The Edie Creek Gold Mine, discovered nearly 80 years ago, remains almost entirely unexplored by modern exploration methods even though it is one of the most significant epithermal gold mineralised areas of the Morobe Goldfield, and adjacent to the Hidden Valley project (that has a combined Resource of 7.5 million ozs).

 

Potential resources for the project exceed 2 million oz Au, spanning three mineralised zones: the 4km Enterprise – Day Dawn South Corridor; the 2.5 km Day Dawn – Merri Creek Corridor; and the Edie Porphyry, which lies between them.

 

Niuminco has established a significant land control position via direct ownership of leases, a majority equity holding in Edie Creek Mining and agreements with other lease holders. A similar consolidation was attempted by Placer Development in the early 1960. Now, for the first time since its discovery, the area can be explored as a single consolidated entity.

An exploration study completed by Exploration Management Services Pty Ltd (“EMS”) on 3 August 2010 identified the Edie Creek project as having significant and realisable potential based on its geological structure. Known fractures, thrust planes and faults have a clear potential to host from 1 to 2 million ounces of gold, and there are strong indications for the existence of un-recognised fractures and thrust planes.

 

Over the past two years, great strides have been made in establishing infrastructure, including the setting up of a new camp, development of mining systems and the installation of mining & processing equipment. The Company has produced approximately 3,000 Gold ounces and 2,600 Silver ounces over the 12 months ended 31 December 2009.

 

The Directors of Niuminco believe that there is a unique opportunity to expand the company by consolidating leases and leveraging off the base infrastructure that has been established on site.

To this end, Niuminco has recently completed independent geological and technical assessment of the Edie Creek project, which yielded the recommendation that a resource exploration program as well as a project enhancement study be undertaken.

 

The Board of Niuminco has recently completed its first phase of capital raising and plans to pursue the recommended staged Project Enhancement Study and the exploration studies.

 

In addition, Niuminco has secured a number of prospective exploration tenements, in particular its May River property that is adjacent to Xstrata’s Frieda River project.