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Scorpio Gold Corporation Signs Definitive Agreement for Merger with BacTech and Moves Forwards Towards Listing
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NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE U.S.
Vancouver, October 30, 2007 - Scorpio Mining Corporation (TSX:SPM) is pleased to announce that its 93% owned subsidiary, Scorpio Gold Corporation and BacTech Mining Corporation ("BacTech") have completed their respective due diligence reviews for the proposed merger between the two companies. As a result, the parties entered into a definitive merger agreement ("Definitive Agreement") on October 26, 2007.
BacTech will now call a meeting of shareholders to vote on the merger and related matters. BacTech has secured expressions of support for the merger from over 40% of its shareholders.
Pursuant to the terms of the Definitive Agreement, BacTech will issue 2.6 common shares for each common share of Scorpio Gold outstanding and it is anticipated that in connection with the transaction BacTech will change its name to Scorpio Gold Corporation. The merger will result in Scorpio Mining Corporation becoming the controlling shareholder of the new company.
The combined company will hold interests in two past producing gold mines in Nova Scotia, a polymetallic exploration project in the Gaspe, Quebec as well as additional projects under evaluation by BacTech and Scorpio Gold Corporation.
Peter J. Hawley, Chairman, CEO comments, "All parties involved are very excited with this business combination, especially the world wide application of BacTech's bioleaching technology which is environmentally friendly and able to recover difficult metals, as already demonstrated though use of the technology in China and Mexico. During my recent travels I was quite surprised at the interest and support the European financial community expressed concerning the usage of the BacTech technology combined with the track record of Scorpio as an aggressive, fast moving mining company. We will aggressively pursue not only start up operations with gold credits but look at the usages of the technology in countries that have serious environmental concerns. In that Scorpio Mining will be the majority shareholder of the merged company, it is expected that its expertise and knowledge in México will be advantageous to allow the new company to be able to exploit its cutting edge technology in that country and elsewhere."
BacTech Profile
BacTech has developed and patented bacterial oxidation technology for the treatment of refractory ores and complex "dirty" concentrates to enhance the recovery of gold, silver and base metals, is environmentally friendly and is one of two companies world wide with a proven commercial track record for bioleaching, the other being Goldfields. BacTech has successfully commissioned three bioleach plants for gold, such as the China Laizhou project of Golden China Resources, which is currently being taken over by Sino Gold Mining and is undergoing a current expansion to 150,000 ounces of gold per year and accepts concentrates from 13 different mines in China. In addition, BacTech demonstrated its technology, in the selective recovery of base metals from complex sulphide concentrates in a joint venture project with Industrias Penoles de C.V of Mexico with a plant set up in Monterrey where dirty copper-zinc-lead-gold and silver concentrates from four mines in Mexico were processed by the technology resulting in selective recoveries of copper and zinc by SX-EW methods and selective recoveries of gold and silver dore.
For further information on the Company and the Nuestra Señora project plus the Nova Scotia and Quebec assets of Scorpio Gold please visit the Scorpio Mining web site at: www.scorpiomining.com.
President, Mr. D. Roger Scammell, PGeo, is the Company's Qualified Person for the technical information in this news release.
ON BEHALF OF SCORPIO MINING CORPORATION
Peter J. Hawley
Chairman & CEO
For further information contact:
Glenn Little, Jackson Little Holdings Ltd: 604-930-4375; 1-888-930-4375
Email: jlconsulting@telus.net
Rich Kaiser, YES International: 1-800-631-8127; 001-757-306-6090 (outside North America)
Email: yes@yesinternational.com
This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future exploration activities, planned use of bioleaching technology, completion of the planned merger transaction and similar events or developments that the Company expects, are forward looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include metal prices, exploration success, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. |
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