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TORONTO, Oct. 16, 2013 /CNW/ - Ecuador Gold & Copper Corp. (TSXV: EGX),
(the "Company" or "EGX") is pleased to report that it has completed a new updated mineral
resource estimate for the Company's Santa Barbara South Zone. As a
result, Indicated resources at the Condor Gold Project in Ecuador have
increased to approximately 6.4 million ounces of gold with an
additional Inferred resource of approximately 2.1 million ounces. The
new resource calculation at Santa Barbara South Zone incorporated
results from 11 additional drill holes completed up to August 31st, 2013.
Highlights:
-
The new mineral resource estimate at the Santa Barbara South Zone
incorporates drill results from 11 additional drill holes totaling
6,985m drilled since May 2013. The increased drill density and number
of drill holes has resulted in an expanded resource with new Indicated
resources and conversion of previously reported Inferred resources to
the Indicated category. Resources at Santa Barbara South now stand at
236.1 million tonnes at 0.57 g/t Au and 0.1% Cu (4.33 million ounces Au
and 520.0 million lbs. Cu) in the Indicated category and 102 million
tonnes at 0.50 g/t Au and 0.1% Cu (1.6 million ounces Au and 225
million lbs. Cu) in the Inferred category.
-
Indicated resources at the Condor Gold Project now total 318.9 million
tonnes at 0.62 g/t Au (6.365 million ounces Au) with a further 127.0
million tonnes at 0.52 g/t Au (2.067 million ounces Au) in the inferred
category at Santa Barbara South and North Zones, Los Cuyes, Soledad and
Enma. (For details of the previously reported resources see the
Company's technical report (the "Technical Report") prepared in accordance with national Instrument 43-101 Standards for
Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") dated effective July 23, 2013 and filed on SEDAR on September 5,
2013, available at www.sedar.com).
-
The El Hito copper porphyry project, situated 5km east of Santa Barbara
hosts an additional Inferred copper resource of 161 million tonnes of
0.31% Cu (1.1 billion lbs. Cu). For further details and a description
of El Hito, see the Company's NI-43-101 Technical Report at www.sedar.com.
-
Continuing increases of the gold resources at the Santa Barbara deposit
confirm the emergence of Santa Barbara as the Company's flagship
project in Ecuador.
The new resource estimates were calculated by Phil Jones of Al Maynard
and Associates Pty Ltd. in Perth, Australia and incorporate drill
results from 11 new drill holes (6,985m) drilled since May 2013 by EGX
and all assays up to the end of August 2013. The Company's updated
resource table for Santa Barbara is presented below in Table 1 with
previously released resources summarized in Table 2. Al Maynard and
Associates Pty Ltd. were also responsible for the previous resource
estimates calculated in the Company's NI 43-101 Technical Report dated
effective July 23, 2013 and filed on SEDAR on September 5, 2013,
available at www.sedar.com. A new NI 43-101 technical report with full details will be filed on www.sedar.com within 45 days of the date of this news release. Location maps and
plans with simplified geology, collar locations and drill hole traces
are available for reference on the Company's web site at www.ecuadorgoldandcopper.com.
Glenn Laing, President and CEO of Ecuador Gold and Copper Corp.
comments:
"The newly updated resource estimate at our Condor Gold Project
represents a substantial increase in the Company's resource base and in
particular at the Santa Barbara South Zone. We are extremely
encouraged by the addition of new gold resources at the Santa Barbara
South Zone and the upgrade in the quality of the resource estimate to
now include Indicated gold resources. The Company has completed 17,321
meters of new drilling on the Condormining concessions between August
2012 and the end of August 2013. EGX boasts close to 2 million ounces
of indicated gold resource in our epithermal gold deposits at Los Cuyes
and Soledad in the north and in the south 4.33 million ounces of
indicated gold resources at Santa Barbara plus an additional 1.745
million ounces of inferred resources at Santa Barbara. We also have a
further inferred resource of 500,000 tonnes of copper (1.1 billion
pounds) at El Hito in our resource inventory. Our Condor Gold Project
continues to meet and exceed our expectations and we believe it is
proving to be one of the most exciting advanced Exploration projects in
South America. We estimate our exploration costs of discovery to be in
the order of $2.00 per ounce of gold in 2012 and 2013."
