TORONTO,
Dec. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -
ROMARCO MINERALS INC. (TSX: R) (the "Company") is pleased to
provide an update of recent activities at the Haile Gold Mine and
Kershaw Mineral Laboratories ("KML"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Romarco. In parallel to permitting the Haile Gold Mine
project, the Company has been proactively completing several other
items necessary to get the site prepared for construction and
operations. All dollar amounts in this news release are
expressed in U.S. dollars, unless otherwise stated.
Permitting Status
The Company continues its ongoing dialogue and
weekly meetings with the US Army Corps of Engineers ("Corps"), the
lead agency responsible for the Environmental Impact Statement
("EIS"), its third-party contractor, cooperating agencies and other
interested parties, and significant progress has been made.
In a news release dated October 25,
2012 and a conference call held October 25, 2012, the Company noted that two
cooperating agencies, the State of South Carolina Department of
Health and Environmental Control ("DHEC") and the Environmental
Protection Agency ("EPA") are completing their review of the
hydrology model on Haile. This review, with the participation
of the Company's team and consultants, is continuing and follow-up
meetings are being scheduled in connection with this activity.
Once the review and discussions have been
concluded, the Corps has indicated it will make adjustments to the
EIS schedule, as appropriate, on its hailegoldmineeis.com
website.
Lancaster County Council Meetings
The Lancaster County Council rezoned an
additional 3,081 acres of the Haile Gold Mine property from Rural
Residential/Intense Agricultural to Heavy Industrial. The Council
previously rezoned 1,778 acres of land from Rural
Residential/Intense Agricultural to Heavy Industrial in 2009. As
the project and the Company's land position grew, additional
rezoning was necessary and today the rezoning actions have been
completed for the proposed mine plan. Lancaster County regulations for rezoning
Haile Gold Mine for heavy industrial use required petitioning the
Lancaster County Planning Commission to rezone the remaining Haile
project area, public notice by way of newspaper, US mail
notification to potentially affected neighbours, public notice sign
posting, one hearing and three individual formal readings and final
vote by the Planning Commission, three individual readings by
Lancaster County Council and a
final favourable Council vote.
During phase one archeology work conducted on
the Haile Gold Mine site, an abandoned cemetery from the late 1800s
- early 1900s was discovered within the project boundary. The
Company worked with the Sand Hill Baptist Church of Kershaw, who graciously agreed to provide a
respectful and final resting place in an area adjoining an existing
cemetery. Haile then completed the State
of South Carolina requirements for relocating a cemetery,
which included posting a notice in the local newspaper for 30 days
to relocate the graves. At the end of the 30-day notice period, the
Lancaster County Council held a public hearing and favourably voted
in formal session to approve the cemetery relocation. The Company
contracted the relocation to RS Webb & Associates, an
archeology consulting firm that specializes in such work. RS
Webb & Associates has successfully relocated 48 gravesites in
compliance with state regulations. This project has now been
completed.
