By Walter Franczyk
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2002
Wallbridge Mining Company has struck a deal with Lonmin Plc to inject $4.5 million (US) into mineral exploration in the Sudbury Basin.
Wallbridge president Wayne Whymark calls it a very big deal for his company.
"They are going to fund almost all of our exploration effort in the Sudbury area," Whymark said.
Wallbridge was formed in 1996 to hunt for nickel, copper and platinum group metals.
"We are looking for the same thing that Falconbridge and Inco mine every day," Whymark said.
Lonmin's investment will exceed what Wallbridge has spent on local exploration over the past five years.
"This transaction takes Wallbridge to the next level in our corporate development. It will finance our Sudbury exploration and any discovery right up to production," Whymark said in announcing the joint venture.
Lonmin is the industry's lowest-cost producer of platinum group metals and is able to fund exploration and development, he said.
Lonmin, he noted, won't earn an interest in any Wallbridge property until an indicated mineral resource is established.
Just when that might happen, he can't say yet.
"It's going to depend on the results of the exploration we do this year and how much lady luck smiles on us," Whymark said.
Under the joint venture agreement covering 19 Wallbridge properties in the Sudbury Basin, the companies plan to spend $4.1 million (US) on exploration this year.
About $1.5 million is to be used exploring below Windy Lake, three kilometres from the nickel-rich mines of Levack. About $700,000 is to be spent mineral hunting on the Ministic Offset property.
"We think our prospects are very good," Whymark said.
The Windy Lake property is probably the biggest unexplored part of the Sudbury Basin contact, he said.
"It may be one of the last big targets left in the Sudbury region," he said.
The Ministic ground may be a bit of a sleeper, he said, because the dike found on Wallbridge's property has seen virtually no exploration.
Wallbridge had hoped to put a drill on the ice at Windy Lake this winter but mild temperatures have prevented the formation of ice thick enough to support a drill rig.
"I'm hoping we can get one drill set up within a few weeks," Whymark said. "We have one site out there where we have a little island we can set the drill up on. So it gives us a bit of a base to work that area," he said.
Ian Farmer, Lonmin's director of corporate development and marketing, said his company is impressed by Wallbridge.
"They have good property positions in the Sudbury Basin and the exploration expertise we look for," Farmer said in a news release.
"This agreement provides Lonmin with an opportunity to gain a meaningful position in one of the world's great mining areas," he added.
To maintain its rights under the joint venture agreement, Lonmin must spend an additional minimum average of $2 million (US) annually on exploration or feasibility study work for another two-year period. It can extend the agreement with further spending.
Wallbridge will be the project operator.
