Palladon hires Gilbert as Iron Mountain miner

2008-07-02 20:18 ET - News Release

Mr. Donald Foot reports

IRON MOUNTAIN PROJECT UPDATE

Palladon Ventures Ltd. has provided an update on progress at the Iron Mountain facility near Cedar City, Utah, in anticipation of the start-up in the third quarter of 2008. Final construction of facilities and preproduction activities at the site are currently under way. As reported in Stockwatch news dated June 27, 2008, Palladon has now acquired 100 per cent of the project and has closed on financing more than adequate to finance all capital and operating costs to commence production of run-of-mine ore to fulfill the contract with China Kingdom International (CKI).

Palladon Iron Corporation has signed a five-year contract with Gilbert Development Corp. to be the company's contract miner on the Iron Mountain project. Gilbert will perform all mining duties at the site with the major elements including drilling, blasting, crushing, screening, hauling, blending, conveying and stacking, and railcar loading, based on the mine plan developed to meet the contract. Palladon personnel will oversee Gilbert's operations and will conduct all operations for the mix of ores to be hauled to the stockpile, survey primary elevations of the benches, toe and crest limits for the mining pit, and percentage grade on all roads, based on permitting requirements.

The site is being prepared for the installation of the crushers, load-out facility and the stacker. The new stacker, a 42-inch-by-170-foot swing-axle radial telestacker conveyor, was received at site and will be installed in the next two weeks. This rotary stacker is capable of blending and storage of approximately 130,000 tons of material prior to loading on the trains. The stacker is portable and can easily be relocated within the Iron Mountain property.

Palladon Iron has signed a contract with GSL Electric to provide secondary power at the site. The high-voltage power will be provided through the newly erected 138-kilovolt-amp transmission distribution line and reduced to 4,160 volts in the newly constructed 13-megawatt substation. Power distribution will be to the crushers, radial stacker, conveyors, load-out and office facilities through step-down transformers. All power poles, wire and switches for the 138-kilovolt-amp line are installed and ready for power. All power should be operational by Aug. 1, 2008.

"This has been a very exciting last few months with the signing of the long-term contract with CKI and buying out Luxor Capital Group's stake in the iron mine. Palladon now controls the entire project, has sufficient working capital and is at a tremendous pace to begin shipping by third quarter of this year," said Donald G. Foot, president and chief executive officer of Palladon Ventures.