Government approves mining plan for Askot, India9/4/2008 3:25:34...

Government approves mining plan for Askot, India
9/4/2008 3:25:34 PM - Canada NewsWire

VANCOUVER, BC and NEW DELHI, INDIA, Sep. 4, 2008 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX News Network) --
TSX-V: PEB

Pebble Creek Mining Ltd. (the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Indian Bureau of Mines gave its final approval to the Company's Mining Plan for the Askot deposit. Askot is a high-grade copper, zinc, lead, silver and gold massive sulphide deposit in Uttarakhand state, northern India (see news release of August 12, 2008).

The Company's 30-year Mining Lease application on 386 hectares was cleared by the central and state governments last year. Approval of a Mining Plan is a condition of the state's final grant of the Mining Lease as required by India's Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act of 1957 and its rules.

As required by law, the Mining Plan was prepared by two independent mining engineers who are Recognized Qualified Persons ("RQPs") in India, supported by the Company's staff engineers and geologists. Included in the plan were historic data from the United Nations and four government agencies that had previously drilled and tested Askot. In addition to the RQPs, reports by thirteen Indian and western consulting firms engaged by the Company were included or summarized in the plan.

The plan includes comprehensive geologic and assay data; a mineral resource estimate; design of the upper five levels of proposed cut-and-fill underground workings; metallurgical bench test results; design of tailings and waste rock disposal systems; mine, mill and incidental water use and balance; ground water monitoring systems; plans for neutralizing acid mine waters; geotechnical properties of the rocks and underground support systems; blast vibration analysis; discussion of all known species of flora and fauna in the region; environmental and social considerations; and a mine closure plan.

The mine closure plan describes the surface area to be disturbed, which determines the amount of the mine closure bond the Company will be required to post prior to final execution of the Mining Lease. The Company has signed an undertaking to do so in the amount of 1,356,000 Indian rupees, or about Cdn. $33,000 at the present rate of exchange.

Approval of the Mining Plan clears the way for the Company to submit its Environmental Impact Assessment and forest inventory to the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests for clearances, the last step before grant and execution of the Mining Lease. The Company has already obtained approval for development and operation from the state Pollution Control Board.

The Company's Askot project may become the first foreign-owned and private-sector non-ferrous metal mine in India in many decades. Therefore the Company has filed a preliminary application to insure against sovereign risk with the World Bank's Multilateral Insurance Guarantee Agency ("MIGA") and is in communication on the subject with Export Development Canada ("EDC"). Final execution of the Mining Lease will allow the Company to submit final applications for insurance to MIGA and EDC.

The Company intends to resume fill-in and step-out drilling after the summer monsoon subsides.

The Company's President, Andrew Nevin, P.Eng., is the Company's Qualified Person and has reviewed and approved this news release.

On Behalf of the Board

Gyan C. Singhai, P.Eng.

Executive Chairman