Exhibit 99.1
Prophecy Signs Gibellini Memorandum of Agreement with the Bureau of
Land Management
Vancouver, British Columbia, October 2, 2018 – Prophecy
Development Corp. (“Prophecy” or the “Company”) (TSX:PCY, OTCQX:PRPCF, Frankfurt:1P2N)
is pleased
to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Agreement (the
“MOA”)
for voluntary cost recovery with the Bureau of Land Management,
Mount Lewis Field Office (the “BLM”)
to expedite Gibellini permitting efforts. Prophecy and the BLM have
agreed in principal to a fixed cost structure that will have
Prophecy reimburse the BLM for the cost of all anticipated work for
the BLM to complete its review of the Company’s submission of
Mine Plan of Operations (the “MPO”)
and any updates to existing baseline studies.
In July 2018, Prophecy received a 6-page comment letter from the
BLM regarding the MPO submitted on May 9, 2018. Since that time,
Prophecy has engaged the environmental consulting firm, NewFields
Companies, LLC, who have reviewed the letter and completed an
internal assessment of the required updates to the Gibellini
baseline studies.
Prophecy’s team held a meeting with the BLM at its Battle
Mountain office on September 27, 2018 with over 20 people in
attendance. The parties discussed at length, and made significant
progress towards, finalizing the baseline assessment. Meetings will
continue into October 2018, with field surveys starting as soon as
consensus is reached. The anticipated baseline study updates are to
be completed in the first half of 2019.
Concurrently, Prophecy’s team is preparing a water pollution
control permit application to be filed with the Nevada Division of
Environmental Protection by the end of 2018. During the above
meeting, the BLM also reaffirmed that Gibellini’s
Environmental Impact Statement (the “EIS”)
will be the first in Nevada to undergo
streamlined National Environmental Policy Act review under
Secretary of the Interior Order No. 3355. The BLM went over the
procedures they established and the outline of a resource report
which Prophecy intends to prepare and complete, in order to trigger
the Notice of Intent (the “NOI”, currently anticipated to be in the second
half 2019) on EIS preparation and to enable a 12-month decision
window from the date of the NOI to an EIS
decision.
The full text of the Interior Order No. 3355 may be accessed
through the following link:
https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/uploads/3355_-_streamlining_national_environmental_policy_reviews_and_implementatio.pdf
A presentation for the project’s permitting timeline and
deliverables can be accessed under the “Project –
Gibellini (Primary Vanadium)” section of Prophecy’s
website:
www.prophecydev.com.
John Lee, Prophecy’s Executive Chairman states:
“Newfields have come up to speed quickly since joining
Prophecy’s team in August. With the MOA of voluntary cost
recovery, the BLM and Prophecy have both prioritized efforts to
expedite Gibellini to EIS approval.
This tangible progress further sets Gibellini apart from other
North American primary vanadium projects in terms of the time
expected to deliver our vanadium product to the
market.
The vanadium bull market is in full swing, with vanadium pentoxide
currently trading at a decade high of $22.90 per pound as reported
on www.asianmetal.com.
There
are no other near-production vanadium projects at this stage of
development, and Prophecy is accomplishing the necessary milestones
on its critical path toward the Gibellini project becoming the
first primary vanadium producing mine in the United
States.”
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Qualified Person
The technical content of this news release have been prepared under
the supervision of Danniel Oosterman, VP, Exploration. Mr.
Oosterman is not independent of the Company in that he is employed
as a consultant to the Company and most of his income is derived
from the Company. Mr. Oosterman is a Qualified Person as defined in
NI 43-101.
About Prophecy
Prophecy
Development Corp. is a Canadian public company listed on the
Toronto Stock Exchange. Prophecy's main objective is to develop the
Gibellini primary vanadium mining project in the Battle Mountain
region in northeastern Nevada to production. Further information on
Prophecy can be found at www.prophecydev.com.
PROPHECY DEVELOPMENT CORP.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
“JOHN LEE”
Executive Chairman
For more information about Prophecy, please contact Investor
Relations:
+1.888.513.6286
ir@prophecydev.com
www.prophecydev.com
Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Toronto
Stock Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy
of this release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements contained in this news release, including
statements which may contain words such as “expects”,
“anticipates”, “intends”,
“plans”, “believes”,
“estimates”, or similar expressions, and statements
related to matters which are not historical facts, are
forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable
securities laws. Such forward-looking statements, which reflect
management’s expectations regarding Prophecy’s future
growth, results of operations, performance, business prospects and
opportunities, are based on certain factors and assumptions and
involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause
the actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially
different from future results, performance, or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements.
These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should
not place undue reliance on the Prophecy’s forward-looking
statements. Prophecy believes that the expectations reflected in
the forward-looking statements contained in this news release and
the documents incorporated by reference herein are reasonable, but
no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be
correct. In addition, although Prophecy has attempted to identify
important factors that could cause actual actions, events or
results to differ materially from those described in forward
looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions,
events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended.
Prophecy undertakes no obligation to release publicly any future
revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances after the date of this news or to reflect the
occurrence of unanticipated events, except as expressly required by
law.
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