JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Bluebird Merchant Ventures has signed an agreement with Southern Gold to develop and reopen the Kochang gold and silver mine in South Korea.
Under the terms of the agreement, a joint venture (JV) will be formed once Bluebird has spent $500 000 to complete a report on the feasibility to reopen the mine, as well as completed a placing of A$250 000 in Southern Gold by May 31.
Bluebird will be the project operator.
"We are delighted to add this project to our portfolio, which will help the company establish itself as the major gold/silver mine developer in South Korea. The Kochang mine compliments the huge Gubong mine well and establishes Bluebird on a path to having multiple production sites in South Korea," Bluebird CEO Colin Patterson said in a statement on Monday.
The Kochang mine is 130 km south east of the company's Gubong project and access to the main entrance is via sealed roads.
Historically, the main vein was mined at the gold mine and the south vein was mined at the silver mine.
However, surface chip sample assay maps and more recent surface mapping have shown a number of separate veins associated with the main vein that have not been exploited in the past.
Additionally, the silver mine shows significant gold assays and a number of additional veins have been found during surface mapping and sampling that were not accessed during the time when the mine was in production.
More recent mapping has also identified mineralisation of the highly prospective main vein trend over 2.5 km of strike length.