Shituru Project Update – IBX appoints Director of Operations
Tuesday, August 19th 2008
INTERNATIONAL BARYTEX RESOURCES LTD. announce the appointment of Mr. David Newton as Director of Operations. Mr. Newton will report directly to Mr. Alf Hills, Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Newton has had a long career as a General Manager at a number of mine operations in Asia, Europe and Africa, most recently as General Manager at Anvil Mining’s Dikulushi mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”).
Alf Hills, CEO states, “We are pleased to have David come on board to direct the development of the Shituru project. He has extensive operations experience in difficult environments and his DRC operating experience is a huge asset to the Project. With the Shituru Feasibility Study being completed it is time to start increasing our capability to build and operate a mine in the DRC. David’s appointment is a key component to our strategy to realize the full value of Shituru.”
Project Update. The Feasibility Study will be delivered to the state-owned partner in the Shituru Project, Gecamines in Q3-08. The timeline for delivering the study has been tight and Feasibility Study work indicates a number of areas of upside. The Company intends to pursue further optimization as part of the project engineering design phase of the project. Some optimization work is being carried out in parallel with the Feasibility Study.
The Feasibility Study takes advantage of the low acid-consuming, higher grade ore that represents the majority of the deposit by processing this material during the early years of operation. In addition to better grade, this ore has better metallurgy, lower operating cost, and requires a simple process plant; all of which reduce project risk.
Environmental & Social Impact Assessment work is scheduled for completion in Q3 with a submission to the government to follow. Community consultation work carried out as part of the field work will form the basis for development of meaningful social programs for Likasi, an urban setting.
Following the signing of an MOU, meetings have started on negotiating the supply of electricity to the project.
On the matter of the Mining Contract Review, as previously reported the Shituru project has been classified as a category B contract with a recommendation that certain aspects of the agreement be revisited. The company expects Gecamines will schedule a meeting within the next several weeks to discuss the contract and looks forward to concluding this process which has created considerable uncertainty relating to DRC mining properties.
