TIDMPTMN
RNS Number : 4565S
Petmin Limited
21 November 2011
PETMIN LIMITED
Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa
Registration Number 1972/001062/06
Share Code JSE: PET & ISIN: ZAE000076014
Share Code AIM: PTMN
("Petmin" or "the Company")
PRESS RELEASE - 21 NOVEMBER 2011
Petmin's joint venture partner in the North Atlantic Iron
Corporation (NAIC), which is developing an iron sands and pig iron
project in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, issued the following
statement to Canadian media on Friday 18 November.
Labrador Iron Sands Project Announces Partners for $400 Million
Project
For Release November 18, 2011
Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada Grand
River Ironsands Incorporated (GRI) has formally announced its joint
venture with South African and Canadian partners in the North
Atlantic Iron Corporation (NAIC), a $400 million iron sands mining
operation and pig iron plant in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
After five years of developing the iron sands project in north
eastern Canada, GRI has joined forces with diversified mining
company Petmin Limited and the iron making expertise of Cardero
Resource Corporation Ltd.
Petmin will invest $25 million in the project over three defined
phases. The company has mining experience, capital-raising
abilities and an internationally-recognised management team.
Cardero has engineering skills and expertise in
environmentally-friendly pig-iron production. This technology
approach will be the basis for a new approach to iron making.
"After five years of diligently developing this high potential
iron sands and pig iron project, we now have two world class
partners with mining, capital raising and iron-making skills and
experience, said GRI President Francis MacKenzie. We now have the
investment to advance to a Bankable Feasibility Study along with
the iron making expertise that will make this project a leader and
set the bar a notch higher."
"GRI, Petmin and Cardero, along with our Innu First Nation
partners and a number of community stakeholders in Happy
Valley-Goose Bay (HVGB), are ready to further advance this project
to production. The iron sands resource will be a low-cost feedstock
for making a high purity pig iron product to supply foundries and
steel mills. NAIC is meeting the request from Happy Valley-Goose
Bay community leaders to add-value to the iron sands, bringing
additional economic benefits to the community and to be an
environmental leader which meets or exceeds global mining and iron
making standards."
Bradley Doig, the Petmin executive responsible for international
projects, said the company had identified the iron sands around
Happy Valley-Goose Bay as a resource with significant economic and
value creation potential for investors, partners and the local
community.
"What stood out was the quality and strength of the commitment
to the NAIC project by Innu First Nation and community leaders. Our
collective goal is to have the community embrace the mining along
with the value-adding pig iron facility. This opportunity has the
basis to reward all stakeholders and fits well with our business
model and strategy."
While mining the iron sands for export is possible, the focus
will be on value-adding in the production of pig iron.
Environmentally-efficient hydroelectricity rather than fossil fuels
will be used to power the iron making process.
NAIC anticipates 120-140 new jobs and careers in the pig iron
production process, with 40-60 jobs in mining operations.
Significant spin-off jobs will be created along with economic
benefits for the local community from investment in the pig iron
plant and related infrastructure.
Glenn Hoffman, CEO of Cardero Iron Ore, said: "After more than
35 years in the iron business, rarely do we see a mining project
with all the key elements in one location, resource, full service
community, low cost hydro and a port."
"This is an exceptional opportunity and by using
􏰃green􏰄hydroelectricity this iron making
process will potentially be a world class leader environmentally in
making iron."
The NAIC joint venture is planning to extract a 7,000 tonne
sample of sands for processing locally into an iron ore concentrate
which will be shipped to a furnace for a demonstration level test.
"This will be a new application using a proven technology, so we
are confident of delivering success," Hoffman said. "With the tests
already done on the local ironsands at the laboratory level, we are
confident of positive outcomes with the next phase of testing at
the demonstration level."
Phase one of the iron making process will be to produce 500,000
tonnes of high purity pig iron. The product is expected to have a
market in the United States and Europe where most ports are less
than seven days by sea from Happy-Valley-Goose Bay.
