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May 29, 2012 Mindoro Proposes Major Restructure of Philippines Assets
Mindoro President and CEO Jon Dugdale said, "the separation of the key gold and copper-gold assets of the company from the advanced Agata nickel project provides the opportunity for optimal value recognition of these assets in today's equity marketplace. This is why the Board and Management of Mindoro supports this proposed spin-out of the Batangas and TSF gold and copper-gold projects into the gold mining and exploration focused Red Mountain. Red Mountain's mining expertise and funding with the Mindoro team's exploration and community engagement track record, is a great combination." Red Mountain had approximately A$5 million in working capital at the end of March 2012. Red Mountain's Chairman and acting CEO is Neil Warburton who, until recently (March 2012), was the CEO of leading Australian underground mining contractor, Barminco Limited. Upon completion of the transaction Mindoro President and CEO Jon Dugdale will become an Executive Director of Red Mountain and Mindoro's Vice Chairman Howard Walker will become a non-executive Director of Red Mountain. Red Mountain and Mindoro contemplate that within nine months of completion of the transaction Jon Dugdale will transition to the role of Managing Director of Red Mountain and that Neil Warburton will become a Non-Executive Chairman. It is anticipated that Mindoro will have made the transition to a nickel development company within this nine month period. As part of the transaction Red Mountain will provide a secured draw-down facility for up to A$1 million to enable Mindoro to commence drilling, focused on delineating the high-grade "feeder" structures below the Kay Tanda resource at Archangel, Batangas. Mindoro and Red Mountain are continuing with a due diligence period and anticipate signing a binding agreement on or before June 15th 2012 The sale of the Batangas and TSF projects to Red Mountain will require approval by Mindoro shareholders. Materials have been dispatched regarding the sale for consideration and vote at the Mindoro Annual General Meeting, to be held June 27th, 2012 in Calgary, Canada, and to be video-linked from Melbourne on June 28th. Red Mountain shareholder approval for the transaction will also be required in addition to various regulatory approvals including by the TSX Venture Exchange. The Board and management of Mindoro believe that the Company is receiving fair value for the Batangas Gold Project and TSF assets. The consideration being paid in Red Mountain shares offers the following value opportunities for shareholders:
Status of the Agata Nickel Project Strategic Partnership The spin-out of Mindoro's key gold and copper-gold assets will allow the Company to focus on completing the Agata Nickel Project (ANP) strategic partnership to advance the project to development and production in two stages. The ANP includes a 42Mt @ 1.01% Ni (430,000t Ni) Measured and Indicated Resource and a 35.4Mt @ 1.03% Ni (365,000t Ni) Proved and Probable Reserve. The objective of the Company is to establish a strategic funding partnership to accelerate a two-stage development strategy including stage 1 direct shipping ore (DSO) production and stage 2 hydro-metallurgical processing to definitive feasibility study (DFS). The Company is in advanced discussions with a group aiming to secure a strategic stake in the ANP through providing funding to establish DSO production and complete pilot testing and a DFS into a hydrometallurgical acid--leach processing operation. Demand for nickel laterite DSO from the Philippines has been positively impacted since Indonesia has moved to restrict direct shipping of unprocessed nickel laterite ore from 2013. The DSO scoping study will be upgraded to a feasibility study and permitting will be upgraded from the current Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) to Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility once strategic partner financing and offtake agreements are finalised. The Company is working with its financial advisor, Deloitte Corporate Finance Pty Ltd ("Deloitte"), with the objective of reaching preliminary agreement in the near future. Mindoro's Board and Management Changes Coinciding with the restructure there will be certain board retirements and executive changes that will affect the board and management structure of the Company. President, CEO and Director Jon Dugdale, Chairman A Robson Garden, non-executive directors Doug Frondall and John Tosney as well as Vice Chairman and Director Howard Walker will be seeking reappointment to the Board at the Annual General Meeting on June 27th, 2012. Tony Climie will not be standing for re-election to the board but will retain the key executive role as Mindoro's Philippines Country Manager, and President of wholly owned Mindoro operating subsidiary MRL Gold Phils. Inc. A Company director since 1994, Tony was CEO during the period when the key discoveries and relationships were established in the Philippines, upon which the Company is now looking to build significant shareholder value. Tony will continue to perform the key on-the-ground role within both sides of the new structure. Oscar Reyes will not be standing for re-election to the board due to workload commitments with his role as President and CEO of Meralco, the Philippines largest power provider. Oscar will retain the role as Chairman of MRL Gold Phils. Inc. Chris de Guingand will not be standing for re-election to the board. Chris recently retired as Chairman of nickel production company, Panoramic Resources Ltd. Chris will continue to offer his experience and guidance to the company as a consultant. Howard Walker will return to being a