VANCOUVER, BC, Jan. 7, 2025
/CNW/ - Bravo Mining Corp. (TSXV: BRVO) (OTCQX:
BRVMF), ("Bravo" or the "Company") today issued
its Annual Letter to Shareholders as per below (the
"Letter").
Dear fellow Shareholders,
By the time we entered 2024, Bravo Mining had already
established a solid platform anchored by our multi-million-ounce
maiden Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") reported in October 2023 (see News Release dated 22 October 2023).
This milestone established the Luanga palladium + platinum +
rhodium + gold + nickel project ("Luanga" or "Luanga
PGM+Au+Ni Project") as one of the largest undeveloped PGM
deposits and, subject to completion of the appropriate economic
studies, a leading candidate to become a key Western supplier of
these essential metals. This advantageous position is supported by
leveraging our prime location in the mining-friendly Carajás
Mineral Province, where cost-effective hydro power, power lines,
sealed roads, rail, water, skilled labour, and suppliers are
readily available close to the project area. These strengths
represent a crucial advantage, setting us apart from our peers, a
number of which appear to be facing political and labor
instability, infrastructure shortcomings, operational challenges
and permitting complexities. That the mineralization crops out on
surface, lending itself to potential open pit mining, also stands
out from other PGM projects.
We also began 2024 with a clear path to enhance the initial MRE
by executing additional infill drilling with the objective of
upgrading current resource confidence levels, and extensional
drilling to tap the growth potential beyond the existing resource
limits while also targeting shallow, high-grade zones of oxide
mineralization through an extensive trenching program.
On the wider exploration front, we started the year with great
optimism, aiming to follow up on the 17 Priority Drill Targets
defined by the helicopter based (HeliTEM) electromagnetic (EM)
geophysical survey that covered 100% of the Luanga tenement in the
prior year (see News Release dated 11
September 2023).
Twelve months later, I am pleased to report that we have
effectively achieved our objectives on our PGM infill and step-out
drilling and trenching programs, while successfully making an
important discovery through the exploration of selected EM targets,
demonstrating the impact of our work.
Throughout the Luanga Project area, a total of 94 drill holes
for 19,269 metres were completed by end of 2024. Combining the
drillholes executed in 2024 with those from 2023, 2022 and
historically, Bravo's drilling inventory concluded 2024 with
124,029 metres from 597 drillholes, of which just 394 drillholes
for 77,612 metres (or 63% of total) were used in the current MRE.
Work is now underway to update the MRE, incorporating the new
drilling and trenching data.
Our exploration efforts were rewarded in mid-2024, when we
reported the intersections of Iron Oxide Copper Gold-style
("IOCG-style") mineralization at the T5 EM target. Management
believes this could represent a high-grade copper-gold discovery,
highlighting drill hole DDH2405T002, which intersected 11.5m of massive/semi-massive/breccia high-grade
copper sulphide mineralization grading 14.3% Cu, 3.3g/t Au,
including 2.9m at 22.9% Cu, 3.6g/t Au
(see News Release dated 28 May 2024).
That was followed up by hole DDH2405T004 with 8.8m grading 9.5% Cu and 2.1g/t Au (see News
Release dated 10 June 2024).
These discoveries have opened a whole new prospective frontier
for Bravo, as it is well known that the Carajás Mineral Province is
a fertile area for copper discoveries and Luanga sits within a
geological corridor containing several large-scale IOCG
deposits/operations. Whilst we are very encouraged with these
discoveries and have, so far, traced copper-gold mineralization
continuously over 300 metres at the T5 target, we are still in the
early days of understanding the structural and geological controls
that were the source of such rich Cu-Au intercepts. Accordingly, we
will maintain our focus on the T5 target in 2025, alongside other
similar anomalies at Luanga.
Concurrent with the above achievements, our metallurgical team
undertook optimization tests on the PGM+Au+Ni mineralization
for both sulphide and oxide materials and will continue with this
work in 2025.
