Commander Resources Ltd. and Maritime Resources Corp.: Exploration and Development Alliance Signed on Orion Gold Property
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 06/01/11 -- Commander Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE: CMD) ('Commander') and Maritime Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE: MAE) ('Maritime') report that they have entered into an Exploration and Development Alliance ('Alliance') with London and Newfoundland based Rambler Metals and Mining plc (TSX VENTURE: RAB)(AIM: RMM) ('Rambler'). The Alliance will see the sharing of technical expertise for the exploration and development of two main properties in the Green Bay area of Newfoundland and Labrador. Both projects are in the advanced exploration stage.
AGREEMENT HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Complete an economic assessment on reopening the Hammerdown Mine
-- The Hammerdown Mine operated between 2000 and 2004 producing 157,000
ounces of gold from 315,000 tonnes of ore at an average grade of 16.1
g/t. The average price of gold during the four year operation was $275
US per ounce
-- All ore was trucked 175 km to Rambler's Nugget Pond Hydrometallurgical
Facility with reported recoveries better than 95%
-- The current focus will be targeting un-mined veins and remnant pillars
that were uneconomical during production at low gold prices
2. Evaluate the mine potential of the Orion Deposit as a potential feed
source for Nugget Pond
-- Orion has a NI43-101 compliant inferred resource of 710,285 tonnes
grading 5.227 g/t gold; providing 119,374 gold ounces in-situ
-- Maritime is currently conducting a diamond drill exploration program
focused on extending known mineralization while upgrading the resource
category
-- Exploration highlights from current drill program include 2.10 metres of
7.47 g/t gold and 1.20 metres of 16.58 g/t gold
The Alliance between Commander, Maritime and Rambler will see a sharing of both operational and exploration expertise with the goal of advancing the Green Bay Properties towards production. The first priority for the Alliance will be to compile all existing information on the Hammerdown mine followed by an economic assessment to determine how much of the un-mined material can now be profitably mined, trucked and processed at today's gold price. Some of the remaining high grade veins are in close proximity to existing workings while others may be accessed via open pit which could improve the economics of the project in the early years.
A quick start-up to production will be the primary focus, given the majority of the infrastructure is already in place, but during the compilation some effort will be made to evaluate the expansion of the old mine.
Eric Norton, President and CEO of Commander & Maritime states:
'Working in a cooperative manner with Rambler will help shareholders of both parties optimize the value of their respective assets. The availability of a mill locally, with a proven track record of high recoveries of gold from this ore, has the potential to significantly accelerate the opportunity of early cash flow to Maritime and Commander.'
Peter Mercer, VP Corporate Development, Rambler commented:
'The signing of this Alliance allows the marrying of Maritime's success in exploration and Rambler's ability to develop projects from exploration all the way through to production. In addition, through the Company's work at the Ming Mine, it has developed particular expertise in evaluating and developing brown-field sites which will be an asset when determining the economic potential of re-opening the Hammerdown mine.
The Alliance also provides Rambler with the opportunity to bolster our potential project pipeline and improve our ability to grow the Company over the longer term.'
The Green Bay Property:
The primary asset of the Green Bay property is the Orion gold deposit which was first discovered by Commander Resources in 1995. While Orion itself is in the advanced exploration stage the land package has already been host to one profitable mining operation, the Hammerdown gold deposit, also discovered by Commander's predecessor company, Major General Resources, partnership with Noranda in 1989. Over the four years in operation Hammerdown produced nearly 315,000 tonnes of ore with an average grade of 16.1 g/t gold. All material was trucked and processed at the Nugget Pond Hydromet facility where approximately 157,000 ounces were recovered representing a gold recovery better than 95%. The average gold price while Hammerdown was in operation was $275 US per ounce forcing a cut off grade of 6.9 g/t gold. While much of the original Hammerdown Main zones were mined out, the owners at that time elected not to mine some of the neighbouring veins due to the low price of gold.
The Orion property is located within 2 kilometres of Hammerdown, 10 kilometres off the Trans-Canada Highway, and is readily accessible via paved and dirt roads. Orion is jointly owned by Maritime Resources and Commander Resources and is operated by Maritime. Maritime has the right to increase its ownership to 100%, from 50%, by issuing an additional 5 million shares to Commander. The property has over 15,000 metres of diamond drilling and a NI43-101 compliant inferred resource of 119,374 ounces of gold from 710,285 tonnes at an average grade of 5.227 g/t (using a 3 g/t cut-off grade).
Currently Maritime is managing a diamond drill program on Orion to evaluate the potential of extending the known mineralization up-plunge to the southwest in addition to some infill drilling to improve the existing resource. It is anticipated that the next program will focus drilling on extending the Orion deposit to the north-east. During this time Rambler will assist Maritime with their evaluation so that future exploration programs will be geared toward the goal of accelerated production.
Larry Pilgrim, P.Geo. is the Qualified Person responsible for the technical content of this release.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Eric Norton, President & CEO
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Contacts:
Commander Resources Ltd. and Maritime Resources Corp.
Cathy DiVito
Investor Relations
Toll Free: 1-800-667-7866
info@commanderresources.com
www.commanderresources.com