The Company has the right to acquire a 100% iSilverCrest Updates Progress at the Santa Elena Project, Mexico
May 10, 2007 8:01:00 AM
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(CCNMatthews - May 10, 2007) - SilverCrest Mines Inc. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SVL)(FRANKFURT:CW5) is pleased to announce all phases of preparatory work for the Company's preliminary assessment study at the Santa Elena Project in northern Mexico continue on schedule. The Santa Elena Project is located approximately 150 kilometres northeast of Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico and is easily accessible with excellent local infrastructure. The Company has the right to acquire a 100% interest in the Santa Elena property by making staged option payments over a period of 5 years. The Company is focusing its efforts on Santa Elena as it offers the greatest opportunity to achieve near term production. The Company believes that it will be in a position to make a production decision for Santa Elena before year end.
The principal activities, either completed or currently underway, are as follows;
- NI-43-101 resource estimation completed late in 2006 (see resource table below).
- Initial cash flow model has been completed with internal economic analyses and parameter sensitivities ongoing.
- 189 underground channel samples completed to confirm the Company's drilling results (see table below) and establish areas for bulk sampling for metallurgical testing.
- Base line environmental studies to support an EIS and permitting applications are underway.
- Aerial survey for detailed topographic maps and preliminary engineering has been completed.
- Preliminary Whittle pit design confirms the indicated resources and some of the inferred resources are within proposed pit boundaries.
- A Mexican consulting and engineering firm from Hermosillo has been contracted to complete a preliminary assessment with design engineering and economics for the project.
- General site plans for all related facilities are nearing completion as are preliminary capital and operating costs estimates.
- Bulk sampling of surface and four levels of underground workings within the initial pit outline is underway.
- Comprehensive bottle roll and column leach tests to be carried out on the bulk samples.
- Discussions with the local community are well advanced.
- A minimum 2500 metre drill contract for a phase II drill program has been signed and is expected to begin later this month.
The current reported NI 43-101 resource for Santa Elena is shown in the following table;
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Conta-
ined
Silver
Conta- Conta- &
Reso- ined ined Equiv.
urce Silver Gold Silver
Categ- Ag Au Ag Au Ounces Ounces Ouncesory(1) Tonnes gpt gpt Tons opt opt (000's) (000's) (000's) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Indic-
ated 2,458,900 55.7 2.16 2,710,500 1.62 0.063 4,391 171 14,651 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Infer-
red 3,514,300 78.3 1.42 3,873,900 2.28 0.041 8,832 159 18,372 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) Conforms to NI 43-101, 43-101CP, and current CIM definitions for
resources. All numbers are rounded. C. Stewart Wallis, P.Geo., independent
qualified person (QP) from the consulting firm of Scott Wilson Roscoe
Postle Associates Inc. and N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng, QP and Chief Operating
Officer of the Company completed the Santa Elena resource estimation.
The planned Phase II drill program is expected to expand the current resource estimate to the east and to depth, to test the footwall zone, to re-classify much of the inferred resource into the indicated resource category and to complete condemnation drilling for the proposed facilities. Drilling to date has defined the deposit approximately 600 metres along strike and to a depth of 200 metres.
The detailed underground sampling covers a strike length of approximately 500 metres to a vertical depth of 75 metres. The sampling program provided representative composite samples (see table of composites below) across the mineralized zone on four different levels within the deposit as well as guidance for the bulk sampling for the bottle roll and column leach test work. Results from the underground sampling program confirm the high grade nature of the deposit with respect to a potential open pit heap leach operation. A total of 189 channel samples were collected with grades ranging from trace to 16.0 gpt (0.47 opt) gold and trace to 296 gpt (8.63 opt) silver. The arithmetic average grade of all samples is 2.38 gpt (0.069 opt) gold and 61.5 gpt (1.79 opt) Ag over an average mineralized width of approximately 20 metres. Several significant intercepts (more than 10% of samples) returned results greater than 6.0 gpt (0.17 opt) gold.
Selected, representative composites of the underground sampling on levels 1-4 (L1, L2, L3, L4) are shown in the following table along with the results from three near by drill hole intercepts.
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Under-
ground-
Comp- Fr- Leng- Au Ag Drill Fr- Leng- Au Ag
osit- om To th gpt gpt Hole om To th gpt gpt
es (m) (m) (m) (i) (i) Number (m) (m) (m) (i) (i)--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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SE07-
L2C1 0.0 32.0 32.0 2.47 48.56 SE06-03 26.9 57.4 30.5 1.10 40.50
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SE07-
L2C2 0.0 28.0 28.0 3.62 58.00 SE06-06 35.7 64.0 28.3 2.58 82.90
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SE07-
L2C3 0.0 15.0 15.0 5.71 93.60 SE06-09 48.8 54.9 6.1 8.00 100.00
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SE07-
L1C1 0.0 30.0 30.0 4.27 63.08 No Drill Hole Comparison
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SE07-
L3C1 0.0 18.0 18.0 0.69 32.71 No Drill Hole Comparison
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SE07-
L3C2 0.0 20.0 20.0 0.97 46.98 No Drill Hole Comparison
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SE07-
L4C1 0.0 11.0 11.0 1.70 48.84 No Drill Hole Comparison
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SE07-
L4C2 0.0 10.0 10.0 1.55 98.16 No Drill Hole Comparison
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(i)weighted average
Drill hole SE06-09 encountered underground workings that accounts for the reduced width of the zone. The composite sample results along with the bulk samples and Phase II drill results will ultimately be incorporated into the geological and resource estimation computer model for updating of the resource. All analyses were completed by ALS Chemex in Hermosillo Mexico and North Vancouver B.C.
J. Scott Drever, president of SilverCrest, stated; "All preliminary indications are that we potentially have the makings of a very robust project at Santa Elena. We are confident about the nature and size of the deposit but need to raise our confidence levels as to the estimated ultimate recoveries. To that end we have contracted SGS Laboratories of Durango Mexico and Lakefield Ontario to complete detailed metallurgical test work including a series of bottle roll tests, crush size optimization and column percolation tests. Bulk sampling for this test work is underway at Santa Elena. Previous preliminary test work suggested a heap leach recovery of 60 to 70% for gold and 30 to 40% for silver. Once these results are available we will be able to finalize the preliminary assessment and hopefully make our production decision later this year."
The Qualified Person for this news release is N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng. and Chief Operating Officer for SilverCrest Mines Inc.
SilverCrest Mines Inc. is a "Silver focussed" exploration and development company with a portfolio of high grade silver deposits and exploration properties located in Mexico and El Salvador. This property portfolio, which includes reported indicated and inferred silver resources and substantial exploration potential, provides an important base from which SilverCrest can develop its corporate objective of becoming a significant silver asset based company. The Company's immediate initiative is to acquire and develop substantial silver resources and ultimately to operate high grade silver mines throughout North, Central and South America.