Electra Gold Acquires Hushamu Coal Project on Vancouver Island
Electra Gold Ltd. announce the acquisition of the Hushamu Coal Project along Holberg Inlet only 2.5km from its flagship PEM100 Quarry on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The area is secured by the application for a coal license over an area of 300 ha at a cost of $7.00 per ha.
Previous work on the property that was completed by S. Gardner, P.Geo. in 1985 indicated that the Hushamu coal zone could contain in the range of 7.28 million tonnes of in part possibly open pit coal. This estimate was produced before the advent of NI 43-101 standards. Electra has not undertaken any independent investigation of the resource estimate nor has it independently analyzed the results of the previous exploration work in order to verify the classification of the resources, and therefore the historical estimates should not be relied upon.
No modern calculation of mineral resources for the Hushamu coal zone has been undertaken and the available data is not of sufficient quality to calculate an estimate to current technical standards. The Company believes that these historical estimates provide a conceptual indication of the potential of the property and are relevant to ongoing exploration.
The Hushamu coal zone is in the Traditional Territory of the Quatsino First Nation. Electra has enjoyed a longstanding successful working relationship with Quatsino since signing the landmark agreement in August 2003. Chief Tom Nelson is a director of the Company.
Consulting coal mining geologist G. Cathyl-Bickford, P.Geo has made an initial field assessment of the Hushamu Coal and recommended a work program for 2009. Samples of surface coal collected by Ms. Cathyl-Bickford will be submitted for analysis. The recommended program is to consist of mechanized trenching of the Hushamu coal zone followed by additional geological, sampling and analytical work.
Coal produced from Hushamu could be shipped via an existing log dump on Holberg Inlet which has a foreshore lease and has been checked in the past by Electra Gold as a possible site for loading barges for chalky geyserite. This loading area is less than 1 kilometre from the coal outcrop.
