ATLANTA, Nov 13, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- Ruby Mining Company (OTCBB:RUBM), a Colorado corporation ("Ruby") which conducts its operations through its wholly owned subsidiary, Admiralty Corporation, a Georgia corporation ("Admiralty"), today announced that it has engaged Captain Bill Boone as a nautical consultant to advise and work with Admiralty in operations on the Pedro Bank and elsewhere.
Captain Boone will consult with Admiralty principally on matters of fleet deployment. He has been a marine captain for the past 25 years. During the previous 12 years, Captain Boone has served as Captain of The Highlander, the famed 151-foot motor yacht owned by Forbes Magazine. The Highlander sleeps 25, including a crew of 11, and can accommodate up to 120 persons for receptions. Captain Boone has captained The Highlander in the waters off the East and West coasts of the United States and the Great Lakes, and has taken her on voyages as far as Russia.
Prior to his tenure with The Highlander, Captain Boone served as Engineer of The Cajun Princess, a motor yacht owned by Al Copeland, the founder of Popeye's Chicken. Captain Boone's lifelong love of the sea and boating began at the early age of 5 when he fished on his grandfather's fishing boat off the coast of North Carolina. His love became his full-time career, as he worked in the waters of his native North Carolina and the Florida Keys on various marine, research and fishing ventures.
"We are incredibly fortunate to have someone of the caliber of Captain Boone sign on with Admiralty," commented Herbert Leeming, Ruby's Chairman and CEO. "Bill brings us a wealth of hands-on experience and expertise in nautical operations and deployment that will prove invaluable as we begin to implement our long-awaited marine operations."
Captain Boone remarked that "I am very excited about the opportunity to work with Admiralty and its management team. For me, this opportunity to work on historic shipwreck search and recovery projects is a dream come true. I have always had a keen interest in projects involving historic recovery and restoration, as demonstrated by my personally restoring and owning a home in the historic district of Savanna, Georgia. I am doubly excited by Admiralty's commitment to operating its projects in accordance with recognized archaeological, environmental and ecological protocols. I am also quite impressed with the proprietary technology developed by Admiralty and the potential of that technology to revolutionize the historic shipwreck industry." Information about Ruby/Admiralty (the "Company")
The Company has developed unique, proprietary detection technology, which it calls ATLIS, for use in locating and excavating valuable cargoes from historical shipwrecks, primarily Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, English, and French shipwrecks dating from the late 15th through the 19th century. The initial target area for the Company's archaeological operations is the Pedro Bank, roughly 2,000 square miles of ocean territory approximately 80 miles southwest of Kingston, Jamaica. Admiralty holds an exclusive permit from the government of Jamaica for exploration and excavation of historic shipwrecks located in these waters. The waters of the Pedro Bank are believed to be some of the richest in the world for shipwrecks from three centuries of Spanish flotillas carrying gold and silver bars and coins, as well as valuable gemstones and artifacts, from Central and South America, to the Spanish Empire. Admiralty has also negotiated the key terms and conditions for a proposed license from the Government of Mexico to locate and excavate historic shipwrecks in the territorial waters of Mexico, a license which Admiralty believes will be issued by the end of the first quarter of 2004.
The Company has enhanced the shipwreck search capabilities associated with its ATLIS detection technology by positioning itself to acquire and use specialized fly-over (aerial) remote-sensing analyses to detect underwater anomalies, which may indicate the presence of historic shipwrecks in licensed waters. The Company is also actively prosecuting applications for patents to protect its ATLIS technology. The Company's principal objective is to utilize its proprietary, patent-pending technology, in partnership with domestic and foreign governments, marine archaeologists, research historians, and research scientists, to become the recognized world leader in the location and excavation of historic shipwrecks.
The Company is also actively exploring the possibility of utilizing its ATLIS technology to assist the federal government in locating unexploded ordnance (bombs, artillery shells, ammunition, weapons, and other potentially explosive military devices and materials), commonly referred to as "UXO," in the territorial waters of the United States. Once properly located, the UXO may then be safely disposed of on site or retrieved and transported to a safe disposal site. In an effort to expand this new business opportunity to include land mines and other land-based (terrestrial) UXO, the Company recently granted the Georgia Tech Research Institute a non-exclusive license to develop the ATLIS technology for use in locating land mines and other terrestrial UXO, without the obvious dangers inherent in conventional location methods which often rely on digging, probing, and drilling.
Both marine, but especially land-based, UXO pose a serious, often lethal, threat to the safety and well-being of millions of people. There are 15,000 to 20,000 new casualties in over 75 countries from land mines and UXO each year. The cost of successfully remediating the thousands of UXO and land mine sites worldwide is typically estimated in the hundreds of billions of dollars, and it has been estimated that 100 years may be required to conduct full remediation activities with conventional technology.
The Company plans to generate future revenues from six principal sources: (i) sale of select cargo and other cultural materials from historic shipwrecks; (ii) sale of merchandise; (iii) fees from artifact exhibitions; (iv) corporate sponsorship fees; (v) sale and licensing of intellectual property rights; and (vi) fees from government agencies for assistance in locating and retrieving UXO for disposal.
Additional information about the Company can be found at www.admiraltycorporation.com.
Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Statements made in this press release, other than those concerning historical information, should be considered forward-looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are made based on management's current expectation or beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. The Company's actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements due to a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, governmental, monetary and fiscal policies; our ability to obtain financing for operations; our ability to establish and maintain relationships with foreign countries; our ability to secure and perform under contracts, licenses and other agreements; adverse changes in laws and regulations; adverse decisions and orders of courts and regulatory agencies; development of competing technology to ATLIS; our ability to acquire marine vessels and conduct successful operations; less than expected performance of the ATLIS technology under actual field conditions; the issuance of patents providing adequate protection for the ATLIS technology; the successful adaptation of the ATLIS technology for use in detecting UXO and land mines; and adverse changes in the securities markets. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by, or on behalf of, the Company.