May 25, 2010 (Filing Services Canada) -- Woulfe Mining Corp. (WOF - TSX Venture), ("Woulfe" or, the "Company") is pleased to announce the Company's work schedule for 2010.
Woulfe Mining is focused on the redevelopment of the world class Sangdong tungsten and molybdenum mine in South Korea. Woulfe is in a unique position with what the Board considers to be "The" tungsten project in the world with its 25 km of underground development shafts, airways and infrastructure surrounding the mine site. When the mine closed in 1992, the process plant was removed but the area for the plant is contoured and the mine can be reopened giving the Company the ability to bring back into production in a relatively short space of time what is likely one of the world's largest tungsten mines.
A scoping study and preliminary economic assessment have shown that this is a very significant project with strong economics at current tungsten prices. It should be noted that to be prudent the scoping study only accounted for the virgin lower veins in the scoping mine plan and diluted it by 15% at zero grade. It did not give any benefit in the capital cost to the existing mine development, so that an all new underground mine development was assumed, nor did it take into account the mineralised stockwork underneath the former mine. The company is focused on delivering the bankable feasibility study during Q1 2011 and securing project financing mid-2011. The company is not considering raising money from strategic partners at this stage as it has not been prepared to give away its current shareholder's value; however, as the project develops management will be considering these options and other opportunities to raise the project finance in the form of debt and equity.
The company also has a strong pipe line of other projects
* Muguk Gold (100% owned) - GIS being built for detailed modelling; drilling has started targeting areas in the 7 and 8 veins.
* Uranium/ Vanadium leases (100% owned) - Mapping and geochem in progress
* Yeonwha base metals project (100% owned) - building GIS in progress
* Chongyang tungsten project (100% owned) - building GIS in progress
Objective One - Bankable Feasibility Study of Sangdong
Woulfe has a 25-year mining licence for Sangdong and will submit the development application in May 2010. The Kangwon Province, in association with Yeongwol County, is expected to approve the licence in June 2010.
The mine plan approval will allow the Company to access the 25 km of underground workings. The access tunnels are in good condition, but as yet Woulfe has not assessed the condition of the vertical and ventilation shafts. It should be noted that most of the development is in limestone, which is very stable, and the quality of mine and civil construction the Company has witnessed at the site is outstanding.
With access to the underground workings, the Company can assess the three ore lodes for geology, geotechnical stability and appraise options to bulk mine the deposit. The scoping study released in March 2010, to be conservative, assumed all new underground development on the lower lode. If any of the existing accesses and workings can be reused, it could potentially lower the capital cost of bringing Sangdong back into production.
Woulfe is in negotiation with independent engineering companies to carry out a Bankable Feasibility Study ("BFS") for development of the Sangdong Mine. The Company anticipates a contract will be signed before the end of May with an initial site meeting in June. As a way of leveraging the 40-year mining history at Sangdong the Company has hired many of the former senior staff at the mine as consultants. The Company believes that most facets of the mine development and metallurgy for Sangdang are well understood. This will help to de-risk planning, allowing the Company to move directly to the BFS. Consultants from the former operator include the last general manager Mr. BG Kim and Dr Moon, a geologist who did his PhD on Sangdong.
Woulfe intends to conduct underground sampling and drilling programs. Drilling is targeted to total 10,000m utilising the underground access with the objective of increasing the grade and moving the mineral resources into a higher category for the BFS. The Company has a target of defining 20 million tonnes of ore at a grade of 0.5% WO3 or more and further plans to move this into the reserve category to support an initial 1.125 million tonne per annum process plant with a 15-year life (with a 5-year tail). This is an exploration target as it is uncertain if further delineation drilling will result in defining a grade distribution that will support this tonnage of mineral resource at a grade of 0.5% WO3. The former operators in 1992, as obligated under Korean law concerning mine closure, calculated a resource reserve statement delineating 15 million tonnes at 0.5% WO3. Given this information, the Company sees its resource target as an achievable objective. This is an historic reserve statement as a qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources. Woulfe is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources and the historical estimate should not be relied upon.
The current resource at Sangdong, as defined in the Scoping Study released April 8, 2010, is an Inferred Resource at 0.1% WO3 cut off grade of 103.2 Mt at 0.35% WO3 and 0.04% MoS2.
During the recently completed scoping study, wire frames were placed around the upper and lower lodes and applied techniques that smear the grade giving average grades. In an effort to move the project to feasibility, Woulfe is now modelling the mining blocks to identify grade trends. In addition, access to the mine will allow the Company to explore the large remnant pillars left in the high grade main vein that was mined but has not been included in the scoping study. The pillars are shown on survey plans, but the grades are not known.
While taking the grade to 0.5% WO3 and reducing the tonnes per annum from the 2.5 million envisaged in the scoping study down to 1.125 million tonnes per annum does not significantly change the Company's proposed output of tungsten, it will allow for the redesign of the plant to be much smaller and have a significant impact on the amount of capital and time required in order to move into production.