On the permitting front, I am very pleased to report that, on
December 12th, 2024, we
held a public hearing (the "Public Hearing") in the Municipality of
Curionópolis, Pará State, as part of the process to obtain the
preliminary license ("LP") for the entire Luanga Project (PGM+Au+Ni
and Cu-Au). The Public Hearing provided local communities and key
stakeholders with a formal opportunity to contribute to the project
and its Environmental Impact Study (EIA) and Environmental Impact
Report (RIMA) by sharing suggestions and voicing their opinions.
This hearing represents the final stage, and the most important
step, of the LP process, which is critical for securing
environmental approval for any major development in Brazil.
Over 500 people attended the Public Hearing in person as well as
over 900 virtually, engaging in productive discussions with the
Bravo team, our environmental consultant, and representatives from
Secretaria de Estado de Meio Ambiente e Sustentabilidade (SEMAS),
the Pará State Environmental Agency. The Public Hearing was deemed
officially valid by SEMAS for the purposes of the LP issuance
process, which is expected to be completed in due course.
Our commitment to ESG continued to be at the forefront of the
Company's activities and I am delighted to report that we have
achieved 1,065 consecutive days (or 522,307 hours) free of Lost
Time Injuries, underlying our seriousness towards occupational
health and safety and good management supervision of field
activities. Respect of the environment has also been underscored as
we have now surpassed 30,000 trees planted from our nurseries, with
an additional 16,000 ready to be planted during 2025, for the
rehabilitation of previously degraded areas within the Luanga
project, in local communities, and in offsite areas impacted by
artisanal mining. Our plantings prioritize high-value,
fruit-bearing trees such as Brazil
nuts, cocoa, açaí, acerola cherry, and other native species,
representing 90% of the total trees planted.
As a testament to our holistic approach to community
development, approximately 73% of our workforce is sourced from the
Carajás region, which also supplies over 94% of our materials and
services, in line with our objective of hiring and purchasing
locally. In addition, together with the RCF Foundation, part of the
same group as one of our cornerstone investors, RCF Opportunities
Fund, we actively support two impactful social projects benefiting
around 300 children, youths, and adults. These initiatives, which
focus on education, sports, dance, theater, and leisure, have been
positively impacting school performance, reducing absenteeism, and
enhancing self-esteem and motivation, according to the local
association that coordinates these activities. We sincerely thank
the RCF Foundation for their invaluable partnership in supporting
these efforts.
We have been able to accomplish all the above with our usual
cash conscious approach, which, along with the Brazilian Real
devaluation over the year and the high-interest rate environment,
allowed us to end the year with our treasury stronger than our
budget forecast (last reported cash position was US$26.1 million on September 30, 2024). This positions us to embrace
the current challenging commodity cycle for nickel and PGMs, while
continuing to be fully funded to complete the revised and improved
MRE in the PGM+Au+Ni project, perform further metallurgical
optimisation test work and other key development activities, such
as economic studies and permitting. Our strong cash position also
allows us to continuing exploring our cluster of Cu-Au prospects,
in addition to executing a regional exploration with a team
dedicated to evaluating additional Cu-Au prospects and assessing
other opportunities to enhance shareholder value while continuing
to advance Luanga.
To reinforce our conservative approach to cash management and
alignment with shareholders, Executive Management and Directors
have voluntarily taken substantial reductions in salaries and fees,
while our workforce has been resized to reflect the completion of
infill drilling and the envisaged 2025 work program.
Our progress is the result of a shared vision and relentless
dedication from our employees, leadership, contractors, and the
communities surrounding Luanga. Their steadfast efforts and support
have been the driving force behind our achievements, reflecting a
collective commitment to our success.
To you, our shareholders, we extend our gratitude for your
continuing support. Your trust enables us to face challenges and
capitalize on opportunities with resilience and discipline. We are
one phone call away at anytime you need to discuss your
Company!
On behalf of the Board of Directors and management, we thank you
once again for your invaluable support. Here's to an even more
promising future ahead. We are Bravo!
