Construction Begins at the Redstone Mill
Monday October 2, 9:00 am ET
ca.us.biz.yahoo.com
Corporate Update
TIMMINS, ON--(MARKET WIRE)--Oct 2, 2006 -- Liberty Mines Inc. (TSX VENTURE:LBE.V - News) ("Liberty") is pleased to announce that the Closure Plan for the Redstone nickel concentrating mill was filed by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines on September 29, 2006. The Closure Plan is a very important set of documents which governs both the operation and the closure of the Redstone mill, and must be filed before any building permits can be issued. Liberty can now begin construction of the mill at the Redstone mine site. Bedrock has been probed over the last month to define the optimum location of both the crusher and mill buildings. The concrete foundations for both buildings will soon be installed on the bedrock. New pre-engineered steel buildings will then be erected on the foundations.
Much of the equipment for the mill was purchased new. Its superior technology ensures maximum nickel recoveries and metallurgical control in the crushing, flotation and tailings circuits. This includes the floatation cells, concentrate and deep cone paste thickeners, conveyors, dust collectors, various pumps, electrical equipment and a double-deck screen. All other major pieces of equipment are completely rebuilt which includes a Birdsboro Buchanan 30x42 jaw crusher, a Metso HP 400 hydraulic cone crusher, two 10x13 Dominion ball mills and a Larox hydraulic filter press. Two fine ore bins, one course ore bin and other components will be manufactured as necessary to meet the requirements of the 1500 tonne per day nickel concentrator.
The mill is optimized to handle komatiite type nickel ores from the Shaw Dome area. This includes the producing Redstone mine and the McWatters mine which is in the permitting stage and anticipated to be in production by the summer of 2007. Liberty has over 12,000 hectares of prospective mining claims covering the Shaw Dome komatiite. Those claims will be vigorously explored over the next few years with the goal to provide continued ore for the Redstone mill. Exploration of the Hart project, about 7 km east of the Redstone mine, is scheduled to begin this month.
Phase 1 of the Redstone mill is budgeted to be $8.9 million CAD. Phase 2 consists of the addition of 13 flotation cells and a gravity circuit in early 2007 at a cost of approximately $2 million CAD. This will enable full production to be achieved with the ability to remove platinum and palladium from the nickel in concentrate to sell as a separate product.
Although certain pieces of new equipment are expensive relative to similar used items, management has determined that the difference in costs will be quickly recovered. Additional revenue is generated from higher nickel recoveries achievable with the new equipment. Thereafter, the enhanced revenue stream continues, and with less maintenance costs than that of used equipment.
Production at the Redstone mine is now close to the desired 200 tonnes per day. The custom mill to which the Redstone ore is trucked can process up to 200 tons per day (a 10% smaller rate). Some inventory can therefore be stockpiled during the custom milling period of time until the Redstone mill is commissioned in the spring of 2007.
As of September 13, Liberty has received $1.23 million USD from Jilin Jien Nickel Industry Company Ltd. (JJNICL) as payment for shipments of concentrate to China. Liberty is paid 70% of the invoiced amount when a shipment leaves the mill and the remaining 30% within 60 days of the shipping date. More details of the payment structure will be included in the MD&A for the September 30 third quarter. Shipments subsequent to September 13 will be collectively invoiced in early October. Liberty has paid three $25,000 USD payments to JJNICL in accordance with the repayment schedule of the $4 million USD pre-payment by JJNICL in April 2006. By fully cooperating to facilitate the transportation of concentrate shipments and by making timely payments, JJNICL continues to be an excellent strategic partner of Liberty. The July-partial August shipment of approximately 300 tonnes of nickel in concentrate arrived at Jilin City last week, and the August-September shipments are on route to China.
About Liberty Mines Inc.
Liberty Mines Inc. is a mineral exploration and development company with a focus on the development and production of nickel, cobalt and platinum group metals from its properties in Ontario.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization and reserves, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of Liberty, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Liberty's expectations are exploration risks, commodity prices, assumed startup and operating costs detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by Liberty with securities regulators.
Distributed by Filing Services Canada and retransmitted by Market Wire
Contact:
For further information please contact:
Dr. Gary Nash, PhD (Physics)
President & CEO
Liberty Mines Inc.
Phone (416) 238-9736
Fax 780-437-7898
e-mail: Email Contact
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Liberty Mines Inc. |
