Toronto, Ontario — December 12, 2013 – Wallbridge Mining Company Limited (TSX: WM, FWB: WC7) (“Wallbridge”) today announced that it has signed a binding term sheet, (the “Term Sheet”) with Northern Sun Mining Corp. (formerly Liberty Mines Inc.) (TSX: NSC) (“Northern Sun”) for the custom milling of its Broken Hammer ore at Northern Sun’s Redstone concentrator in Timmins, Ontario. The Term Sheet is subject to, among other things, a Definitive Agreement to be entered into on or before February 7, 2014.
“We are excited to have completed another important step towards the development of the Broken Hammer deposit. Most permits are in place and negotiations with copper smelters and mining contractors are going well. Once these other facets of the project are in place, which is expected to be in early 2014, a production decision will be made to start construction in March 2014 with the expectation of ore delivery in May 2014, immediately after the half-load restrictions in Northern Ontario are lifted,” Marz Kord, President and CEO of Wallbridge stated, “At today’s metal prices we expect the project to proceed in late Q1 2014 and start generating cashflow in Q2-2014, that Wallbridge can put towards exploration opportunities at Broken Hammer and elsewhere in Sudbury”.
The securing of a satisfactory milling and processing contract for the Broken Hammer ore was a critical path item in determining the schedule for the project. Discussions with local milling facilities in Sudbury did not result in a contract being finalized and as a result Wallbridge explored other processing options, including, but not limited to, the possibility of processing the ore at Northern Sun’s Redstone Mill in Timmins, Ontario.
Broken Hammer is primarily a copper and platinum group elements (“PGE”) deposit. The decision to use Northern Sun’s Redstone Mill is based on positive preliminary results of a metallurgical study currently being completed at Xstrata Process Support (“XPS”). This study is expected to be completed before year end.
The Redstone Mill has a gravity concentrator which will provide efficient recovery of precious metals such as platinum and gold, particularly given the extremely coarse grained sperrylite (a dense gravity recoverable platinum mineral present in the Broken Hammer ore). Additionally, the processing of the ore in a dedicated circuit at the Redstone Mill, a custom milling facility, removes the requirement for a sample tower on site and results for a reduction in crushing costs on site. These factors as well as better anticipated metal payabilities are expected to offset the additional transportation costs of Broken Hammer ore from Sudbury to Timmins.
Broken Hammer Project Description
Wallbridge discovered the Broken Hammer Zone as a result of an ongoing grass roots exploration program on the North Range of the Sudbury Basin.
An updated resource estimate prepared by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (“RPA”) according to NI43-101 standards was filed in a technical report on the property on August 1, 2012 (refer to June 19, 2012 press release). This resource was later updated in September 2013 incorporating additional mineralization intersected while conducting geotechnical studies. Summary of the Updated Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve is in Tables 1 & 2 below (for more detail please refer to Wallbridge press release dated September 18, 2013).
For the rest of this news release, click here: http://www.wallbridgemining.com/s/NewsReleases.asp?ReportID=615563&_Type=News-Releases&_Title=Wallbridge-Announces-Milling-Arrangement-for-Broken-Hammer