Northern Graphite Management Change and Corporate Update
OTTAWA, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jul 8, 2013) - Northern Graphite Corp. (TSX VENTURE:NGC) announces that Don Baxter P.Eng has resigned as President of the Company. Don is available to provide services to the Company on a consulting basis. The Board and management would like to thank Don for his contributions to the Bissett Creek graphite project.
Environmental Permitting
On October 31, 2012, the Company submitted the Mine Closure Plan ("MCP") for the Bissett Creek project to the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines ("MNDM"). This "45 day approval process" has been ongoing for over seven months despite Bissett Creek being a relatively benign operation with no major environmental issues. It has strong community support and First Nation consultations have been positive and constructive.
The Company understands that MNDM's review of the MCP is complete but it cannot be filed (approved) until the MNDM issues a mining lease for the project. Application for the mining lease was made in October, 2011. In July, 2012 the Company was ordered to redo the government survey of provincial lot and concession lines that form the property boundary. The survey was submitted to the Surveyor General's office in November, 2012 for a 30 day approval process but a mining lease has still not been issued. The Company believes approval is imminent but cannot provide further guidance and suggests any interested parties contact the MNDM directly.
Northern Graphite is competing with companies in Quebec, Europe, Africa and Australia to build the first new western graphite mine in over 20 years. Being first to market is a very important but the Company is at a competitive disadvantage due to the regulatory process in Ontario which continues to damage the province's reputation as a place to invest and is potentially depriving it of investment, jobs and tax revenues.
Revised Feasibility Study Economics
The economics in the existing bankable Feasibility Study ("FS") are being revised to incorporate a new resource model and mine plan, a number of modifications to the original capital and operating cost assumptions, and lower graphite prices. Completion has been delayed over two months by the consulting firm which has a large backlog of work with other clients.
Northern is a Canadian company that has a 100% interest in the Bissett Creek graphite deposit located in eastern Ontario and is well positioned to benefit from the favourable supply/demand outlook for graphite. Northern is the only graphite company to have completed a bankable Feasibility Study. Bissett Creek is a large flake, high purity, scalable deposit with low engineering, technical and political risk, reasonable capital costs and competitive operating costs. Additional information is available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.northerngraphite.com.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of statements that include words such as "could", "potential", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "plan", "likely", "will" or other similar words or phrases. These statements are only current predictions and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
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