Post by
Numb3rs on Feb 29, 2008 10:38am
Signs Production Agreement
Feb 29, 2008 10:28 ET
EXMIN Signs Production Agreement for the Gavilanes Massive Sulfide Deposit, Horcon Project, Guanajuato Region, Mexico
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Feb. 29, 2008) - EXMIN Resources Inc. (EXMIN) (TSX VENTURE:EXM) is pleased to announce that it has signed a letter agreement to allow mining on a portion of the Gavilanes massive sulphide deposit that EXMIN acquired as part of the Horcon project. The Gavilanes deposit is located in the southern part of the project and lies on the boundary between concessions controlled by EXMIN and concessions controlled by a third party, a private Mexican citizen. Preparations are being made to begin mining a small copper rich portion of the Gavilanes deposit that lies adjacent to, and extends onto, concessions controlled by EXMIN.
Under the terms of the agreement, EXMIN will allow mining of the deposit within a four hectare area of its 7,900 hectare land package, and EXMIN will receive 100 pesos (about US$ 9 to 10) per metric ton of rock mined on the entire eight hectare area of the agreement, including portions of the deposit lying within 8 hectares controlled by both parties. The payment to EXMIN will be made for rock removed from the area of the agreement, for processing at a separate facility or processed on site. There is currently no processing facility on site, and it is anticipated that the rock will be hauled to Zacatecas for processing. The agreement can be cancelled after one year, with thirty days notice by EXMIN, or may be terminated by EXMIN, if no mining is undertaken for any six month period.
Craig Gibson, Executive Vice President of Exploration for EXMIN, stated, "This agreement potentially provides a mechanism to finance our exploration at the Horcon project. A third party was preparing to mine a small copper rich lens adjacent to and extending onto concessions controlled by EXMIN. Rather than be concerned with whether this mining is extending onto our concessions, we negotiated to receive payments for rock mined from concessions controlled by both parties, with no regard as to whether the processing is profitable. Although there is no guarantee that mining will commence, for EXMIN there is no investment required and no risk. This mining may provide valuable geologic information with respect to the rest of the deposit that lies outside of the area of interest of the agreement."
The Gavilanes Deposit
The Gavilanes massive sulphide deposit is hosted by a sequence of volcanosedimentary rocks that hosts other massive sulphide deposits in central Mexico. The deposit was previously explored in the late 1990's by Golden Temple Mining and Noranda under an option agreement. EXMIN acquired the large area of potential massive sulphide mineralization, as well as the data package, from the concession holder as part of the Horcon project option agreement (please see News Release of Dec. 6, 2006 for more information on the agreement). Although the assay data presented below was not obtained directly by EXMIN, it is believed to be reliable.
The Gavilanes deposit occurs within an area of surface gossan formed by oxidation of pyrite exposed to weathering. This area contains anomalous gold, copper, silver, lead and zinc geochemistry and was explored by small scale underground workings in the past. A 75 metre long adit cuts a weakly oxidized, copperbearing massive sulphide layer. A small stope at the end of this tunnel was lined with bright blue copper sulphate efflorescence, and has been called the "blue room". Sampling of this tunnel reported by Golden Temple yielded 48.0 metres of 1.78 grams per metric ton (g/t) gold, 20 g/t silver, and 1.14% copper; the true thickness of this interval was estimated at 31 metres surrounding a massive sulphide horizon measuring about 5 to 7 metres in thickness. This is the focus of mining activities under the exploitation agreement.
Past exploration at the Gavilanes prospect in the area surrounding the adit included multielement soil geochemistry, trenching, ground and airborne geophysics, and core drilling. The exposed massive sulphide body occurs within a larger copper-gold-lead-zinc in soil anomaly that is coincident with an induced polarization chargeability high. Noranda drilled 2,400 metres of core in the Gavilanes deposit area. Several of these holes cut mineralization; hole 9, which was drilled in the vicinity of the Gavilanes adit, cut 4.1 metres (4 m true width) with 0.75 g/t gold, 9.1 g/t silver, and 1.1% copper within a larger interval measuring 21 metres (19.7 m true width) with 0.34 g/t gold, 11.4 g/t silver, 0.59% copper, 0.22% lead, and 0.38% zinc (see table of assay results below). Several of the holes were drilled on or near the boundaries of concessions now controlled by EXMIN, and are included here only to indicate the relative grades and tenor of mineralization.
