VAL-D\'OR, QC, Jan. 29 /CNW Telbec/ - Mr. Serge Roy, President of Metanor Resources Inc. "Metanor" (TSX-V:MTO) announces that the Company awarded a contract to start the refurbishing of its existing 500 tpd gold mill located on the Bachelor Lake Gold Property in Desmaraisville,Quebec. "This is one of the first steps to make Metanor a profitable gold producer in the second half of 2007" said Mr. Roy. The 500 tpd Bachelor Lake Gold Mill was evaluated at $27.8 M by Genivar, a well known engineering firm based in Quebec, who also estimated the capital costs to restart the mill operation to be in the order of $3.08 M (December 2005). By doing so, Metanor will be able to start processing the ore extracted from the open pit operation on the Barry gold deposit, approximately 65 km southeast of the Bachelor Lake Gold Mill.
Gold resources for the Barry deposit were recently re-evaluated by Systèmes Géostat International Inc. in compliance with NI 43-101 and are estimated at 35,500 oz Au of Indicated Resources (269,000 t at 4.10 g/t Au) and 67,600 oz Au of Inferred Resources (450,000 t at 4.68 g/t Au) in zones 43 and 45 and in the main zone (April 10, 2006).
The refurbishing of the Bachelor Lake Gold Mill is part of Metanor\'s development strategy and business plan targeting to shortly become a profitable gold producer. The Bachelor Lake Property is the cornerstone of this strategy, with the potential resources it contains, which were evaluated by InnovExplo inc., in a NI 43-101 technical report, dated of October 31, 2005 as follows: measured and indicated resources of 841,591 t at 7.79 g/t Au (or 210,857 oz of gold) and inferred resources of 426,148 t at 6.52 g/t Au (or 89,366 oz of gold). In addition to these resources and the high potential of the group of properties, Genivar estimated that a further capital investment of$3.09 M would bring the milling capacity to 750 tpd (January 2006).
After its rehabilitation, the Bachelor Lake Gold Mill will be the only existing gold mill within a 100 km radius from Desmaraisville. Numerous gold deposits are located within this area, the majority of which being to small to sustain the capital costs of building their own milling infrastructures. A recent compilation showed that these gold deposits are totaling over 8.9 M t grading 5.3 g/t Au (for more than 1.5 M oz Au). Access is possible through numerous forestry roads linking these gold deposits to the Bachelor Mill site, thus facilitating ore transportation for custom milling.
Cash flows generated by the mining and milling of the Barry Gold Deposit will facilitate the completion of the planned underground development and exploration program on the Bachelor property. The underground program will include changing the hoist, modifying the headframe and shaft sinking, as well as development and exploration works required for the extraction of a bulk sample which will qualify Bachelor for production status. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Gruß
Lenz