Table 1: SANTA BARBARA GOLD-COPPER PORPHYRY
RESOURCE BREAKDOWN
|
|
|
Tonnes
(000 t)
|
Grade
Au (g/t)
|
Ag (g/t)
|
Cu (%)
|
Au
(000 oz)
|
Ag
(000 oz)
|
Cu
(lbs)
|
|
GOLD RESOURCE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Indicated:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Santa Barbara South Zone
|
*
|
236,100
|
0.57
|
0.85
|
0.10
|
4,330
|
-
|
520 million
|
|
Total Indicated GOLD
|
|
236,100
|
0.57
|
|
|
4,330
|
-
|
|
|
GOLD RESOURCE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Inferred:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Santa Barbara South Zone
|
*
|
102,000
|
0.5
|
0.9
|
0.1
|
1,600
|
-
|
225 million
|
|
Santa Barbara North Zone
|
|
5,000
|
0.9
|
|
|
145
|
-
|
|
|
Total Inferred GOLD
|
|
107,000
|
0.52
|
|
|
1,745
|
-
|
|
|
Notes:
|
|
1)
|
The mineral resource estimate has been completed pursuant to NI 43-101.
Mr. Phil Jones is an independent Qualified Person as defined by NI
43-101 and its companion policy 43-101CP. New resource estimates at
Santa Barbara South Zone are in bold and shown with an asterisk (*).
|
|
2)
|
The definitions of Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources reported
here are as defined in the CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and
Mineral Reserves adopted by the CIM Council, as amended.
|
|
3)
|
Inferred Resource estimates have a great amount of uncertainty as to
their existence and economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be
assumed that all or any part of an Inferred Mineral Resource will ever
be upgraded to a higher category. Under NI 43-101, estimates of
Inferred Mineral Resources may not form the basis of feasibility or
pre-feasibility studies except for a preliminary economic assessment or
scoping study.
|
|
4)
|
Sums may not add up due to rounding as all quantities are rounded to the
appropriate number of significant figures.
|
|
5)
|
Tonnage and grades are in metric units. Contained gold and silver
ounces are reported as troy ounces, contained copper as imperial
pounds.
|
|
6)
|
Gold resources at Santa Barbara have been calculated using a 0.25 g/t Au
cutoff grade. Inverse distance cubed (ID3) algorithms using wide
search ellipses and confined to geological wireframe controls were
used. Block size estimated is 20 x 20 x 10m.
|
|
7)
|
Maximum search distances used to calculate Indicated resources are 100m
at Santa Barbara while Inferred resources were calculated using maximum
distances of 100-200m from the block being estimated.
|
|
8)
|
The new calculations of Indicated and Inferred Resource shown above are
based on results from 28 diamond drill holes at Santa Barbara
(13,207m).