It is common to find multiple massive sulphide deposits occurring in a favourable stratigraphic horizon in this type of geologic environment. The Horcon land package includes three additional massive sulphide prospects within the favourable stratigraphic sequence that hosts the Gavilanes deposit. Also, three geochemical and geophysical anomalies similar to that over the Gavilanes deposit occur in the immediately surrounding area and extend onto ground controlled 100% by EXMIN; these prospects have not been adequately explored in the past.
Quality Assurance
Samples were not taken by EXMIN, but assay data were acquired as part of a data package assembled by Golden Temple and Noranda and are believed to be reliable. EXMIN does have access to the Noranda drill core.
Dr. Craig Gibson, PhD., Certified Professional Geologist, and Executive Vice President of Exploration, is the authorized professional geologist for EXMIN Resources Inc. and the direct manager of all technical programs and information on the part of EXMIN.
Assays data for samples from the Gavilanes adit
----------------------------------------------------------------------Sample Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Cu (%) Type--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2150 0.83 5 0.2 Altered Rock2151 1.23 4 0.4 Altered Rock2152 0.22 2 0.2 Altered Rock2153 0.62 2 0.2 Altered Rock2154 5.04 11 0.5 Altered Rock2155 3.59 17 0.8 Altered Rock2156 2.29 26 0.6 Altered Rock2157 3.53 36 0.5 Altered Rock2158 3.19 17 0.4 Altered Rock2159 0.48 7 0.2 Altered Rock2160 1.00 49 0.4 Altered Rock2161 0.10 27 0.3 Altered Rock2162 0.65 45 1.2 Altered Rock2163 0.30 13 1.3 Massive Sulfide2164 2.61 68 1.2 Massive Sulfide2165 0.37 22 1.2 Massive Sulfide2166 0.60 45 4.2 Massive Sulfide2167 0.61 11 3.1 Massive Sulfide2168 1.58 11 1.9 Massive Sulfide2169 0.62 41 0.6 Massive Sulfide2170 0.41 33 2.0 Massive Sulfide2171 0.02 63 0.9 Massive Sulfide----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sample widths are not available but are believed to be 2 m.
Selected Noranda drill hole data from the Gavilanes massive sulphide deposit
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Interval (m) Core (i)True Cu Pb Zn Ag AuHole From To Length Thickness (%) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t)----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------GV9903 27.75 35.30 7.55 7.1 0.73 0.09 0.65 19.3 0.06 41.15 53.65 12.50 11.8 0.25 0.11 0.76 17.1 0.49GV9905 26.00 58.40 32.40 30.5 0.22 0.05 0.21 18.5 0.33 includes 43.70 58.40 14.70 13.8 0.45 0.02 0.10 14.0 0.38GV9906 33.40 59.75 26.35 24.8 0.27 0.05 0.90 15.0 0.26 includes 44.65 50.10 5.45 5.2 0.81 0.03 3.02 18.5 0.07GV9909 19.00 40.00 21.00 19.7 0.59 0.22 0.38 11.4 0.34 includes 22.6 26.7 4.10 4.0 1.10 0.02 0.07 9.1 0.75 includes 38.0 40.0 2.00 2.0 0.05 2.05 2.41 25.4 0.02GV9910 27.5 41.4 13.90 13.1 0.27 0.01 0.05 5.9 0.20--------------------------------------------------------------------------(i) Estimated thickness perpendicular to sulphide horizon.
About the Horcon Project
The Horcon project is located about 50 kilometres northwest of Guanajuato along the regional strike of mineralization. Guanajuato is a world class mining region and is the site of exploration and mining programs being carried out by several international resource companies, including the main Guanajuato district (Great Panther and Gammon Lake Resources) the San Anton project (San Anton Resources) and the Providencia area (Canarc Resource). For more information on the Horcon Project, please see the press releases of August 16, 2007, May 22, 2007, March 5, 2007, and December 6, 2006.
About EXMIN
EXMIN Resources Inc. (EXMIN) is currently focused on the exploration and development of precious metal properties of exceptional merit in the Sierra Madre gold belt of Northwestern Mexico as well as in other highly mineralized areas of Mexico.
Note: EXMIN Resources Inc. (EXMIN) has taken all reasonable care in producing and publishing information contained in this news release. Material in this news release may still contain technical inaccuracies, omissions or typographical errors, for which EXMIN assumes no responsibility. This news release may include certain "forwardlooking statements" including but not limited to comments regarding predictions and projections. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in this news release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of EXMIN, are forwardlooking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in documents filed from time to time with the regulatory authorities.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed this release and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.