25th Oct 2007 07:00
Thor Mining PLC25 October 2007 THOR MINING PLC MOLYHIL MINING AGREEMENT SIGNED Dated: 25th October 2007 Thor Mining PLC ("the Company" or "Thor"), AIM, ASX: "THR" the specialist metalscompany focused on advancing tungsten-molybdenum and uranium projects in theNorthern Territory of Australia, today announces that it has signed a landmarkNative Title Mining Agreement for its 100%-owned Molyhil Tungsten-MolybdenumProject in the Northern Territory of Australia ("Molyhil") which will enable theMolyhil Mining Leases to be granted and the project to proceed to development. The Agreement was signed with representatives of the community of the EasternArrernte people of the central Northern Territory, one of the largest indigenousgroups in central Australia. The signing follows the completion of an Indigenous Land Use Agreement in 2002for exploration in the area. A meeting with the Traditional Owners and theCentral Land Council ("CLC") was held on site in March 2007, to obtain approvalfor the proposed location of project infrastructure for the development ofMolyhil. The signing ceremony, which was held at Molyhil site north-east of AliceSprings, was attended by community members as well as the Chairman of the CLC,Mr Lindsay Bookie, and the Chairman and CEO of Thor, Mr John Barr and Mr JohnYoung, together with several senior company executives. As well as being the CLC's elected Chairman, Mr. Bookie is also a highlyrespected member of the Eastern Arrernte people. Mr Young said the Company was very pleased to have achieved such a milestone andlooked forward to a long-standing, mutually beneficial relationship with theEastern Arrernte community and its members. "We have been able to forge a constructive, open and strong relationship withthe Eastern Arrernte people and we look forward to continuing to develop andenhance this relationship in the years ahead as Molyhil commences operations,"Mr Young commented. "The development of this project will bring important employment and trainingopportunities to the local community and we will be working hard to ensure thatthe Traditional Owners of this region benefit from the investment that will bemade," he continued. The Mining Agreement has been structured to ensure that the community benefitsdirectly from the proposed mining activities at Molyhil and that these benefits,which will be distributed by the CLC, are delivered back to the community andits members. "Thor is committed to ensuring that community members are given everyopportunity to benefit from the Company's proposed exploration and miningactivities carried out on its land." said Mr Young. Mr Young said the signing of the Mining Agreement represented the final steprequired for the Northern Territory Government to process Thor's application forthe granting of the Mining Leases at Molyhil, where it will base its miningoperations. The Company is currently in the process of finalising a Mining Reserve forMolyhil, as well as an off-take and project financing agreement. The Project isanticipated to be a 400,000 tpa mining and processing operation with an initial5-year mine life. The total investment is anticipated to be in excess of AUS$60million, with the project expected to generate significant employmentopportunities during construction and operation. Enquiries: John Young +61 (0)419 954 020 Thor Mining PLC Chief Executive Officer John Simpson 020 7512 0191 ARM Corporate Finance Ltd Nominated Adviser Leesa Peters 020 7429 6600 Conduit PR Limited Public Relations orJos Simson 020 7429 6603 Nicholas Read +61 (0) 8 9388 1474 Read Corporate Public Relations -Australia Updates on the Company's activities are regularly posted on Thor's websitewww.thormining.com, which includes a facility to register to receive theseupdates by email. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Thor Energy