Bulgaria gives environmental OK for Dundee Precious Metals gold project

TORONTO – Dundee Precious Metals Inc.’s (TSX:DPM) announced Thursday that the environmental impact assessment of its Krumovgrad gold project has received Bulgarian government approval.

“Since initially embarking on this project in 2005, we have made great efforts to develop a comprehensive plan for Krumovgrad that addresses the concerns of the community and will prove to be economically beneficial for Bulgaria and the local community as well as DPM and its shareholders,” president and CEO Jonathan Goodman said in a release.

Dundee said the project plan takes into consideration concerns raised by the community through the use of water management and treatment systems and the elimination of potentially dangerous cyanide as well as a tailings dam.

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With some mining operations, water laced with cyanide is sprayed or poured over crushed rock to extract the gold. The runoff is processed to retrieve the precious metal and waste material including the poisonous cyanide is collected in tailings ponds, creating a potential environmental hazard if there’s a leak.

“The plan now contemplates the construction of an open pit mining operation comprised of a process plant, which employs conventional crushing, grinding and flotation processing for gold extraction and the disposal of thickened tailings together with mine rock waste in an integrated mine waste facility,” the company said.

A new feasibility study developed within the parameters of the project plan is being finalized and is expected to be released by the end of November, it added.

The Bulgarian Council of Ministers granted a 30-year concession on the Khan Krum Deposit in Krumovgrad to DPM’s subsidiary, Balkan Mineral and Mining Ltd., earlier this year, which was subject to the approval of the EIA.

Although still subject to appeal, the approval allows DPM to advance the Krumovgrad project, it said.

Dundee Precious Metals Inc. is a Canadian based international gold mining company with operations in Bulgaria, Armenia and Namibia. It also holds interests in a number of developing gold properties in Bulgaria, Serbia, and northern Canada.