Recent work by the metallurgical testing division of SGS SA has indicated that it may be possible to improve recoveries compared to past performance. Once Woulfe has the mine block model and representative samples a bulk sample will likely be sent for proof of process.
The process plant foot print has been established and survey control will be conducted. The process plant will be sited on land currently owned by the local municipality and is accessible by road. The Company anticipates that the plant layout will be similar to that of the plant which was removed in the 1990's, and intends to lodge an application for permission to use this land.
Pacific Environmental Consultants and ERM Korea are working on a final environmental impact study for the site. This will be completed once the final process flow sheet has been established. The flow sheet will be available as soon as the production capacity based on the ore body has been determined. The review carried out by Pacific Environmental Consultants found no historical contamination or environmental issues.
Objective Two - Defining Upgrade high grade Molybdenum Stockwork
Woulfe drilled two vertical diamond holes to compliment the 33 historical holes. Wardrop Engineers have modelled the mineralisation and have defined an inferred resource of 7.1 million tonnes at 0.18% MoS2 at a cut off grade of 0.16%. Korean tungsten delineated an historical resource of 15 million tonnes at 0.4% MoS2 which is not compliant under NI43-101 and cannot be relied on; however, provides good information as a target to be drilled.
Recent interpretation by Woulfe geologists believe the mineralisation to be a veined stock work that were most likely the feeders from the granite intrusive to the skarn making the orientation of main veins vertical with splays. To understand the mineralisation and assess the historical work Woulfe intends to drill holes from underground at an oblique angle to the suggested veins orientation.
Objective Three Muguk Gold Definition
Last month, Woulfe started drilling the first hole at Muguk since the mine closed in 1997. The initial two holes are targeting the number seven and eight veins, which have had minimal mining and are away from the main mined area. The Company has employed as a consultant Mr. Jung, a qualified mining engineer and geologist who holds a Korean safety licence. Mr. Jung was the General Manager of the company that operated the mine for the last 5 years prior to its closing.
Mr. Jung has located the mine resource plans, which the Company is digitizing to build a 3D model of the mine. This will allow the Company to better understand the deposit and select targets for further drilling.
The Muguk mine was developed down to 700 metres and applied a cut off grade of 10 g/t; considering how much higher gold prices are today than during the mine's previous years of operation in the early nineties, the Company intends to remodel the mine and conduct an initial scoping study with a lower cut off grade of 3 to 5 g/t.
Objective Four Uranium/ Vanadium early exploration
In the past week Woulfe has started taking geochemical samples on one of the nine mining licensed blocks the Company holds in the Daejon area of South Korea. This block is adjacent to the Gumsan project being developed by Tozai Holdings and the Korean Resources Corporation (KORES). Woulfe anticipates announcing the results of the test work in June. Sampling across the blocks will continue with geophysical interpretation to define drill targets.
Qualified person has read and approved the release - Colin Lutherborrow MAusIMM a qualified geologist who has 30 years experience in underground mines and the delineation of resources and reserves.
About Woulfe Mining Corp.
Woulfe is a TSX-V listed company with a diversified portfolio of mining licences for tungsten, molybdenum, gold, base metals, uranium and vanadium in South Korea.
The Company's current projects include the Sangdong tungsten-molybdenum mine, historically, one of the largest tungsten mines in the world; the Muguk gold-silver mine, formerly South Korea's largest gold producing mine, as well as a number of other properties with significant known mineralization and excellent regional potential.
Woulfe has high expectations for near-term, low-cost production. The Company has assembled a highly skilled, in country, bilingual Technical Team and a Board of Directors with an outstanding track record of success.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Woulfe Mining Corp.
Brian Wesson
President, CEO and Director
For further information, please contact Ms. Amelia Wesson (Director), Vice President Admin and Investor Relations (+61416027449) or
Nick Smith
NSmith@nicolastreetcapital.com
Telephone: +1.415.829.7865
info@woulfe.com.au
Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. We have made certain assumptions about the forward-looking statements and information and even though our management believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statement or information will prove to be accurate. Furthermore, should one or more of the risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements or information. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, the following: commodity price volatility; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, mineral reserves and resources and metallurgical recoveries; mining operational and development risk; litigation risks; regulatory restrictions, including environmental regulatory restrictions and liability; risks of sovereign investment; currency fluctuations; speculative nature of mineral exploration; global economic climate; dilution; share price volatility; competition; loss of key employees; additional funding requirements.
There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements or information contained herein. Except as required by law, we do not expect to update forward-looking statements and information continually as conditions change and you are referred to the full discussion of the Company's business contained in the Company's reports filed with the appropriate regulatory authorities.
This information is available on our website at www.woulfemining.com
Source: Woulfe Mining Corp. (TSXV WOF)
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