Acadian Mining Corporation ("Acadian") or (the "Company") is a Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada based mining company focused on exploring and developing gold, zinc-lead and barite properties in Atlantic Canada. Acadian operates an open pit zinc-lead mine (Scotia Mine) at Gays River, Nova Scotia which commenced production in May, 2007, and is the cornerstone of the Company's Scotia Zinc Project. The mine is expected to produce 30,000 tonnes of high grade zinc concentrate and 12,000 tonnes of high grade lead concentrate per year.
Acadian is also focused on developing five advanced gold properties, Beaver Dam, Fifteen Mile Stream, Tangier, Forest Hill and Goldenville, which form the core holdings of the Scotia Goldfields Project. All of the five advanced properties host gold resources described in technical reports prepared in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 and are available on www.sedar.com. Acadian is bringing a new approach to the development of Nova Scotia gold deposits by pursuing a multiple mine, central processing, managing and servicing strategy.
The Company holds a 29.0% equity interest in Royal Roads Corp. ("Royal Roads"). Royal Roads is a Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada based mineral exploration and development company listed for trade on the TSX-Venture Exchange under the trading symbol RRO, and on the Frankfurt Exchange under the symbol RR91. The company has two key assets, both 100% owned, and several others under JV agreements.
The 100% owned Daniels Pond deposit is located in the 16,075 hectare Tulks North mineral property strategically located in the centre of the world-class Buchans base metal camp in central Newfoundland, Canada.
The other key asset is our 100% owned subsidiary Buchans River Ltd., which gives RRO control of the past producing Buchans Mine, and all of its surrounding ground. The Buchans Mine operated for 58 years before shutting down in 1984 and was one of the world's richest base metal mines having produced over 16 million tonnes with average grades of 14.51% zinc, 7.56% lead, 1.33% copper, 126 g/t silver and 1.37 g/t gold. This asset represents a unique world class opportunity for exploring for high grade base metals on this expensive 14,000 hectare property. (For more details visit the Royal Roads Corp. website at www.royalroadscorp.ca).
In early 2007 Acadian acquired through staking, a 100% interest in 89 mineral claims totalling 1,400 hectares covering Lake Ainslie Barite-Fluorite Deposits in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. Based on historical information these deposits are believed to represent the largest in situ resource of barite in Atlantic Canada. The deposits host an uncategorized resource of 4.25 million tonnes grading 34.0% barite and 17.3% fluorite (Conwest Exploration Company Limited, 1972). This equates to approximately 1.6 million tonnes of contained barite (90%). These resources are not National Instrument 43-101 compliant and as such can not be relied upon.
The barite-florite resource estimation is based on 129 diamond drill holes totalling 16,394 metres of historic drilling. There is potential for expanding these resources through additional drilling. The principal consumer of barite is the oil and gas industry, with barite being a principal component in drilling mud, serving as a weighting agent to prevent blowouts and gushers. The bullish future for oil and gas points to a growing demand for barite.