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WGI Heavy Minerals announces withdrawal of mineral reserves report
WGI Heavy Minerals announces withdrawal of mineral reserves report.
About this update from Nickel Creek Platinum Corp.
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n\nCOEUR D'ALENE, ID, April 10 /CNW/ - WGI Heavy Minerals, Inc. (\"WGI\" or\nthe \"Company\") (TSX: WG) today announced that it has requested that the\nStrathcona Mineral Services report prepared in July 2002 to estimate mineral\nreserves and resources at the Company's Srikurmam heavy mineral sands property\nin Andhra Pradesh, India, be withdrawn. The Strathcona report was based on\nWGI confirming to Strathcona that WGI was entitled to mine the beach sands on\nits Srikurmam mining lease. In fact, substantially all development of this\nheavy mineral sands mine has been suspended until several regulatory,\nlicensing and other issues can be resolved.\nIn July 2004, WGI's Indian subsidiary, Transworld Garnet Company Ltd.,\nwas advised by the Indian Department of Atomic Energy that its licence to\nhandle ilmenite at its mine in Tamil Nadu, India, was being revoked. Though\nilmenite is primarily used for paint pigment, it is sometimes found in the\npresence of mildly radio-active materials. Ilmenite is also present in the\nbeach sands at the Srikurmam mine and Transworld has never had a licence to\nhandle ilmenite there. Accordingly, WGI has been unable to proceed with the\ndevelopment of the Srikurmam mine.\nIn addition, WGI has become aware that Strathcona was provided with\ninvalid confirmation by a former employee of WGI that an environmental\nregulatory approval needed to mine the Srikurmam property was in effect for\nthe entire leased area, which is about 95 hectares. The mining lease runs\napproximately 11 kilometres along the beach and extends inland between 50 and\n150 metres. The regulatory approval obtained by Transworld contained a\nprohibition on mining within 100 metres of the high tide line, which would\nsubstantially reduce the area available for mining to about 10 hectares.\nStrathcona was not aware of this restriction and it is not reflected in its\nreport. Efforts have been made to have the restriction removed, without any\nsuccess to date.\nThe rules relating to the preparation of a report estimating reserves and\nresources require a description of circumstances that may limit access to the\nrelevant ore. Given the licensing and other issues still to be resolved by\nTransworld at the Srikurmam mine, WGI has requested, and Strathcona agrees,\nthat its report be withdrawn.\nThe Strathcona Mineral Services repo...