Adex Mining Inc. (TSXV:ADE) president and chief executive officer Kabir Ahmed will meet with Natural Resources Minister Donald Arseneault in Fredericton today.
He plans to talk with officials from the Natural Resources and Environment departments about the regulatory processes to resume mineral production at Mount Pleasant in Charlotte County.
The Toronto-based junior mining company still has regulatory hurdles to clear, but Ahmed says the prices for the four metals at Mount Pleasant - tin and indium in one deposit, tungsten and molybdenum in another - "have great economic promise."
The company, which re-listed its shares on the TSX Venture Exchange in July, and hired a public relations firm in August, issued three press releases this week announcing its steps on the road to mining at Mount Pleasant.
On Monday, the company announced the appointment of Trevor Boyd, PhD, P.Geo., as a geological consultant to oversee the upcoming drilling program at Mount Pleasant.
On Tuesday, Adex announced plans for a minimum of 5,000 metres of drill testing as well as upgrading infrastructure at Mount Pleasant. The company is reviewing proposals from drilling companies with a view to commencing diamond drilling early this winter.
On Wednesday, the company announced metallurgical testing plans - further to the announcement on Aug. 21 that it would develop a metallurgical process for both the tin/indium and tungsten/molybdenum desposits.
The company says it has identified the process and defined "a fully integrated process flowsheet" for Mount Pleasant ore. It will test the process over the next year as a precursor to feasibility studies for commercial production.
Adex must determine chemical process to best turn the ore from the ground into the products the customers demand.
Ahmed, who lived in Saint John from 1980 to 1985 and attended Saint John High School, said the company is upgrading the tailings ponds and doing other things to meet the demands of a provincial environmental order in 1999.
With the drilling program the company hopes to upgrade the quality of resource estimates - from "inferred" to "indicated," to obtain fresh drill samples to compare with historical metallurgical testing, and to expand the exploration potential, especially in the area between the tin/indium and tungsten/molybdenum zones.
Ahmed noted that Adex uses the services of New Brunswick companies including the ADI Group and Jacques Whitford in Fredericton.
"We are relying on local professionals, we are not going outside New brunswick," he said.