Toronto, Ontario - URSA Major Minerals Incorporated ("URSA Major" or the "Company") (TSX-UMJ) The special committee (the "Special Committee") of the board of directors of the Company assures shareholders that the current Board and Management of URSA Major is dedicated to growing shareholder value despite attempts by Inspiration Mining Corporation and Forbes & Manhattan, Inc. (the "Dissidents") to take over the Company.
The management team and Board of Directors have achieved a number of important milestones, including profitable production at the Shakespeare Mine, an improved financial position, and a significantly strengthened balance sheet supporting expanded exploration. Their dedicated efforts are paying off and the vision to grow URSA Major into a profitable mid-tier nickel producer through successful exploration, increased metal production and project acquisition will be achieved.
Shareholders of URSA Major are encouraged to vote the BLUE proxy to support the current board of directors:• It is a fact that URSA Major's share price has improved by +260% since January 2009, while share prices for many comparable companies associated with the Dissidents have significantly declined in the same period. Since January 2009:
• Nickel explorer Inspiration Mining, under the management of dissident nominee Randy Miller, is down 66%;
• Former Forbes and Manhattan nickel miner Crowflight Minerals, managed from 2009 to 2010 by dissident nominee Mark Trevisiol, is down 50%;
• Forbes and Manhattan gold miner Alexis Minerals, under the chairmanship of dissident Stan Bharti, is down 78% (even in a rising gold market!); and,
• Northern Financial, managed by dissident nominee Vic Alboini, is down 56%.
URSA Major's Board is concerned that the Dissidents are more concerned with making perjorative statements about the relative performance of URSA Major than providing returns for their own shareholders and the implications this would have for URSA Major shareholders.
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URSA Major's current management has demonstrated profitable operations at the Shakespeare Mine since they brought the project to commercial production in June 2010. The Shakespeare Mine is currently the only profitable junior nickel mining operation in Canada. In contrast:• Dissident nominee Mark Trevisiol failed to deliver profitable results at Liberty Nickel in 2008-2009 and at Crowflight's Bucko nickel mine in 2009-2010. In fact, he resigned from both of these companies leaving them in poor financial condition with an unserviceable debt load and walked away with a significant severance payment; and,
• Dissident nominee Randy Miller has failed to advance Inspiration Mining's Langmuir nickel deposit to the feasibility stage.
The Dissident Group is making an opportunistic attack on URSA Major's profitable and growing operations in an attempt to salvage their own unsuccessful performances.
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URSA Major has a strong independent board and reasonable compensation practices. On the other hand, the Dissidents engage in poor governance and compensation:• Forbes & Manhattan principal and Dissident proponent, Stan Bharti, received $12 million in cash and stock option compensation from 19 of more than 30 boards, of which he is either director or chairman. These payments come from salaries, financing bonus arrangements, stock compensation and even royalties from companies like Alexis Minerals; and,
• Dissident nominee Randy Miller, Inspiration Mining's CEO, compensated himself in 2010 with a salary of $884,500, while his share price continued to decline, he made no material progress on the company's mineral assets and yet awarded himself with an outrageous severance package of 6x his annual salary.
• Accepting these practices of the Dissident nominees into URSA Major's currently sound operations could have serious negative implications for shareholder value.
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The dissidents are offering a zero premium take-over bid. The dissidents want to control the company with their minority shareholding without paying a premium to all shareholders.
The Dissidents' have failed to address the current Board's key concerns about the serious deficiencies of their slate.
The Dissident group has repeatedly demonstrated a lack of suitability to run the Company.Institutional Shareholder Services ("ISS") has recommended that shareholders of URSA Major vote FOR the current Board nominees at the upcoming annual and special meeting of shareholders. ISS is a leading independent international corporate governance analysis and proxy voting firm whose recommendations assist shareholders in making decisions regarding proxy voting.
Shareholders must vote their BLUE form of proxy before the deadline on Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) to continue the momentum that the current Board of Directors has built and realize the future rewards. Voting your BLUE form of proxy now will override any previously voted Dissident proxy and help protect your investment in URSA Major. The meeting date and time is June 23, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. (Toronto time).
Shareholders who require assistance voting their BLUE proxy should contact Kingsdale Shareholder Services Inc. at 1-866-851-2743 or email
[email protected].
About URSA Major Minerals - URSA Major is a Canadian mining company with a nickel mine and two nickel sulphide projects containing significant NI43-101 compliant nickel and copper reserves and resources. The Company is focused on demonstrating profitable operations at the Shakespeare Mine and growing its nickel, copper and platinum group metal (PGM) deposits through exploration and development, primarily in Ontario, Canada.
CONTACT:
Amar Bhalla, Chair of the Special Committee
416-928-5104
[email protected] Alison Tullis, Manager of Investor Relations
416-864-0615
[email protected] Richard Sutcliffe, President and CEO
416-864-0615
[email protected] Address: 8 King Street East, Suite #1300, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 1B5
Symbol & Exchange: UMJ -- TSX
This release was prepared by management of the Company who takes full responsibility for its contents. The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Some statements contained in this release are forward-looking and, therefore, involve uncertainties or risks that could cause actual results to differ materially. Such forward-looking statements include comments regarding mining and milling operations, mineral resource statements and exploration program performance. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include metal price volatility, economic and political events affecting metal supply and demand, fluctuations in mineralization grade, geological, technical, mining or processing problems, exploration programs and future results of exploration programs, future profitability and production.
This press release is not for distribution to any U.S. news wire service or for dissemination in the United States.
