October 10, 2006
Tulsequah Project Update
Redcorp Ventures Ltd. (TSX:RDV) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Redfern Resources Ltd. (together, the “Company”), are pleased to provide an update on progress for completion of the ongoing and previously announced exploration and development work at the Tulsequah Project which includes the surface and underground drilling program, a detailed Feasibility Study update under the direction of Wardrop Engineering Inc. (“Wardrop”), and a survey and design program to bring the existing Special Use Permit for the approved access road to construction level approval.
The Tulsequah Project proposal for the re-development of the former producing Tulsequah Chief Mine has received environmental certification approval under both the British Columbia and Canada environmental assessment act processes. The proposed re-development is to establish continued mining at the Tulsequah Chief mine to produce copper, zinc and lead concentrates from the high-grade polymetallic massive sulphide deposit delineated beneath the existing mine workings.
Exploration Drilling Program:
The current exploration program is nearing completion with phase 2 drilling at the former producing Big Bull Mine in its final stages. Drilling at the Tulsequah Mine Area is nearly complete. Due to large volumes of samples, reporting of results has been delayed due to backlogs, both at the assay labs and in the exploration drillhole sampling. Results will be reported in due course. At this time it is anticipated that the exploration drilling program at Tulsequah will be completed on or about October 20 and demobilization of personnel and equipment will be completed shortly afterwards in preparation for camp winterization.
A total of 22,793m in 64 holes has been completed to date. Of this total, 14879m in 36 holes have been completed at the Big Bull Mine area, 6,447m in 24 holes have been completed at the Tulsequah Chief mine area in surface and underground drilling, and 1,467m have been completed in four reconnaissance holes between the two mines.
Three additional underground holes are planned at Tulsequah, prior to the program completion, to collect a minimum 250 kg sample for more detailed metallurgical testwork and flowsheet optimization design in the next several months.
Big Bull Mine Resource Evaluation:
Wardrop has also been contracted to act as independent Qualified Person for evaluation QA/QC procedures, resource modelling and resource estimation at the Big Bull Mine target. It is anticipated that this work will be completed over the next two months as final results are received and compiled.
Access Road Special Use Permit Update
Redfern has engaged the services of For-Lands Management of Terrace, BC to conduct site surveys and flagging of the 160 km road route in order to update and finalize the detailed road and crossings designs before construction. The work will be used to prepare an updated final road design and incorporate detailed site-specific information that will result in accurate cost estimates from prospective contractors. Archeological and aquatic assessments are being conducted in conjunction with this ground truth exercise, which is scheduled for completion at the end of October. Once completed, the final survey design will be submitted to the Ministry of Forests for construction level approval under the existing Special Use permit. The updated design will also allow Redfern to finalize applications for the necessary Navigable Waters Act authorizations for the larger river and stream crossings as identified in the completed environmental assessment approvals.
Feasibility Study
Wardrop estimates that the Feasibility Study work is 35% complete. It is scheduled for release by year’s end.
On the basis of trade-off evaluations, Wardrop has incorporated several critical concept changes to enhance the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of the future operation, including:
· Re-locating of the crushing and grinding circuits on surface and a more compact overall plant site design to maximize use of the previously disturbed mine site area
· Replacing the SAG mill with a ball/rod mill.
· Installing an inclined shaft in the mine for ore and waste rock hoisting
The expanded resource estimation will be used as the basis of the updated reserve estimation for the Study. A 2000 tonnes per day operation is envisaged, using bulk mining methods (longhole and sublevel stoping). Trackless diesel equipment will be used for stoping and mine development. An inclined shaft will be used for hoisting ore and rock from the mine to a single tracked drift for haulage out of the mine.
Paste backfill will be used as a replacement material for mining voids. Any acid-generating tails and development rock will be stored below the water table to assure sub-aqueous containment on closure. A number of historic open stopes exist above the water table, which are currently causing an acidic mine discharge. The mine plan incorporates paste backfill operations to fill these historic stopes to control mine discharge water chemistry. Current mine construction planning calls for historic waste rock dumps to be moved to managed storage sites prior to final disposal.
On completion of a successful feasibility study, it is Redfern’s intention to finance the project then begin building the permitted road, and apply for the necessary Mines Act permits to begin construction of the mine and mill. If all goes as planned, the Tulsequah Chief Mine would resume operations in 2008 after a hiatus of 50 years.
Redcorp Ventures Ltd. is a Vancouver-based mineral exploration and development company with active projects in British Columbia and Portugal. Further information on Redcorp and the Tulsequah property can be obtained on the Company’s website at www.redcorp-ventures.com and at Redfern’s website at www.redfern.bc.ca.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF
REDCORP VENTURES LTD.
“Terence Chandler”
Terence Chandler
President
Megan O’Donnell, P.Geo. and Michael G. Allen, P.Geo are the qualified persons, as defined by National Policy 43-101, supervising the exploration program at the Tulsequah Project. Eco-Tech Laboratories of Kamloops BC is an accredited assay laboratory conducting the sample analyses and assays using standard techniques.
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