non-executive Director, retaining the role of Vice Chairman. ______________________________ 1Announced 16 September 2011 2Announced 2 November 2011 and revised 22 December 2011 in Technical Report for the Agata Nickel Laterite Project (Pre-Feasibility Study), Ausenco. Vice President, Commercial, and Chief Financial Officer Rob King will resign effective June 30th, 2012 to pursue other business interests in the mining equipment and services industry. Rob's service has been invaluable, particularly during the period leading up to the anticipated transactions described herein. Rob will be available for part time consulting services. Financial Controller, Clayton Northey, will take on the roles of CFO and interim Company Secretary, effective July 1st, 2012. Clayton holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta, Canada and joined the Company in 2007 as Accountant. Clayton was promoted to Financial Controller and moved to Melbourne, Australia in September 2011. On behalf of the Board of Directors Jon Dugdale, President and CEO For further information, please contact Mindoro's Melbourne office at +61 3 9614 5055. For investor relations inquiries please email ir@mindoro.com, or telephone one of the following: Australia: Jon Dugdale, Mindoro Resources Tel: +61 3 9614 5055 Canada: Jeanny So, CHF Investor Relations, Tel: +1 416 868 1079 ext. 225 Jeremy Hill, CHF Investor Relations, Tel: +1 416 868 1079 ext 238 Germany: Robert Sarcher, Aprendo Capital, Tel: +49.821.6089051 Website: www.mindoro.com About Red Mountain Mining Red Mountain Mining is primarily a gold explorer and project acquisition company incorporated in Australia in May 2006 and which listed on the ASX in September 2011 (ASX:RMX). The Company's strategy is to unlock the potential of 'under-developed' gold and polymetallic projects by introducing modern mining methods and improving efficiencies to gain significant production and exploration upside. Red Mountain's focus since listing has been drill testing certain Chinese gold exploration assets over which it held option agreements. Red Mountain withdrew from the option agreements as announced 24 April 2012 and has no further liability over those projects. The Company recently expanded its search for advanced exploration and mining projects to the greater Asian region following several significant projects coming to its attention. About Mindoro Resources Mindoro is a Tier 1 Issuer trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (MIO), Australian Securities Exchange (MDO) and Frankfurt Stock Exchange (WKN 906167). Mindoro is focused on nickel, gold and copper-gold exploration and development in the Philippines where its 75% interest PFS-stage (Nov 2011) Agata Nickel Project has NI 43-101 Mineral Resources that include Measured and Indicated resource estimates totalling 42.76 million tonnes at 1.01% nickel, for 430,000 tonnes contained nickel, and Inferred resource estimates totalling 2.435 million tonnes at 0.99% nickel (Sep 2011). In addition the Company has NI 43-101 Mineral Resource estimates on its 100% interest Batangas projects of Indicated Resources 393,000 ounces (Archangel, Indicated 9,879,000t @ 1.1 g/t Au and Lobo, Indicated 270,000t @ 6.49 g/t Au) and Inferred Resources 108,000 ounces (Archangel, Inferred 3,741,000t @ 0.8 g/t Au and Lobo, Inferred 61,000t @ 5.35 g/t Au); a drill-defined copper-gold-sulphur Exploration Target on its 75% interest Pan de Azucar project, Iloilo, as well as 10 key porphyry copper-gold prospects at varying stages of advancement. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The Company's development and production objectives are intended to provide an indication of management's current expectations and are still conceptual in nature. It is uncertain that sufficient resources will be established and if established that these resources will be converted into economically viable mining reserves. Until a feasibility study has been completed, there is no certainty that these objectives will be met. Mindoro's exploration programs are prepared and/or designed and carried out under the supervision of Tony Climie, P.Geo., who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is a competent person as defined by the JORC Code, and who has reviewed and verified the pertinent disclosure of exploration related technical information contained in this news release. Boyd Willis, FAusIMM, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and verified the disclosure of a development and metallurgical processing nature contained in this news release. The Company's resource estimates were originally prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101") and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum classification system. NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators that governs how Canadian issuers disclose scientific and technical information about mineral projects. All resource information is also expressed in terms of the JORC Code. This release may contain forward-looking statements including management's assessments of future plans and operations, and expectations of future production. These statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to, the risks associated with the mining and exploration industry (e.g. operational risks in development, exploration and production; delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve estimates; the uncertainty with respect to results of exploration, the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production and the uncertainty of the availability of capital). The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update forward-looking statements except where required to do so by law. | |
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