Highlights:
- Luminex participated in a mediated negotiation process with 19
mining operators, most of whom hold historical operating permits
granted by the Ministry of Energy and Mines within the Condor
project.
- The agreement resolves outstanding issues with a critical
mass of local miners through a newly constituted local entity,
Minera La Pangui S.A.S.
- The 53-hectare area that will be transferred to Minera La
Pangui S.A.S. is not of interest to Luminex for integration into
the Condor North mine plan.
- Once they become mineral concession owners, the mining
operators will assume responsibility for all legal and regulatory
obligations arising from their current and historic operations, as
well as collaborate with Luminex to facilitate the Condor project's
peaceful development.
- This agreement is unprecedented in Ecuador and will serve as a model to be
replicated in other projects facing development challenges from
artisanal mining operations.
VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 21,
2023 /CNW/ - Luminex Resources Corp.
(TSXV: LR) (OTCQX: LUMIF) (the "Company" or "Luminex") is
pleased to announce that it has reached a historic and
unprecedented mediated agreement with informal miners in the Condor
North portion of its Condor gold project in southeast Ecuador (the "Condor Project"). The Ecuadorian
counterparty is Minera La Pangui S.A.S. (the "Local Entity"), which
incorporated members of Asolapanguina and Asopromidiche,
neighbouring associations of informal miners. The Agreement enables
the Company to secure areas in strategic proximity to the Condor
North portion of its Condor Project and, at the same time,
satisfies the decades-long desire of these informal artisanal
miners to gain legal mineral concession rights over informal mining
properties in the Company's Chinapintza area (see Figure 1, La
Pangui area). The Local Entity has 19 shareholders (all operators),
and the Agreement is expected to benefit a large number of
additional individuals within the area of influence of the Condor
Project.
The majority of the shareholders of the Local Entity were
granted artisanal mining permits to work within the Chinapintza
mineral concession area following the Government of Ecuador's 2010 Artisanal Mining Census, which
registered a number of artisanal miners with long-term operations
in the area of the Condor Project. These artisanal mining permits
are approaching expiration, a condition which generated concern
among the shareholders of the Local Entity regarding their future
prospects. Over the past decade, Luminex has improved its
understanding of the areas that might be necessary for mine
development, as well as identified areas of mineral value that,
owing to economic and technical reasons, will not be incorporated
into the Condor North mine plan. In order for the Condor Project to
advance successfully towards production, a sustainable solution to
the issues with the informal miners had to be found; the mediation
process and ensuing agreement provided a forum that enabled both
parties to build trust and negotiate positive outcomes that ensure
their long-term economic and technical viability.
The Agreement is the result of a series of negotiations that
commenced in February 2022, under the
leadership of a highly regarded professional mediator, who promoted
transparency and good faith to build trust between the parties. The
process enabled the parties to discuss their critical needs and
find long-term solutions to the benefit of all those involved.
Throughout the negotiation process, as well as in the drafting and
finalization of the terms, each of the parties were supported by
independent legal, financial and tax advisors. Pursuant to Article
47 of the Ecuadorean Law on Arbitration and Mediation, the
mediation act has the effect of a legal judgment and executed
sentence, effectively making the agreement between the Company and
the Local Entity final and legally binding.
Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company agrees to execute
a material division of its Chinapintza concession in order to
create four new mining titles, one of which will be transferred to
the Local Entity. The transfer of this title (La Pangui, 53
hectares) will ensure that the Local Entity has legally secure and
long-term mineral concessions, along with the obligation to obtain
all the regulatory and environmental permits and licenses necessary
for the mining operations. This was possible, because, based on
past exploration and technical studies, the Company determined that
these areas were not required for the development of the Condor
Project now or in the future.
