Haiti - Economy : The Government awarded 2 mining exploitation permits

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Haiti - Economy : The Government awarded 2 mining exploitation permits
22/12/2012 08:31:16

On Friday, Mr. Ludner Remarais, Ing., Director General of the Haitian Bureau of Mines and Energy (BME) announced that the Haitian Government has awarded 2 mining exploitation permits in Haiti [gold and copper] to the haitian company Société Minière du Nord-Est SA (SOMINE SA) [company partner of Majescor Resources Inc. (Majescor) and its wholly owned subsidiary SIMACT Alliance Copper-Gold Inc. (SACG)], represented by Mr. Michel Lamarre, Ing., President of SOMINE SA, and by Mr. Daniel Hachey, Director of SOMINE SA and President and CEO of Majescor and SACG. This is the first time since 1976 [36 years] that mining exploitation permits are awarded in Haiti.

One 25 km2 Mining Exploitation Permit covering the Blondin-Douvray-Dos Rada porphyry copper system (Douvray Permit), which contains the Douvray porphyry copper-gold prospect [...]

One 20 km2 Mining Exploitation Permit covering the Faille B vein gold prospect and host shear structure (Faille B permit).

Douvray and Faille B are the first mineral development projects to reach the Mining Exploitation permitting stage since the enactment of Haiti's Mining Code in 1976.

The two adjoining permits are held within the limits of SOMINE SA's former 50 km2 SOMINE Research Permit, the mineral rights and obligations of which were assigned under a Mining Convention executed between SOMINE SA and the State of Haiti on May 5, 2005 and valid until March 9, 2020. The Research Permit expired on June 22, 2012. On June 21, 2012 SOMINE SA submitted two independent technical reports (non-NI 43-101 compliant) to the BME. The technical reports were filed pursuant to SOMINE SA's obligations under the Mining Convention and in support of its application to have the 50 km2 SOMINE Research Permit converted to 2 Mining Exploitation Permits.

Under Haitian mining law, a Mining Exploitation Permit is valid for five (5) years and is renewable until the start of commercial mining at which time the permit shall be automatically converted to a Mining Concession (valid for 25 years; renewable). Under the terms of the Mining Convention, the granting of the Mining Exploitation Permits will allow Majescor and SOMINE SA to carry out all advanced mineral development work, including but not limited to geological, geotechnical, metallurgical, engineering and environmental studies and new drilling to define additional mineral reserves (non NI 43-101), required to bring the Douvray and Faille B projects to commercial production.

"[...] This is a big step forward for the mining industry in Haiti," declared Mr. Hachey, concerning the awarding of these permits, although the company has yet to submit a preliminary environmental assessment. The Company will continue exploration in order to better determine where the minerals are located, said Mr. Hachey "we want to see how far these deposits are, how broad, how wide, how deep, how long," stating that the company plans to invest about 75 million U.S. dollars to reach the stage of production of gold. As for the production of copper, the leader indicated that it will take several million dollars before reaching the stage of copper production, an operation considered more difficult. The President of SOMINE SA expects that the exploitation can begin within 36 to 42 months.

HL/ HaitiLibre