22 Feb 2011 11:52
Regency Mines PLC
('Regency', 'Regency Mines' or the 'Company')
Exploration Licence Application
Potential Geothermal Energy Source for the Mambare Nickel JV
22 February 2011
Regency Mines, the mining exploration and mineral investment company with interests in nickel and other minerals in Western Australia, Queensland, Papua New Guinea and Pakistan, is pleased to announce that the Joint Venture between Direct Nickel Ltd ("DNi") and Regency (the "JV"), operating through the JV's Papua New Guinea ("PNG") subsidiary Canopus No 83 Ltd has today filed an Exploration Licence Application ("ELA") with the Mineral Resources Authority ("MRA") of PNG covering the Mount Lamington and Hydrographers Range volcanic areas.
This application has been filed to explore the region for geothermal heat, which could provide cheap, renewable energy for process heat and electrical energy for use in any future mine and DNi Process plant the JV may build at the Mambare Nickel Laterite Project. Exploration will also assess the potential of any other minerals discovered within the application area.
The ELA covers an area of 1473km2, which includes the north-eastern half of Mt. Lamington and the whole of the Hydrographers Ranges and Managlase volcanic centres. Mt. Lamington is located 45km east of the Mambare project area and 20km southeast of the regional centre of Popondetta. The two volcanic centres are located 25km east-southeast of Mt. Lamington, and close to the deepwater port of Oro Bay, giving a strong economic advantage to any mine at Mambare, being accessable across benign coastal plains rather than the steep ranges that are more typical to PNG. Hydrographers Range is a large volcano that has been active within the last 10,000 years. The Mangalase Plateau area contains around 30 volcanic vents and is considered prospective for geothermal heat.
Geothermal heat is a green energy source and could significantly lower the operating costs of any future mine and DNi Process plant serving the Mambare Project. It also has the potential to provide power to greater Oro Province and to reduce the district's dependence on imported fossil fuels. Geothermal energy production is an established energy source increasingly used for power generation in the Philippines, Iceland, California and elsewhere. Within PNG, geothermal energy is currently used for power production at the Lihir Gold Mine in nearby New Ireland Province.
The application has to undergo the usual review by the MRA prior to the ELA being granted and the application does not in itself confer exploration or other rights until granted.
DNi believes that the Mambare Project, with its strong nickel resource upside, the revolutionary DNi process for nickel laterites and the potential of low cost, green geothermal energy, could develop into a large and truly world-class nickel laterite project operating in the lowest quartile of world nickel production cash costs.
For further information contact:
Regency Mines PLC Andrew Bell, Chairman 0207 402 4580
Sandra Spencer, Public and
Investor Relations 0207 402 4580
Nominated Adviser
Religare Capital Markets Peter Trevelyan-Clark/Ben Jeynes 020 7444 0800
Broker
Simple Investments Ltd Nick Emerson 01483 413500
Updates on the Company's activities are regularly posted on its website www.regency-mines.com.
Note: DNi is a private company incorporated in Australia. It is currently demonstrating a potentially revolutionary process with attractive economics for treating laterite nickel ores (the "Direct Nickel Process" or the "Process").
The Direct Nickel Process is a hydrometallurgical process for treating nickel laterites with potentially unprecedented efficiency and environmental benefits. It is designed to operate with tank leaching at atmospheric pressure, and is the first to treat both limonite and saprolite ores with a single flowsheet. The Process recycles its novel reagents, offers high cobalt and nickel recoveries with short residence time, produces mixed hydroxide precipitates ("MHP") or sulphide concentrate, has substantially lower capital and operating costs than competing processes and is fully scalable.