The Local Entity agrees that, once the transfer of the mining
title has been completed, it will grant the Company a voluntary
mining easement (see Figure 1, Industrial Protection area) for the
duration of said mining title and its renewals and extensions. This
easement will cover a portion of the Local Entity's concession
that, due to technical and industrial safety considerations, the
Company may require when the Condor Project is at a more advanced
stage. As part of the agreement, the Local Entity and the five
directly affected shareholders agree that they will over time
abandon certain current operations located in this area, which will
be necessary for industrial safety.
In addition to relinquishing their permits and committing to not
request any new rights or undertake operations in any areas where
the Company has mining rights, the shareholders of the Local Entity
collectively and individually agree to collaborate with the Company
to help restrict the entrance of illegal miners to the concessions
of the Condor Project. The Local Entity and their shareholders also
commit to conduct environmental audits that may be requested by the
Ministry of Environment, Water and Ecological Transition of its
operations, as well as to remediate any environmental impacts their
operations may have caused and assume responsibility for any
environmental liability that may arise as a result of their past
activities. They also grant the Company a right of first refusal
over any future sale of the mining title, and commit that if this
right is not exercised, any future purchaser of the mining title
will commit to abiding by the terms of the Agreement.
The parties are bound to make their best efforts to execute
their respective commitments, staggered across three defined
phases. The process of implementing the Agreement is expected to
take approximately two years in total to complete, depending on
regulatory approvals.
The Company will continue working to resolve issues with other
smaller groups of long-established miners within the Condor Project
through a similar mediation approach.
About Luminex Resources
Luminex Resources Corp. (TSXV:LR, OTCQX:LUMIF) is a Vancouver, Canada based precious and base
metals exploration and development company focused on gold and
copper projects in Ecuador.
Luminex's inferred and indicated mineral resources are located at
the Condor Gold-Copper project in Zamora-Chinchipe Province,
southeast Ecuador. Luminex also
holds a large and highly prospective land package in Ecuador, including the Pegasus and Orquideas
projects, which are being co-developed with Anglo American and JOGMEC respectively.
Further details are available on the Company's
website at https://luminexresources.com/.
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https://www.luminexresources.com/contact/contact-us/.
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LUMINEX RESOURCES CORP.
Signed: "Marshall Koval"
Marshall Koval, CEO and
Director
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this news release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information
Certain statements and information herein, including all
statements that are not historical facts, contain forward-looking
statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of
applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or
information include, but are not limited to, statements regarding
future mining at Condor and transfer of concessions to the Local
Entity. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or
information can be identified by the use of phrases or statements
that certain actions, events or results "will" occur or be
achieved.
With respect to forward-looking statements and information
contained herein, the Company has made numerous assumptions
including among other things, assumptions about general business
and economic conditions, the prices of gold and copper, and
anticipated costs and expenditures. The foregoing list of
assumptions is not exhaustive.
Although management of the Company believes that the
assumptions made and the expectations represented by such
statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance
that a forward-looking statement or information herein will prove
to be accurate. Forward-looking statements and information by their
nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the
Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or industry
results, to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements or information. These factors include,
but are not limited to: risks associated with the business of the
Company; business and economic conditions in the mining industry
generally; the supply and demand for labour and other project
inputs; changes in commodity prices; changes in interest and
currency exchange rates; risks relating to inaccurate geological
and engineering assumptions (including with respect to the tonnage,
grade and recoverability of reserves and resources); risks relating
to unanticipated operational difficulties (including failure of
equipment or processes to operate in accordance with specifications
or expectations, cost escalation, unavailability of materials and
equipment, government action or delays in the receipt of government
approvals, industrial disturbances or other job action, and
unanticipated events related to health, safety and environmental
matters); risks relating to adverse weather conditions; political
risk and social unrest; changes in general economic conditions or
conditions in the financial markets; changes in laws (including
regulations respecting mining concessions); and other risk factors
as detailed from time to time in the Company's continuous
disclosure documents filed with Canadian securities administrators.
The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking
information, except in accordance with applicable securities
laws.
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SOURCE Luminex Resources Corp.
