the signing of the joint
venture agreement between GMC and its partners in July, 1999. The
Towerbeck Joint Venture has been formed to explore and develop
gold mineralization on the Towerbeck prospect, a 56 square
kilometre exploration concession, which is situated adjacent to a
producing gold deposit. In addition, the Towerbeck prospect
contains several small, open pit gold operations and surface
prospects which are part of the JV property.
The Towerbeck prospect is located in northwestern China in the
Xinjiang Autonomous Region, near the border with Kazakhstan. The
property is located directly south of the Axi gold mine. The gold
bearing, north-south structure hosting the Axi mine
mineralization, projects into the Towerbeck property. Bordering
Towerbeck to the east is another exploration concession being
explored as a joint venture led by Western Mining Corporation of
Australia. According to the Axi Mine Geology Department, the Axi
gold deposit has reserves in the order of 3 million ounces of gold
and produces approximately 40,000 ounces of gold annually, with a
head grade of approximately 5.6 grams per tonne from the oxide
ores. The deposit lies within the extension, into China, of the
Central Asian Gold Belt which contains such giant gold deposits as
Muruntau in Uzbekistan and Kalmakyr and Kumtor in Kyrgyszstan.
The terms of the Towerbeck joint venture agreement allows GMC to
earn a vested interest in stages, reaching 71 percent once GMC's
contribution exceeds RMB 24 million (the current exchange rate is
approximately 8.2 RMB to one US dollar). Through dilution of the
joint venture partners interest, GMC can increase its interest to
a maximum of 85 percent. GMC's first year commitment includes
approximately US$165,000 of field expenditures.
General Minerals has been actively exploring in China since 1995,
when the Company finalized the second mineral joint venture ever
completed in China at the Huang Shui Gou (HSG) copper-gold project
in Sichuan Province. An extensive program of surface and
underground drilling and tunneling at HSG was carried out by GMC
and, although the resource fell short of the Company's
expectations, the project established GMC as a minerals explorer
in China.
GMC has been in contact with the Chinese authorities involved in
formulating mineral law and regulations and believes that the
investment climate in China for minerals exploration will continue
to improve, as the government moves on proposals for staged
liberalization of the Chinese gold market, improved tax structures
related to mining, amortization of exploration expenditures, and
other incentives. With the Central Government's directive and
support , selected Provinces and Regions, including Xinjiang, are
formulating additional measures to attract foreign mineral
exploration investment.
GMC and its Chinese JV partners will complete the registration of
the Joint Venture Corporation by the end of January, 2000. More
detailed assay information and details on the nature of gold
occurrences on the Towerbeck property are being tabulated and will
be released in the near future.
Richard Doran
Manager, Investor Relations
Tel: (303) 863-7934
Fax: (303) 863-7965
E-mail: ddoran@generalminerals.com |