Luis Azevedo
Chairman and CEO
Bravo Mining Corp
About Bravo Mining Corp.
Bravo is a Canadian and Brazil-based mineral exploration and
development company focused on advancing its PGM+Au+Ni Luanga
Project, as well as our Cu-Au exploration opportunities in the
world-class Carajás Mineral Province, Para State, Brazil.
Bravo is one of the most active explorers in Carajás. The team,
comprising of local and international geologists, has a proven
track record of PGM, nickel, and copper discoveries in the region.
They have successfully taken a past IOCG greenfield project from
discovery to development and production in the Carajás.
The Luanga Project is situated on mature freehold farming land
and benefits from being located close to operating mines and a
mining-experienced workforce, with excellent access and proximity
to existing infrastructure, including road, rail, ports, and
hydroelectric grid power. A fully funded +70,000 infill, step out
and exploration drilling and trenching program was completed in
2024. Bravo's current Environmental, Social and Governance
activities includes planting more than 30,000 high-value trees in
and around the project area, while hiring and contracting
locally.
Technical Disclosure
Technical information in this news release has been reviewed and
approved by Simon Mottram, F.AusIMM
(Fellow Australia Institute of Mining and Metallurgy), President of
Bravo Mining Corp. who serves as the Company's "qualified person"
as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure
for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). Mr. Mottram has
verified the technical data and opinions contained in this news
release.
The exploration and other technical information in this document
is more fully described in the news releases referenced herein and,
more particularly, the mineral resource estimate is more fully
described in the news release dated 22
October 2023 and fully detailed in the Technical Report
dated October 22, 2023, and is
subject to the assumptions, qualifications, and cautionary language
contained therein, which can be accessed on SEDAR at
www.sedarplus.ca.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture
Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release.
Forward Looking Statements.
This news release contains forward-looking information which
is not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking information
is characterized by words such as "potential", "encourage",
"large", "discovery", "high-grade", "continuous", "growth",
"leading candidate", "readily available", "key advantage",
"strengths", "clear path", "upgrade", "fully funded", "optimize",
"promising", variants of these words and other similar words,
phrases, or statements that certain events or conditions "could" or
"will" occur. This news release contains forward-looking
information pertaining to the Company's ongoing drill program and
the results thereof; the potential for new and/or different styles
of mineralization in some areas, such as IOCG-style mineralization,
the presence of which is publicly well documented in the Carajás
mineral province; whether or not the mineralization interested at
T5 is in fact IOCG-style, some variant of such or another style of
mineralization; the potential continuity of mineralization between
holes; the grades and implications of unassayed holes; the visual
identification of minerals in the core; whether the mineralization
at T5 is open to expansion or not; whether the other anomalies are
related to mineralization whether other anomalies represent
economically significant mineralization; the timing, results and
implications of the planned updated mineral resource estimate and
any economic studies undertaken; the results of current and planned
metallurgical testing; whether or not open pit mining will be
selected for the Luanga deposit; whether or not operating permits
will be granted for the Luanga Project and the timing, outcome and
conditions thereof; and the Company's plans in respect thereof.
Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other
factors that could cause actual events, results, and opportunities
to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such
forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from such forward-looking information
include, but are not limited to, unexpected results from
exploration programs, changes in the state of equity and debt
markets, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in obtaining
required regulatory or governmental approvals, environmental risks,
limitations on insurance coverage; and other risks and
uncertainties involved in the mineral exploration and development
industry. Forward-looking information in this news release is based
on the opinions and assumptions of management considered reasonable
as of the date hereof, including, but not limited to, the
assumption that the assay results confirm that the interpreted
along strike and up and down dip; that activities will not be
adversely disrupted or impeded by regulatory, political, community,
economic, environmental and/or healthy and safety risks; that the
Luanga Project will not be materially affected by potential supply
chain disruptions; and general business and economic conditions
will not change in a materially adverse manner. Although the
Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing
the forward-looking information in this news release are
reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such
information. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking information, other than as
required by applicable securities laws.
SOURCE Bravo Mining Corp.
