Roca Mines, an emerging metals producer, has won the 2008 E.A. Scholz Award in recognition of excellence in mine development in British Columbia. The award was presented to President and Chief Executive Officer, Scott Broughton and Director John Mirko and Chief Financial Officer David Skerlec at the Association for Mineral Exploration British Columbia (AME BC) awards dinner in Vancouver on January 28, 2009. The award was “for successfully developing the MAX molybdenum mine in an environmentally and socially sensitive area. In 2007, the MAX mine, south of Revelstoke, was the first new metal mine to open in British Columbia in eight years.”

Broughton, Mirko and Skerlec are founding directors of Roca and were recognised by the Board of Directors of AME BC, “In bringing the MAX mine to operation, the Roca team (Broughton, Mirko and Skerlec) was persistent, open, focused and visionary. The Roca team optioned key claims and bought remaining ones around the mine during a time when molybdenum prices were still low. An important step during this acquisition phase was purchasing the complete data set from past work. The team quickly determined the spatial occurrence of a higher grade core on which to focus early mine development. They made wise decisions including buying and retrofitting an old mill instead of building a new one and hiring skilled local contractors to get the job done right. Meanwhile, the Roca team started exploration activity to increase knowledge and extent of the resource.

“Throughout the process they maintained a proactive, open and active dialogue with the local community that fostered and maintained public trust. The Roca team made a point of listening to heated public opinions about developing a mine in sensitive habitat, and candidly replied to every concern and question regarding the mine. Roca consistently demonstrated the company’s commitment to the local community by hiring local workers and procuring locally to ensure local benefits.”