NEWS RELEASE 08-17
Merit Mining Receives Mine and Mill Operating
Permits
May 9, 2008 – Vancouver,
British Columbia.
Merit Mining announces that it has received its Mine and Mill Operating Permits
from the Province of British Columbia
for its Lexington-Grenoble Mine and Greenwood Mill to operate at a production
rate of 72,000 tonnes per annum (~200 tonnes per day) for the life of the mine.
The Company is currently completing the mining and processing of a 10,000 tonne
bulk sample from its Lexington-Grenoble Mine. The Permits will allow the
Company to seamlessly continue operating at full production (200 tpd).
The Company’s 100% owned Greenwood Gold Project,
located between Greenwood and Grand Forks in south central British Columbia, is
comprised of the Lexington-Grenoble Mine, the Golden Crown deposit and the Lone
Star deposit plus the central 200 tpd
gravity-flotation mill and tailings facility. The Company intends to develop
each deposit to production starting with the Lexington-Grenoble Mine.
In the permitting process, the Ministry of Energy,
Mines and Petroleum Resources coordinated a multi-agency review by regulators
from various BC and Federal Ministries and consulted with local government and
First Nations to ensure a comprehensive, timely, open, thorough and transparent
review that also incorporated considerations of any issues and concerns
identified in public consultation meetings in the local communities.
Fred Sveinson, President & CEO, states, “With the receipt of the
Permits, Merit Mining transitions to a producing Company. On behalf of Merit
management and the board of directors I would like to extend our appreciation
to all the people who have been involved in developing this project to
production including the communities of Greenwood, Grand Forks, the Osoyoos Indian Band, the provincial government employees,
all of our employees, consultants and contractors, Wega
Mining ASA, and all of our shareholders.”
Merit Mining Corp.
Signed “Fred
Sveinson”
Fred Sveinson,
President & CEO
For further information
please contact:
Fred Sveinson
at (604) 694-2344
For Investor
Relations Information Contact:
MarketSmart
Communications (604) 261-4466
(Toll Free 1-877-261-4466)
The TSX
Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the
adequacy or accuracy of this release.
The statements made in this News Release may contain certain
forward-looking statements. Actual events or results may differ from the Company’s
expectations. Certain risk
factors may also affect the actual results achieved by the Company.