Western Pacific (WRP-V) hires Callahan as president
Feb 27, 2013 - News Release
Western Pacific Resources Corp. has appointed Michael Callahan, former vice-president of Hecla Mining Co., as the new president. Mr. Arthur Brown, former CEO and Chairman of Hecla, will also join the Company as Chairman of the Board and Director. Mr. Callahan and Mr. Brown recently held the positions of President and Chairman respectively of Silvermex Resources Ltd. During their tenure at Silvermex, the company was bought out by First Majestic Silver Corp. (FR-T) for approximately C$175.4 million in July of 2012 (refer to "First Majestic" Press Release dated July 3, 2012).
The current President, Eric Saderholm, will become the Company's Vice President, Exploration and remain a Director, and Warwick Smith will remain as Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Callahan served as Vice President of Hecla and President of Hecla's Venezuelan Operations from 2006 to 2009. Joining the company in 1989, he held various positions at the company including Vice President of Corporate Development. Between December 2009 and July 2012 he served as President of Silvermex Resources Ltd. (SMR-V), until the company was acquired by First Majestic.
Mr. Brown served as CEO and Chairman of Hecla until retiring in 2006. During his 39 year tenure at Hecla he held many senior positions in operations, becoming the company's President in 1986, and Chairman and CEO in 1987. Mr. Brown serves as a director on the board of AMCOL International Corporation (ACO-N) where he also serves as a member of the audit and compensation committees. Mr. Brown is also a director of the Idaho Independent Bank. He is a former Director of the National Mining Association and served as a Director of The Gold Institute and The Silver Institute (Past President).
Mr. Callahan will help direct the Company in its transition from an exploration company to a profitable producer, with the recently acquired Deer Trail Mine, Piute County, Utah. (Refer to Press Release dated February 26, 2013). Mr. Brown will lead the Company's directors and executives, overseeing corporate governance while enhancing shareholder value.
Warwick Smith, CEO of Western Pacific, comments: "We are extremely excited to welcome Michael as Western's new President and Arthur as our new Chairman and Director. Not only do we have an exciting new flagship asset in the Deer Trail Mine, but we now have a strong senior management team with key expertise in underground mining operations and corporate governance."
In connection with the foregoing, the Company has granted incentive stock options (the "Options") to purchase up to 600,000 common shares of the Company exercisable for a period of five years at $0.195 per share. The Options are subject to the terms of the Company's stock option plan and vesting provisions.
We seek Safe Harbor.
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Western Pacific to acquire Deer Trail for $7-million
Feb 26, 2013 - News Release
Warwick Smith, chief executive officer of Western Pacific, commented: "Acquiring the Deer Trail mine is a significant milestone for Western Pacific. This transaction provides the platform to transform the company from an explorer to a producer. Although further evaluation will be undertaken, we feel this property could go back into production within the next 12 to 18 months with a low capital investment. The timing was right for Western to acquire this incredible project for $7-million to be paid over 2-1/2 years. Shareholders can expect 2013 to be a strong year for news flow."
Eric Saderholm, president of Western Pacific, stated: "In addition to the known polymetallic deposits (mineralization occurs in oxide and sulphidic ore), there are numerous other potential targets at Deer Trail, including moly-porphyry targets and gold-rich veins and skarns. This mining district is vastly underdrilled and underexplored which provides significant upside potential for discovery by Western Pacific. Our review of the data provided by the mine's former operations team identified numerous targets for exploration and potential new mines. I believe there are tremendous possibilities for increasing the known mineralization within the current mine and for additional discoveries in and around Deer Trail. We look forward to exploring the immediate and long-term potential of this exciting property and moving it forward toward production."
Deer Trail mine location
The Deer Trail mine is located in Piute county, central Utah, approximately five miles south-southwest of Marysvale. The project encompasses 3,275 acres of prospective ground within five square miles and includes workings known as the Upper Deer Trail mine, the Lower Deer Trail mine, and the Carissa and Lucky Boy mines.
Utah was ranked fourth nationally by the U.S. Geological Survey in 2011 for the value of non-fuel mineral production in the United States, making up 6.2 per cent of the total value. Non-fuel mineral production valued at $4.6-billion to $2.6-billion of this amount was attributed to base metal production, $1.2-billion from industrial minerals and $700-million from precious metal production.
The Deer Trail mine is located near the centre of the Marysvale volcanic field in the high plateaus of west-central Utah, forming a transition between the Colorado plateau and the basin range provinces. The main adit of the mine, the PTH tunnel, crosses the range-bounding Tushar fault zone that separates Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks. The DTM includes several lead-zinc-silver-gold-copper (Pb-Zn-Ag-Au-Cu) manto deposits, with mine workings exposing westerly dipping sedimentary rocks of three units: the Toroweap and Queantoweap formations and the Callville limestone. The orebody is in the lower part of the Toroweap formation and consists of a nearly continuous group of semi-concordant replacement bodies flanking a central vein. Roughly half of this orebody is oxidized and is exposed in the working of the Upper Deer Trail mine, known as the Old Deer Trail mine; the other half is located in the 8600 area workings of the lower mine and consists of unoxidized sulphide ore. The Queantoweap formation underlying the Toroweap is a quartzite and hosts no known mantos. The 3400 area of the lower mine underlies the Callville limestone.
Exploration
The project encompasses an attractive portfolio of advanced-stage properties at both upper and lower Deer Trail, and in addition, two other potentially large-scale exploration targets. The first is the Deer Trail mountain porphyry. Alteration patterns, geochemistry and structural features indicate that further testing should occur to test for a deep molybdenum porphyry target. The second exploration target is the Mississippian Redwall limestone. Future work may include testing between 800 and 2,000 feet below DTM workings. |
