July 28, 2010
Haber Inc. will perform HGP4 demonstration runs in Suriname to show an alternative to mercury
September 14, 2009
Haber Inc. and GeoBASE Metals Inc. enter into Zimbabwean Joint Venture to Recover Gold Using Green Technology While Creating Thousands of Rural Jobs.
No documents found.
Haber has entered into a joint venture with Etruscan Resources Inc. (EET:TSX) to explore 1,331 square kilometers of gold concessions in the Western and Brong Ahafo Regions of Ghana. These gold concessions are located in the Sefwi Volcanic Belt and the Kumasi Sedimentary Basin which host significant gold deposits including the 60 million ounce Obausi deposit, the 13 million ounce Ahafo deposit, the 9 million ounce Bogoso-Prestea, the 5 million ounce Bibiani deposit, the 2 million ounce Obotan deposit, and the 2 million ounce Chirano deposit.
Under the terms of the joint venture, each company will initially have an equal interest in the project. The parties have formed "Etruscan Haber Joint Venture Limited," a Ghanaian corporation through which Etruscan will manage the project and provide exploration and mining expertise on all the concessions. Etruscan has the option to increase its interest to 75 percent of the joint venture by investing an additional $2.5 million dollars over a period of three years. If this option is exercised, for every three dollars that Etruscan subsequently invests, Haber must contribute an additional dollar to the project in order to maintain a 25 percent interest in the joint venture. Should Haber's participating interest drop below 10%, its interest shall be converted to a 5% net smelter return royalty. Geological teams will begin exploration activities this month. K. Kirk Woodman, Project Geologist, will be the Qualified Person overseeing Etruscan's exploration programs in Ghana. Additionally under the agreement, Haber retains the right to unilaterally explore, mine and process all alluvial gold on the properties, so long as such activity does not interfere with the joint venture's mining operations or objectives.
Also, in the event that the joint venture decides to begin mining operations on the properties, Haber's environmentally friendly Haber Gold Process (HGP) technology would be used under a licensing agreement, provided that Haber can prove its process is at least as economical as traditional extraction technologies. The terms of the licensing arrangement for the joint venture would then be negotiated between the parties. The license would also include granting Etruscan Resources Inc. the right to use HGP technology on any of its other gold processing operations.
If circumstances permit and exploration results for alluvial gold ores prove favorable, it is anticipated that Haber would make every effort to implement its Strategic Abatement of Mercury and Poverty (STAMP) program, which was developed to help eliminate the use of mercury by small-scale gold miners in Ghana where such use has caused severe pollution of the environment and significant public health problems. The STAMP program is designed to take advantage of its superior gold recovery efficiencies, in the high 90 percent range, which would permit Haber to pay the small-scale miners considerably more for their ore concentrate than they would receive if they were to continue their use of mercury.
"Our decision to partner with Etruscan is rooted in part on its focus on mining projects located on the African continent, exploration experience, superior team of geologists and management, and financial resources."Albert B. Conti, Haber President and COO.
"We have also pursued this affiliation based on common moral principles and business philosophy. Both companies are aggressively seeking superior financial results while sharing a strong sense of social responsibility and environmental concerns, and are interested in helping indigenous people whenever reasonably possible. The many humanitarian awards Etruscan has already received from the African countries in which they have operations is a testimony to the company's high level of social concern and coincides with our own corporate objectives."Albert B. Conti, Haber President and COO.
"We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to partner with Haber to explore and develop this large strategic land package in Ghana. This acquisition is a further execution of our corporate objective of acquiring large land positions in prolific gold belts in West Africa. Land packages of this size and prospectivity are very difficult to acquire in Ghana today. Haber has assembled a truly superior land package. We are also impressed with Haber's commitment to social upliftment and respect for the environment which is aligned with Etruscan's commitments in this regard."Gerald McConnell, President and CEO of Etruscan Resources Inc.
Although there is no guarantee that economic gold deposits will be found on the joint venture's properties, the prior activities of neighboring operations, including those of the Newmont Mining Corporation, are encouraging. The following six concessions are covered under this agreement:
Etruscan Resources Inc. is a diversified Canadian junior mining company focused on acquiring dominant land positions in district scale gold and diamond belts within Africa. Etruscan is an emerging gold producer and holds large strategic land positions in a number of gold belts covering over 10,000 square kilometers in five countries in West Africa. The Company also holds a dominant land position in the Ventersdorp alluvial diamond district in South Africa. The common shares of Etruscan are traded on the TSX Exchange under the symbol "EET". More information on Etruscan can be found at: www.etruscan.com.