|
Table 2: CONDOR GOLD AND COPPER PROJECT
RESOURCE BREAKDOWN (Incorporating Updated Santa Barbara South Zone
Resources)
|
|
|
Tonnes
(000 t)
|
Grade
Au (g/t)
|
Ag (g/t)
|
Cu (%)
|
Au
(000 oz)
|
Ag
(000 oz)
|
Cu
( lbs)
|
|
GOLD RESOURCE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Indicated:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Los Cuyes
|
|
46,848
|
0.82
|
6.19
|
|
1,235
|
9,323
|
|
|
Soledad
|
|
34,900
|
0.63
|
7.21
|
|
707
|
8,090
|
|
|
Enma
|
|
1,005
|
2.88
|
32.83
|
|
93
|
1,061
|
|
|
Santa Barbara South Zone
|
*
|
236,100
|
0.57
|
0.85
|
0.1
|
4,330
|
-
|
|
|
Total Indicated GOLD
|
|
318,853
|
0.62
|
2.43
|
|
6,365
|
18,474
|
|
|
GOLD RESOURCE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Inferred:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Soledad
|
|
20,000
|
0.5
|
6.93
|
|
322
|
4,456
|
|
|
Santa Barbara South Zone
|
*
|
102,000
|
0.5
|
0.90
|
0.1
|
1,600
|
-
|
|
|
Santa Barbara North Zone
|
|
5,000
|
0.9
|
|
|
145
|
-
|
|
|
Total Inferred GOLD
|
|
127,000
|
0.52
|
1.09
|
|
2,067
|
4,456
|
|
|
COPPER RESOURCE
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Inferred:
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
El Hito
|
|
161,000
|
|
|
0.31
|
|
|
1.1 billion
|
|
Total Inferred COPPER
|
|
161,000
|
|
|
0.31
|
|
|
1.1 billion
|
|
Notes:
|
|
1)
|
All mineral resource estimates shown above have been completed pursuant
to NI 43-101. Mr. Phil Jones is an independent Qualified Person as
defined by NI 43-101 and its companion policy 43-101CP. New resource
estimates at Santa Barbara South Zone are in bold and shown with an
asterisk (*).
|
|
2)
|
Details of previous calculations and resource estimates at Los Cuyes,
Soledad, Enma, Santa Barbara North Zone and El Hito are reported in
detail in the Company's NI 43-101 Technical Report dated effective July
23, 2013 and filed on SEDAR on September 5, 2013, available at www.sedar.com.
|
|
3)
|
The definitions of Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources reported
here are as defined in the CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and
Mineral Reserves adopted by the CIM Council, as amended.
|
|
4)
|
Inferred Resource estimates have a great amount of uncertainty as to
their existence and economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be
assumed that all or any part of an Inferred Mineral Resource will ever
be upgraded to a higher category. Under NI 43-101, estimates of
Inferred Mineral Resources may not form the basis of feasibility or
pre-feasibility studies except for a preliminary economic assessment or
scoping study.
|
|
5)
|
Sums may not add up due to rounding as all quantities are rounded to the
appropriate number of significant figures.
|
|
6)
|
Tonnage and grades are in metric units. Contained gold and silver
ounces are reported as troy ounces, contained copper as imperial
pounds.
|
|
7)
|
Gold resources have been calculated using a 0.25 g/t Au cutoff grade
while the copper resources at El Hito are reported above a 0.2% Cu
cutoff grade.
|
|
|
|
Quality Assurance
The Company has implemented a quality assurance and quality control
program to ensure that the transport, sampling and analysis of all
samples are conducted in accordance with the best possible practices.
The QA/QC program has been described for each previous release of drill
hole results on the project (see recent news releases at www.ecuadorgoldandcopper.com). In preparation for the resource estimate, the Company hired
independent consultants to review the QA/QC program. Further details
will be released in a technical report prepared in accordance with NI
43-101 that will be posted at www.sedar.com within 45 days of the date of this news release.
Qualified Person
Mit Tilkov, P.Geo., Vice-President Exploration of Ecuador Gold and
Copper Corp. is a qualified person, as defined by NI 43-101, supervised
the project field work, and is responsible for the preparation of the
technical information in this news release.
Phil Jones, BAppSc (Geol), MAIG, MAusIMM, of Al Maynard and Associates
prepared the mineral resource estimate. He is an independent Qualified
Person, as required by NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the
contents of this news release.
Cautionary Note
The Company has not completed a preliminary economic assessment or
feasibility study of the Condor Gold Project under NI 43-101, and there
is no assurance that the exploration and subsequent development
operations of the Condor Gold Project will be economically or
technically viable.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider
(as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange)
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE Ecuador Gold and Copper Corp.