The heavy minerals in the sands will be extracted and the vast
majority (approximately 90%) of the sands will be returned to the
land. The heavy minerals will be separated through an established
spiral separation process that uses water and gravity along with
magnets. Blasting, crushing and the use of chemicals are all
avoided. NAIC will build on its presence in the community with a
commitment to an office and additional personnel in 2012. The next
key steps with the project include seeking and gathering input from
a number of community teams to understand and manage the
opportunities for environmental and archaeological stewardship,
reclamation approaches and economic development. The NAIC iron
sands and pig iron project will complete a Resource Estimate in Q1
of 2012 with the related drilling already completed in 2011. This
will be followed by a demonstration level melt test in Q2 of 2012.
Efforts towards the engineering of the iron-making operation will
also begin in 2012. The goal will be to work closely with the
community and key stakeholders, along with regulatory and
permitting authorities. An Impacts and Benefits Agreement must be
negotiated with the Land Claim holders, the Innu First Nations.
Further, an agreement will be negotiated with the Mayor and Town
Council on behalf of the community to deliver local benefits.
Should these efforts meet with acceptance, the target date for
production is targeted for 2015 - assuming approvals in 2013.
About
Grand River Ironsands Incorporated a privately owned company
based in Nova Scotia that has invested approximately $7 million to
date in advancing the ironsands. The key asset of GRI has been the
ironsands with quantities of magnetite, titan magnetite, zircon and
garnet in the mineral resource. The ironsands of Labrador were
first discovered in 1896 and are located near the Town of Happy
Valley- Goose Bay, NL. The 1,800 staked mineral claims cover an
area of 450 square kilometres and include sands in the Churchill
River east of Muskrat Falls and lands to the south and west.
www.grandriverironsands.com
Petmin Limited (JSE: PET and AIM: PTMN) a mining company listed
on the Johannesburg and London Stock Exchanges. The company has an
operational metallurgical anthracite mine in KwaZulu, South Africa,
and exploration projects in Canada, Turkey and Liberia. Petmin has
a proven and experienced management team with an exceptional track
record in mining operations, value creation and development of
projects at home and internationally. www.petmin.com
Cardero Iron Company is a subsidiary of Cardero Resource Corp.
(TSX: CDU, NYSE-A: CDY, Frankfurt: CR5) strives to maximize
shareholder value by utilizing managements strong regional network
and geological and operational expertise to implement the most
economically sound and environmentally friendly approach to
building its business. Carderos focus has increasingly been on iron
ore and iron- making technologies. Cardero continues to hold iron
ore resources at the Iron Sands Project in Peru and iron-titanium
interests in Minnesota, USA. Cardero acquired Coalhunter Mining
Corp. which holds a 75% interest in the Carbon Creek Metallurgical
Coal deposit in northeastern British Columbia. www.cardero.com
Happy Valley-Goose Bay, NL (pop 7,572) is a full service
community that is referred to as the Hub of Labrador and is located
400 kilometres east of several major Canadian iron ore producing
deposits, 320 kilometres south of Voiseys Bay nickel project and
250 km east of the 5,424 MW Upper Churchill hydroelectricity plant;
the community is also 30 km away from the proposed Lower Churchill
Hydroelectricity Dam (824 MW). The community can be accessed by air
with direct flights from the provincial capital of St. Johns and
Halifax in less than 90 minutes. The airport was developed as an
airbase in 1941 and later became an NATO airbase.
www.happyvalley-goosebay.com
For Additional Information Contact: Liz MacKenzie, Grand River
Ironsands (902) 233-7255 info@grandriverironsands.com Bradley Doig,
Petmin +27 824 597 818 Nancy Curry, Corporate Communications,
Cardero (604) 408-7488 info@cardero.com
Enquiries:
Petmin
Bradley Doig (COO) +27 824 597 818
www.petmin.co.za
Nominated Advisor (AIM)
Numis Securities Limited +44 207 260 1000
Stuart Skinner
Sponsor and Corporate Advisor (JSE)
River Group
Andrew Lianos +27 834 408 365
Johannesburg
21 November 2011
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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