Rambler, Maritime to investigate Hammerdown reopening

(ShareCast News) - Rambler Metals and Mining announced a new engineering evaluation and services agreement with Maritime Resource Corporation on Monday, to evaluate the economic potential of reopening the past-producing Hammerdown gold mine in Maritime's Green Bay property.The AIM-traded company said that, under the agreement, the two firms will work together and appoint an independent third-party consultant to prepare and complete a pre-feasibility study, funded by Maritime, on the property in Canada's Newfoundland and Labrador province.It said the study will evaluate the mineral reserved available on the property.Should a positive economic analysis and a production decision be made by the two companies, they will then negotiate a mutual management services and toll-mining structure that will see Rambler assist Maritime to reopen the old Hammerdown mine."We are pleased to see Maritime moving ahead with the economic evaluation and pre-feasibility work to determine the viability of restarting the past producing Hammerdown mine," said Rambler president the CEO Norman Williams."Our gold plant at Nugget Pond remains under care and maintenance while Ming Mine ore is fed directly into the copper concentrator only."Fully utilizing all available infrastructure at our processing facilities could be a tremendous opportunity for both Rambler and Maritime," he explained.Doug Fulcher, president and CEO of Maritime, said the company is very pleased to have entered into the agreement with Rambler."Rambler's presence and operational expertise in Newfoundland is a huge asset to Maritime as we continue to move the Hammerdown project forward."The toll milling option at the permitted Nugget Pond gold mill, where Hammerdown ore was previously processed, could potentially allow for the project to be fast-tracked to production, following a positive production decision by Maritime," he said.Fulcher said the Hammerdown mine was in production from 2000 to 2004, with grades averaging 16 grams of gold per tonne at an eight gram per tonne cut-off grade, with average gold recoveries in excess of 87%."The high grade nature of the deposit, combined with the existing underground workings and infrastructure, could provide opportunities to reduce capital costs and permitting time to production when compared to building new milling and tailings storage facilities at the Hammerdown property."