NewsSCORPIO MINING CORP
Scorpio Mining Corporation Makes Production Decision on its 100% Owned Nuestra Senora Project, Sinaloa State, Mexico
6/25/2007
VANCOUVER, Jun 25, 2007 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX News Network) --
TSX:SPM
Scorpio Mining Corporation (TSX:SPM) is pleased to announce that following review of the positive results from the recently received independent Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS") (see news release of June 14, 2007) the Company has been given a mandate by its Board of Directors to proceed into production.
The PFS projects that the base case cash operating cost of producing silver at the Nuestra Senora project, after accounting for by-product credits, will be a negative US$0.98 per ounce produced using discounted metal prices of US$11.00 per oz. for silver, US$1.25 per lb. for zinc, US$0.50 for lead and US$2.25 for copper.
Peter J. Hawley, Chairman, CEO comments, "After reviewing the PFS and given the project's strong economics, particularly the current metal price scenario which shows a 60.7% Internal Rate of Return (IRR), along with the upside potential to increase mineral reserves and resources, it is the Company's view that we have to get this project into production as soon as possible to take advantage of the current strong metal prices. With the recent additional staffing of a Mill Superintendent, Mill Construction Manager, Chief Production Geologist and the awarding of mill construction contracts, we are in a position to aggressively push the project forwards towards commencement of production as scheduled for March, 2008. We look forward to providing ongoing updates of our surface exploration results, underground development and exploration work and our progress on the mill facility construction as we approach the start up time line."
Filing of the final PFS report on SEDAR is expected to be completed before July 4th, 2007. Scorpio Mining Corporation will then provide notice of a conference call to discuss the PFS results and answer any questions.
<<
Development and Construction Update
- Construction of the Company's 100% owned, dedicated 34-kilometre
power line from the main hydro dam was begun in the second week of
March. As of June 18, 2007, 350 of 400 posts have been installed with
17 kilometres of high tension power wire strung. Estimated time line
for completion is late August, 2007 which includes the building of an
electric sub-station.
- The 4.3-kilometre Cosala by-pass road has been completed and final
cement work on culverts is nearing completion. This private Company-
owned road is intended to be used for moving oversized mill
equipment, trailers, etc. for installation at the mill facility and
the transfer of daily metal concentrates to smelters without
impacting the town of Cosala with heavy traffic.
- All mill equipment required for the construction of the processing
facility is currently located in México at one of the three re-
furbish/storage yards and shops the Company has in Mazatlan, Cananea
and Cosala.
- The primary ball mill and 800-horsepower motor has been re-furbished
and rebuilt at the Cananea shop and expected to be shipped to the
Cosala yard by June 25, 2007.
- The various electric motors, conveyor roller and floatation cells
located in the Mazatlan re-furbish yard are nearing completion and
expected to be moved to Cosala with the next month.
- At the Cosala re-furbish yard a repair shop has been constructed,
stockpiling of containers containing various pipes, fittings, welding
machines, etc. is ongoing, and the primary jaw crusher, main pumps
and the Company owned 70-tonne crane have been re-furbished.
- In the fall of 2006 the Company purchased 118 hectares of land for
the building of the mill facility, offices, hospital, ore storage
pads, concentrate storage and tailing dam installation and storage of
waste by-products. The area has now been stripped and surveyed at
1-metre intervals. Since March 2007 the Company has been excavating
the various sites in preparation for construction. To date the mill
site has been blasted and is ready for foundations, primary crusher
location is in the progress of being blasted, office and building
locations have been excavated, and ore stockpiling has been on going
for the past 4 weeks. Waste material from the mine is being used as
road ballast and fill.
- The Company has ordered and is expecting immediate delivery of five
office trailers, which join to become one unit, with a working space
of 230 m(3) to supply temporary accommodations for the base camp,
warehouse and office-construction-supervision personnel during the
construction of the mill facility.
- The Company has awarded Telecom of México the communications contract
for the mill site facility for the installation of a main
communications tower, which is currently in construction and will
supply telephone lines, internet connections and video feed for mill
site surveillance.
- The construction of the foundations for the ball mills, crusher
buildings and mill floatation facility is scheduled to begin July 15,
2007 with the outside building shells to be completed by September 1,
2007.
- The Company has engaged CEMEX of Mazatlan to set up a mobile cement
plant and provide three cement trucks to supply the 3,000 m(3) of
cement required for construction footings and foundations. CEMEX's
subcontractor SORIA will supply five trucks per/day for the
2,100 m(3) of crushed gravel and 1,700 m(3) of sand required for the
cement.
