The Bom Futuro mine has produced over 192,000 tons of tin since its discovery in 1987, being the largest mine in tin production in the municipality of Ariquemes/Rondônia, responsible for about 3% of the world tin supply in the last 30 years. The estimated tin resources not yet exploited in Bom Futuro allow us to consider the mine as a world-class deposit, among the 15 largest in the world.
In order to continue the extraction process at Bom Futuro, within the concepts of sustainability, financial resources and technology are required. To meet this need, the Cooperative of Garimpeiros de Santa Cruz (COOPERSANTA), owner of the mining rights at Bom Futuro, signed an Investment Agreement with Meridian Mining, through its subsidiary Brasil Manganês Corporation Mineração S.A. (BMC).
This agreement, signed in December/2016, has the exploration authorization for the 20,000 ha area of the mining rights, which includes the area currently in operation (2,000 ha), and the unexplored area (18,000 ha), for a period of 05 years, with a minimum mandatory investment of US$10.5 million, also including mineral research and technological investments for reprocessing the tailings, with a minimum investment of US$1.5 million.
BMC has until March 15, 2017 to complete a preliminary technical due diligence of the tailings area, and the total area of 20,000 ha, to assess the technical and economic feasibility of the project, in order to determine whether it intends to exercise its option to the Agreement. During the same period, the Coops will conduct negotiations and obtain the necessary approvals for BMC to take over the construction of the 69 kVA power transmission between Ariquemes and Bom Futuro.
"Similar to our manganese project, this option offers both near-term cash flow potential through reprocessing of tin tailings from existing mine operations, as well as long-term exploration, consistent with our overall strategy for the Company" said Anthony Julien, President and CEO of Meridian. "Entering into this agreement will allow us to leverage our experience in Rondonia and apply the latest exploration and production techniques in this under-explored but promising tin region of Brazil."
This agreement has an extremely important meaning for the Rondônia Tin Province, because it represents the resumption of organized mineral research and the return of investments for a sustainable mining process, with more intensive use of new technologies, aiming to recover the fine cassiterite ore, but also the possibility of using by-products associated with tin in Bom Futuro, such as zinc ore in esfarelita and titanium ore in ilmenites.
Source: press release issued to the market by Meridian Mining, available at the website www.meridianmining.co.