Kathy Sistare, Chairwoman
Lancaster County Council commented:
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Lancaster County is proud to count the Haile Gold Mine as one
of our leading corporate citizens. As Chairwoman of
County Council, I see firsthand the many benefits that Haile Gold
Mine, Inc. and their outstanding staff bring to
Lancaster. Obviously they bring jobs to the community
but they also make a conscious effort to buy locally and support
the economies of Lancaster County and the Town of
Kershaw. They are also engaged in numerous philanthropic
efforts, ranging from the Haile Gold Mine Playground in the Town of
Kershaw to memberships in the Chamber of Commerce, Economic
Development Corporation, United Way, and school booster clubs. |
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On any complex project, close communication and a good working
relationship is crucial to success. The management team
of Haile Gold Mine certainly exhibit these
qualities. During 2012 we rezoned a large number of
parcels to include them in the Haile Gold Mine
operation. The Haile Gold Mine staff worked closely with
the Planning staff throughout this process. Their fine
work is also displayed in non-governmental areas as
well. As part of one recent land acquisition, they had
to relocate a number of graves in an abandoned
cemetery. The Haile Gold Mine staff worked closely with
the local faith community to respectfully and reverently relocate
these graves after working with the Historical Commission to
determine there were no family members remaining in the
area. The receiving church allowed Haile Gold Mine to
enhance the church cemetery as a suitable final resting
place. They installed a suitable marker when there had
not even been a single headstone at the prior site. The Haile
Gold Mine staff worked closely with our Historical Commission, our
Coroners Office, and the appropriate state agencies, going the
extra mile to do the right thing for these departed residents. |
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The caring and concern to do the right thing is exhibited by
the Haile Gold Mine staff in their business dealings, work in the
community, and concern for the environment. |
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Diane Garrett,
President and CEO, stated: "As the Company continues to move
through the permit process there are dozens of other items being
completed which are necessary to commence construction and
operations. Our team is working diligently to ensure these
items are completed efficiently and on a schedule that coincides
with the overall project progress. Providing an update on
these activities allows our shareholders to get a glimpse of the
types of activities that our team has been able to successfully
conclude. As part of its on-going cash conservation efforts, the
Company is pleased to report that its November 30, 2012 cash balance stood at
$67 million - nearly $3.5 million ahead of the Company's most recent
2012 forecast. Limited drilling continues to be performed at
Haile and regionally in addition to permit related drilling
activities. The detailed engineering design work is nearing
75% complete which has been the Company's goal for year end."
Kershaw Mineral Lab
KML has successfully passed the accreditation
process and numerous round-robin tests over an 18-month period to
receive its ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation from the Standards Council
of Canada. The Toronto Stock
Exchange - Ontario Securities Commission (TSC-OSC) Mineral Task
Force recommends in its "Setting New Standards" report that mineral
exploration companies use only ISO/IEC 17025 accredited
laboratories. The Company is currently considering taking on
clients and performing third-party assays for other mining
companies. The current plan is to continue to have all
Romarco ore assays reported to the public completed by third party,
independent assay laboratories as has been the practice in the
past. At the present time, KML is preforming assays for the
Company and ore holes are then verified by a third-party laboratory
before the results are released to the public. Also, KML is
proactively conducting metallurgical test work with the goal of
improving upon silver recoveries. In the Company's National
Instrument 43-101 Technical Report dated March 13, 2012, silver recoveries were reported
as 50% and provide an approximate $16/oz by-product credit assuming $18/oz silver.
Jim Arnold, Sr.
VP and COO commented: "Certification of our lab is particularly
noteworthy because it is so much work and the standards are so
high. It is rare that an operations lab shoots for these
standards and more rare that they attain them. I'm proud of
our team and the quality of work they do. This is one more in
a long line of accomplishments that show that the Haile team aims
for and achieves the very best in everything they do."
Equipment
The Company anticipates its Ball and SAG mills
will arrive on site early in 2013. Currently, these mills are
in route from India and
Germany respectively and are
scheduled to arrive during December
2012 at the ports of Wilmington,
NC and Charleston, SC,
respectively.
In early November, the Hitachi shovel arrived
from Japan. The local
dealer, Flint Equipment Company ("Flint") is storing the shovel in
Savannah, GA. In the current
agreement with Flint, the Company will take delivery of the shovel
not later than February 2013 and the
final payment will be approximately $2
million.
As previously announced, the Catepillar mobile
mine fleet is currently being held in South Carolina by the local dealer, Blanchard
Machinery Company ("BMC"). In the current agreement with BMC,
the Company will take delivery of this equipment upon the final
payment of approximately $28 million
on or before September 30, 2013.
About Romarco Minerals Inc.
Romarco Minerals Inc. is a gold development company focused on
production primarily in the US. The Company has completed a
positive Feasibility study and is continuing exploration drilling
and permitting for its flagship project, the Haile Gold Mine in
South Carolina.
Please note:
This entire press release may be accessed via fax, e-mail,
Romarco's website at www.romarco.com and through CNW Group's
website at www.newswire.ca. All material information on Romarco
Minerals Inc. can be found at www.sedar.com
SOURCE ROMARCO MINERALS INC.