Norra Metals Corp V.NORA.H

RE: Orex halted - Orex Minerals, Astral Mining to

[blue_sea]

 

Orex Minerals, Astral Mining to merge

2012-10-15 11:49 ET - News Release

Mr. Gary Cope of Orex reports

OREX AND ASTRAL ANNOUNCE MERGER BY WAY OF PLAN OF ARRANGEMENT

Orex Minerals Inc. and Astral Mining Corp. have agreed to merge and form a combined gold and silver exploration and development company that will focus on the advanced-stage Barsele gold project in Sweden, the Coneto silver-gold project and the Los Crestones gold-silver-copper project in Mexico.

The transaction (the "Transaction") will be completed by way of a plan of arrangement, or other business combination, in which Orex will acquire all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Astral. Each Astral shareholder will receive one common share of Orex for every twelve common shares of Astral held. All outstanding Astral options and warrants will be exchanged for options and warrants of Orex in an amount and at exercise prices adjusted in accordance with the same exchange ratio.

Merged Entity Highlights

• Orex's key asset is the advanced-stage Barsele Gold Project located near Storuman, Vasterbottens Lan, approximately 600 km north of Stockholm, Sweden. Barsele has a NI 43-101 Compliant Resource Estimate (using 0.6 g/t Au cut-off) that has defined: 382,000 oz Au Indicated @ 1.2 g/t Au (9.97 million tonnes grading 1.19 g/t Au) and 648,000 oz Au Inferred @ 1.0 g/t Au (21.04 million tonnes grading 0.96 g/t Au). (Feb. 28, 2011)
• Orex's Coneto Silver-Gold Project is adjacent to the village of Coneto de Comonfort, centrally positioned within the "Mexican Silver Trend", approximately 100 km north of the city of Durango, Mexico. Orex has signed an Association Agreement with Fresnillo PLC to explore the Coneto property with joint management of the presently ongoing Phase-II Diamond Drill program. Fresnillo PLC is Orex's second largest shareholder.
• Astral's key assets are the Los Crestones Project in western Mexico, and the Jumping Josephine Project in southeastern British Columbia.
  • -- The Los Crestones Project is an early stage gold-silver-copper property located in the gold-silver belt of the Sierra Madre Occidental of Sinaloa State, western Mexico. The property totals 4,168 ha and is located approximately 110km from the state capital of Culiacan. The property hosts numerous mineralized showings and small scale workings and is prospective for vein and breccia-hosted low sulphidation epithermal gold and silver. Best drill results to date included 5 m averaging 39 g/t Au, 93 g/t Ag and 2.13% Cu.
  • The Jumping Josephine Project is a prospective exploration property with the potential to host an economic gold deposit and warrants further advanced exploration work. It is a large contiguous claim holding which covers 35,735 ha in the West Kootenay region of Southeastern British Columbia. The area is within a mining district boasting historical production in excess of 9 Moz of high-grade gold. The property is well-located close to existing infrastructure and approximately 40km north of Teck-Cominco's smelting operations in Trail. Drilling to date has identified a NI 43-101 Compliant Resource Estimate (using 0.5g/t Au cut-off) that has defined: 34,000 oz Au Indicated (363,000 tonnes grading 2.95 g/t Au) and 30,000 oz Au Inferred (448,000 tonnes grading 2.08 g/t Au) (June 24, 2011). Astral has a 60% joint venture interest in the Project

etc.