Freeport's Hutton Garnet Beaches Released from Environmental Assessment

TSX Venture Exchange: FRI

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VANCOUVER, July 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Freeport Resources Inc. is very pleased to announce its Hutton bulk sampling has been released from environmental assessment - a significant project milestone. Approximately 2000 cubic metres of garnet-rich sand will be collected to fine-tune mineral processing, finalize plant design, and make garnet products for larger scale market testing. This work will ultimately confirm logistics for commercial production. The Hutton is the first advanced stage project in Labrador Inuit Lands to undergo formal Environmental Assessment. Freeport would like to thank all concerned for their efforts especially as this is a new, previously untried process.

The Hutton is a unique mineral project with minimal visual and environmental impacts. In the natural environment, garnet is chemically inert and environmentally benign. The beach deposits are on surface with very limited overburden or vegetation. The Hutton would operate similar to a small, shallow, and seasonal sand quarry. No permanent structures, roads, or marine transport facilities are proposed or required. No long term ground disturbance is expected given natural processes - waves, wind, and winter ice - will remove all traces of work. The garnet sand would be loaded on a barge and shipped to a processing plant for separation into different waterjet and possibly sandblasting products. Hutton garnet is angular with sizing naturally well suited to abrasive waterjet cutting. Several Hutton concentrates produced on a smaller scale compared favourably to higher-end products in three industry-wide tests in the UK, Canada and the US.

Because this approval comes mid-summer - high season for shipping - bulk sampling is subject to securing suitable barges, as well as resolving logistics and other arrangements. Several options have been identified and are under review. Freeport will strive diligently to complete the bulk sampling if at all possible. Other proposed work at the site includes continued environmental studies and collection of samples to update tonnage estimates. Work now underway includes thorough revisions to the Business Plan, including detailed analysis of plant costs. As the project is at an advanced stage, a variety of long-term funding options are under evaluation. Interested parties should contact Freeport directly regarding the Hutton opportunity.

Zdenek Hora, M.Sc. P.Geo., is the qualified person who has reviewed this release. Freeport Resources, founded in 1981, is a junior mineral exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. Freeport has landholdings in Labrador and B.C., with a special focus on industrial minerals, precious and base metals, and gemstones. For further information on Freeport or the Hutton project, please visit www.freeportresources.com, or email [e-mail].

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Freeport Resources Inc.

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