Franklin Mining, Inc. (FMNJ)

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Franklin pursues JV with Comibol - Bolivia
Published: Friday, February 3, 2006 10:37 (GMT -0400)

Las Vegas-based Franklin Mining (Pink Sheets: FMNJ) has signed a letter of intent for a joint venture with Bolivian state mining company Comibol and a local cooperative, Franklin CEO Jaime Melgarejo told BNamericas.

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The JV agreement is for a silver project in the South American country, Melgarejo said, declining to disclose the project name.

The company had shut down its Mayaya gold project on the Kaka river near capital city La Paz due to protesters' roadblocks. Protests made it impossible to obtain supplies and equipment from La Paz, said the CEO.

In addition to political issues and severe diesel shortages in Bolivia, the mineral grades diminished at Mayaya shortly after Franklin took over the project. "We had very good tenors the first few months, and the tenors fell off. Couple that with the very limited time of operations we had - we no longer saw it as a profitable situation."

Franklin had been aiming to increase production to 322oz/month of gold by the third quarter of 2005, Melgarejo said previously. The company became the project operator in June 2004.

Mayaya sits on the Kaka river downstream from the Tipuani region, Bolivia's main gold area, according to Melgarejo.

In its search for additional properties and better tenors, Franklin plans to look for opportunities in that region. "We're going to look up into the Tipuani area closer to the actual source of gold so we can get better tenors."

Franklin likely will pursue concessions in the area, then contract the operations to other companies to minimize its liabilities in Bolivia, Melgarejo said.

Franklin also has the Franklin Mines in Colorado state, though it is actively looking to divest itself of the property, according to the company's website.


By Laura Superneau
BNamericas.com