- Current ore stockpile inventory consists of 20,000 tonnes at mill
site, 5,000 tonnes at the Nuestra Senora portal and 10,000 tonnes
within the mine.
- As outlined in the PFS, the initial commissioning of the mill
facility is scheduled from December 2007 to the end of February 2008.
From March 1, 2008 until May 2008 the mill throughput is projected to
be 500 tonnes/day (TPD) and from June 2008 onwards mill throughput is
scheduled to be at 1,000 TPD.
- The milling facility will have the potential for easily increasing
throughput to 2,000 TPD and while operating at 1,000 TPD, mill
construction will continue to equip the facility for the designed
maximum throughput.
- At present, during one 10-hour shift the Company is capable of moving
1,536 tonnes of waste/ore from stope development and preparation plus
development ore from the underground Hoag Zone to the mill site. This
consists of 8 trucks containing 24 tonnes per truck making 8 trips
per shift. This supports management's view that the Company can
easily haul from underground the initial 1,000 tonnes per day
initially projected for mill feed and, with two shifts per day could
supply a 2,000 TPD mill facility.
- The planned initial mining will start from the lower grade Hoag zone
where primary and secondary blocks have been outlined. Primary blocks
contain 56,000 tonnes and long hole drilling of the blocks from the
9th level to the 10th level (30 metres) will begin in August, 2007
and the first blasting of blocks is slated for October, 2007.
- The purpose of starting with ore from the lower grade Hoag area is
that for the mill commissioning and initial start up period the
recoveries will not be optimized, and as such the Company does not
want to lose higher grade mineralization to the tailings. Once mill
recoveries have been optimized the Company will begin to mine and
blend in the higher grade Nuestra Senora mineralization.
- Currently the Company is mining 2,000 tonnes per month of development
ore from the Hoag zone area in preparation for production and will
ramp up to full mining in October 2007.
- As of the end of May 2007 total underground development of the main
4.5 x 5 metre Nuestra Senora ramp stands at 1,469.8 metres
(1.4 kilometres) plus 2,662.8 metres of 4 x 4 metre cross-cuts and
access points.
- The Company currently has four underground diamond drills performing
in-fill delineation drilling for areas of exploitation as well as
exploration drilling.
- Currently the Company is looking at various commercial smelter
alternatives which could improve the net smelter returns received.
- The PFS estimates Pre-Production Capital Expenditures of
US$26.5 million for 2007 and the first quarter of 2008.
- The Company currently has over $18 million in working capital with no
debt. All warrants are in the money and if exercised would bring in
an additional $26 million of working capital. The Company is also in
discussions with metal brokers with a view to potentially forward
selling certain by-product metals and has been approached concerning
bridge loan financing. The company does not currently anticipate it
will need to undertake additional equity financing to fund the Pre-
Production Capital Expenditures
>>
President, Mr. D. Roger Scammell, PGeo, is the Company's Qualified Person for the Nuestra Senora project. Mr. Scammell is responsible for the current exploration and development program and has reviewed the content of this release.
ON BEHALF OF SCORPIO MINING CORPORATION
Peter J. Hawley
Chairman & CEO
This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the future price of silver, zinc, copper, lead and gold, the timing of construction and production activities, the mine life of the Nuestra Senora Project, the economic viability and estimated internal rate of return of the Nuestra Senora Project, the estimation of mineral reserves and mineral resources, the results of drilling, estimated future capital and operating costs, projected mineral recovery rates, requirements for additional financing and Scorpio Mining Corporation's commitment to, and plans for developing the Nuestra Senora Project. Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects"' or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "projects", "intends", "anticipates", or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or "variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "can", "could", "would", "might", or "will" be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Scorpio Mining Corporation to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the exploration and potential development and construction of the Nuestra Senora Project, risks related to international operations, construction delays and cost overruns, the actual results of current exploration, development and construction activities, conclusions of economic evaluations, changes in project parametres as plans continue to be refined, future prices of silver, zinc, copper, lead and gold, as well as those factors discussed in the sections relating to risk factors of our business filed in Scorpio Mining Corporation's required securities filings on SEDAR, including its Annual Information Form date March 27, 2007. Although Scorpio Mining Corporation has attempted to identify important factors that could cause results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended.
There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements will provide accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Scorpio Mining Corporation doses not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
SOURCE: Scorpio Mining Corporation
Glenn Little, Jackson Little Holdings Ltd.: (604) 930-4375, 1-888-930-4375, Email: jlconsulting@telus.net; Rich Kaiser, YES International: 1-800-631-8127, 001-757-306-6090 (outside North America), Email: yes@yesinternational.com
Copyright (C) 2007 CNW Group. All rights reserved.