Wallbridge Mining Company Limited (TSX: WM) (FWB: WC7) today announced that excavation and delivery the 30,000-tonne bulk sample from the Broken Hammer Zone to Xstrata's Strathcona Mill is progressing well.
To date approximately 48,000 tonnes of material have been excavated, of which over 25,000 tonnes have been crushed on site, and 9,200 tonnes delivered to the Strathcona mill.
Once all the material has been delivered to the mill, the material will be scheduled for batch processing to confirm metallurgical recoveries. Currently, processing is tentatively expected to take place by the end of June 2011.
"We are extremely pleased with the progress to date", stated Alar Soever, President and CEO of Wallbridge, "When the material has been processed, we will have the necessary inputs to advance the project through feasibility and, if results warrant, into production."
Wallbridge discovered the Broken Hammer Zone as a result of an ongoing grass roots exploration program on the North Range of the Sudbury Basin. In November 2005, Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. estimated the NI 43-101 compliant, inferred mineral resource to be 251,000 tonnes at a grade of 3.80 g/t total precious metals (1.56 g/t palladium, 1.62 g/t platinum and 0.61 g/t gold), 1.00% copper and 0.10% nickel. This resource estimate was prepared using a cut-off value of CAN$40/t, and the then prevailing, long-term metal price projections of US$800/oz for platinum, US$180/oz for palladium, US$400/oz for gold, US$ 1.40/lb for copper, and US$5.00 for nickel. A new resource estimate and feasibility study will be prepared using current metal prices, once results of the bulk sampling program are available.
Wallbridge currently holds a 98.5% interest in the Broken Hammer property while Xstrata Nickel
retains a 1.5% carried interest with some buy back provisions.
The Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this press release is Mark Croteau P.Geo., Manager of Operations for Wallbridge Mining Company Limited.
Source: Wallbridge Mining Company Limited