CALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The following was
released on behalf of the Board of FEC Resources Inc, by Larry W. Youell,
President and CEO: FEC RESOURCES INC. (OTC Bulletin Board: FECOF,
Frankfurt/Munich: FE8) ("FECR" or "the company") is pleased to report the
company has concluded an agreement to acquire a 40% interest in a mining
project in the Philippines in partnership with Philex Gold, Inc.
(TSX Venture: PGI) ("PGI").
The project concerned is the Mining and Production Sharing Agreement
("MPSA") between PGI and the Government of the Philippines, which is
identified as MPSA #148-99-XIII ("MPSA148"), comprising 2306 Hectares in the
province of Surigao, Mindanao. The Company has been evaluating the project for
some time in pursuance of the company's stated objective of seeking world
class mining projects on commercially attractive terms.
As part of the evaluation of this opportunity the company commissioned an
independent geological and technical report from a firm of technical experts
who are registered as Qualified Persons for reporting to the major Stock
Exchanges in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.
The evaluation obtained by the company is for the Lascogon Gold Prospect
which is contained within the 2306 Hectare acreage of MPSA148. The area is
mainly comprised of limestones intercalated with mudstones, siltstones and
shales and follows the main attitude of the Philippine Fault oriented
northwest to southeast. Along this direction, numerous test pits have been
dug through the sediments and samples of the sediments and the surface
jasperoid boulders have been obtained. Assays reveal gold grades ranging from
1.0g/t to 64.0g/t, whilst assays on the mineralized sediments reveal grades
consistent with Carlin-type deposits.
The company has acquired the interest in MPSA148 by way of assignment from
Indexa Corp. to FECR of an Agreement between Indexa and PGI. Indexa is a
Philippine corporation who had entered into a sole Agreement with PGI for the
rights to a joint exploration program. Indexa has assigned its rights and
obligations in their entirety to the company, pursuant to which a new
Philippine Joint Venture Company is to be formed of which the company will
initially own 40% and Philex Gold Inc. will own 60% equity interests
respectively.
The commitments of the company in this regard are to provide an initial
US$250,000 signature bonus to PGI and then for the company to contribute to
the Joint Venture Company a total of US$1,000,000 from January 1st 2006
through to October 31st 2006 being estimated as sufficient funding to complete
the planned exploration and prospect delineation work program on the 100
Hectare Lascogon Gold Prospect which is contained within the 2306 Hectare
acreage of MPSA148.
Upon completion of the planned exploration program, the company has the
option to increase its equity interest in the Joint Venture Company to 60% by
arranging or contributing by way of repayable loan up to US$10,000,000 as the
initial contribution to mine development and production by the Joint Venture
Company.
To secure the rights to the project as described above the company has the
sole right to appoint a qualified independent international firm of experts to
evaluate the benefit of the assignment of the agreement between Indexa and
PGI, such evaluation to be based on an arm's length present value open market
basis and which must be completed by March 31, 2006. Any consideration due to
Indexa Corp. from FECR pursuant to the foregoing shall be settled by FECR
within 30 days of receipt of said report being in the form of newly issued
fully paid shares of FECR, cash or a combination of both.
Statement from Larry W. Youell, President & Chief Executive Officer
"In line with our objective of pursuing relatively low risk mining
opportunities in the Philippines we are delighted to have been able to secure
this substantial mining interest on commercially competitive terms in the face
of intense competition from numerous other interested parties."
"The Lascogon Prospect is situated within a known, and established gold
bearing and producing province, in an area with an existing infrastructure and
locally available ore processing facilities. We are pleased to be working on
this project with Philex Mining Corporation; a long established and publicly
quoted leading mining company in the Philippines. Furthermore the technical
and production expertise of Philex Mining Corporation will be made available
to our joint venture company thus providing proven technical resources."
"We very much look forward to working on this new project, and further
information will be released as soon as it is available."
This release contains "forward looking statements" as per Section 21E of
the US Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Although the Company
believes that the expectations reflected in such forward looking statements
are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to
have been correct. Management is currently reviewing many options and there is
no assurance that they will not make decisions other than those now
contemplated. The Company is subject to political risks and operational risks
identified in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including changing and depressed oil prices, unsuccessful drilling results,
change of government and political unrest in its main area of operations.
For more information please contact Larry Youell at 1-403-290-1676, e-mail
info@FECResources.com, or visit the FEC Resources website at
http://www.FECResources.com.
SOURCE FEC Resources
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.fecresources.com
CONTACT:
Larry Youell, President and CEO of FEC
Resources, +1-403-290-1676, or info@FECResources.com
|
