The unique Big Creek Hydrometallurgical Complex, which includes the Sunshine Precious Metals Refinery, is located in the Silver Valley of Idaho. These processing facilities include hydrometallurgical leaching capabilities and separate silver and gold refining capabilities. Essential Metals Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Formation Capital Corporation, U.S., which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company, Formation Metals Inc., obtained the permitted facility due to its ideal location and for its hydrometallurgical equipment that can be readily modified to handle cobalt concentrate production from Formation's 100% owned Idaho Cobalt Project. The cobalt concentrate will utilize the leaching process established at the plant, leaving the precious metals refining section open for producing high purity silver bullion and gold. Essential Metals Corporation opened the doors of the Sunshine Precious Metals Refinery in June of 2004 for custom refining services and is currently processing client materials. Some detail and background information follows.
Background
Essential Metals Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Formation Capital Corporation, U.S., which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Formation Metals Inc., a Canadian company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol FCO. Formation plans to retro-fit the Hydrometallurgical Complex to accept Idaho Cobalt Project concentrate which can operate concurrently with the Silver Refinery section of the Complex. The Idaho Cobalt Project, located near Salmon, Idaho, is a unique high-grade primary cobalt deposit, currently in the final feasibility and advanced permitting stage of development. The mine is forecast to produce over 1,500 tonnes of super-alloy grade cobalt per year, representing 3.3% of world consumption and 14.9% of North American consumption. This would make Formation the leading primary producer of cobalt in North America, offering a reliable and stable source of cobalt to a growing industry with ever-increasing demands.
Sunshine Precious Metals Refinery
The
Sunshine Precious Metals Refinery, operational as of June 2004, is a zero discharge, expansion capable facility that continues to escalate production. The refining facility is currently best equipped to refine silver and gold dore and high grade silver residue utilizing state of the art processes and equipment. Slver produced at the Sunshine Silver Refinery was widely recognized for the superior quality of its refined materials with assays consistently in the range of 99.95% silver. The refined silver bars were determined to be good delivery for the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, and are currently deemed as good delivery on the Dubai Commodities Exchange. The plant is equipped to produce 2-5oz, 10oz, 100oz and 1000oz Ag bars, various sized Ag cylindrical billets and silver crystal as well as 2.5oz, 5oz, 10oz and 1000oz Au bars. Specific requests for private label refined products may also be considered.Management
Essential Metals has retained the previous Sunshine Silver Refinery operating management and we expect to be able to employ an experienced core operating crew from the list of former Sunshine employees. The plant is currently accepting additional custom refining clients. Our goal is to establish long-term business relationships that provide the maximum amount of customer flexibility, at a favorable overall refining cost.
