“The EIA is being conducted to support the submission for the Environmental Compliance Certificate needed to advance a project in the Philippines to production”
Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd, a gold project development company is pleased to announce that the work programme for Environmental Impact Study (‘EIS’) has commenced at the Lobo high-grade gold mining target, within the Batangas project area in the Philippines (‘Lobo’ or ‘the Project’).
The work programme forms the core of the environmental baseline studies needed to be conducted in line with the requirements for the issuance of an Environmental Compliance Certificate (‘ECC’). The work is fully funded by the Company’s ‘s Joint Venture partner and consists of the following studies:
- Fresh Water
- Ground Water
- Marine Water
- Ambient Air & Noise Quality
- Soil Quality
- Flora and Fauna
To expedite the work, a team contracted by the recently appointed E-Green Management & Environmental Consultancy Corporation (RNS: 4th March 2024), is establishing sampling and monitoring stations across the Lobo area.
Bluebird CEO Colin Patterson said, “The work programmes on the ground at Lobo for the EIS completion are underway. E-Green are moving quickly as all parties focus on rapidly advancing the Project up the development curve. This work will go toward the submission for an Environmental Compliance Certificate, which together with the Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility are the two key outstanding compliance permissions for the Project to move into the production phase.
“Lobo is high-grade with further upside potential where previous trenching yielded results of up to 56.8 g/t Au reported, and the current Indicated resource of 82,000 oz Au, on just one of nine targets, is perceived as easily convertible to reserve category. What is important to note is that the resource numbers were calculated when the gold price was over half of what it is today and therefore a higher cut-off was used. With the potential economics now impacted by the current gold price environment we expect a material upgrade as a lower cut-off is applied. Additionally, the Lobo licence area has multiple epithermal and high-grade targets already identified for resource expansion with 15km of identified mineralised structures.
“So, work is progressing at pace, as we look to advance our high-grade gold projects in the Philippine and South Korea under our free carry JV structures. Shareholders have been patient, something that the Board has appreciated, and recent activity in our equity is beginning to repay them for this. Our portfolio is at an inflexion point in terms of activity and I look forward to updating the market as milestones are achieved.”