Milling Operations Underway For Bolero’s Molybdenum
April 18, 2006, Vancouver, BC, Canada - United Bolero Development Corp. (the “Company” or “United Bolero”), (TSX-V: UNB)
United Bolero announces that milling of the initial molybdenite from its Bald Butte Mine is underway. Milling operations at the Contact Mill in Phillipsburg, MT commenced on April 10th, 2006. The first cleaner concentrate was produced in the afternoon of April 11th. Contact Mining Company has been contracted to conduct milling operations for the Company under the direction of consultant Larry Hoffman, P.E. Mr. Hoffman, a professional engineer from Butte, MT, with previous experience in the milling of molybdenum ore, has been retained by the Company to act as their representative to oversee the milling operations.
Mr. Hoffman designed the flow sheet for the Bald Butte molybdenite utilizing the metallurgical research studies recently completed by Hazen Research, Inc. of Golden, Colorado and Dawson Metallurgical Laboratories, Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Contact Mill, in Phillipsburg, Montana was originally built and operated by Frank Antonioli and the Antonioli Family to mill ore from their own Contact Mining Company mine. The mill was later modified to treat ore from the nearby Black Pine Mine of Inspiration Copper Co. This arrangement was continued when Asarco acquired Inspiration Copper. The Contact Mill treated in excess of 1,000 tons per day (TPD) of the Black Pine ore for several years.
Although the nominal capacity of the Contact Mill is 1,000 TPD, investors are cautioned that the mill’s through-put is dependent on the grindability of the ore. Softer material would result in more through-put, harder rock would result in less through-put. Investors are also cautioned that every ore is different and new material will require a period of adjustment as flow sheets are modified to achieve optimum recovery and quality of concentrate. This initial start-up phase will require starts and stops to make the required adjustments. Through-put is anticipated to be about one-third of normal daily through-put during this phase of operations.
R. Bruce Duncan, the President of United Bolero commented: “We are pleased that milling of the molybdenite from the Bald Butte Mine has commenced. This achievement marks a significant milestone in the continuing progress of the Company. We will be monitoring the start-up phase closely and look forward to attaining the design through-put in the very near term. I encourage all of our stakeholders to view the milling pictures on our website www.unitedbolero.com.”
L. Joseph Bardswich P. Eng (Ontario), a director of United Bolero, is the “qualified person” (as such term is defined in NI 43-101) responsible for the preparation of the technical information in this release.
United Bolero is listed on the TSX-Venture Exchange under the symbol UNB, as well as the Frankfurt Exchange under U7N. For more information, please visit www.unitedbolero.com or call us toll-free at 888-945-4770.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
“R. Bruce Duncan”
President & CEO
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