Highlights:
- Luminex has signed an agreement with an additional 17 artisanal
miners in a recently constituted local entity, Minera Nupers
S.A.S, most of whom hold historical operating permits granted by
the Ministry of Energy and Mines within the Condor Project's
mineral concessions.
- The negotiated agreement is the second such agreement and is
part of an ongoing strategy aimed at progressing the development of
Luminex's Condor Project.
VANCOUVER, BC, Sept. 8,
2023 /CNW/ - Luminex Resources Corp. (TSXV:
LR) (OTCQX: LUMIF) (the "Company" or "Luminex") is pleased to
announce that it has reached a mediated agreement (the "Agreement")
with an important group of informal miners in the Condor North
portion of its Condor gold project in southeast Ecuador (the "Condor Project"). Last month,
the Company announced a ground-breaking agreement with the
Association La Pangui S.A.S. This second agreement is similar in
content and structure and resulted from a process whereby the
Company entered into mediated negotiations in February 2022 with two important associations of
informal miners in the vicinity of the Condor Project.
The counterparty is Minera Nupers S.A.S. (the "Local Entity"),
which primarily incorporated members of Asoproper, a neighbouring
association of informal miners. The Local Entity has 17
shareholders (all operators), and the Agreement to create 63
hectares of formalized concessions is expected to benefit many
additional individuals within the area of influence of the Condor
Project.
The Agreement enables the Company to further secure areas in
strategic proximity to the Condor North portion of its Condor
Project and, at the same time, satisfies the long held desire of
these informal artisanal miners to gain legal concession rights
over informal mining properties in the Company's Viche
Conguime 1 concession, Enma area (see Figure 1). The majority of
the shareholders of the Local Entity were granted artisanal mining
permits to work within the Viche Conguime 1 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.
Over the past decade, the Company 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 its plans for the
Condor Project. In order for the Condor Project to advance
successfully towards production, a sustainable solution to the
issues with the informal miners was desirable. 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. Pursuant to
Article 47 of the Ecuadorean Law on Arbitration and Mediation, the
mediation act has the effect of a final judgment, 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 Viche Conguime 1 concession in order to
create four new mining titles, two of which will be transferred to
the Local Entity. Transfer of this title to over 63 hectares will
ensure that the Local Entity has legally secure and long-term
mining properties, along with the obligation to obtain all the
regulatory and environmental permits and licenses necessary for the
mining operations. Based on past exploration and technical studies,
the Company determined that these areas were not needed for the
development of the Condor Project now or in the future.
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, have agreed to collaborate with the
Company to help restrict the entrance of illegal miners to 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 to complete, depending on regulatory
approvals.
The agreements reached with the two mining associations have
resolved long running issues between the Company and over 35
artisanal mining operators. After these are implemented, only five
additional small and isolated operations will remain. Over time,
the Company intends to negotiate with each of these parties in
furtherance of the long-term development of the Condor Project.
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.
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.