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TORONTO, Nov. 29, 2013 /CNW/ - Ecuador Gold & Copper Corp. (TSXV: EGX), (the "Company" or "EGX") is pleased to report that it has filed on SEDAR its new current "NI
43-101 Technical Report on the Condor Gold and Copper Project located
in Zamora, Ecuador", dated effective October 16, 2013 (the "Technical Report") in support of an updated mineral resource estimate for the Company's
Condor Gold and Copper Project in the Zamora Gold and Copper Belt,
Southeast Ecuador of approximately 6.4 million ounces in the Indicated
category and approximately 2.1 million ounces in the Inferred category.
The Technical Report was prepared and is filed on SEDAR under the
Company's profile at www.sedar.com in support of the updated mineral resource estimates announced in the
Company's news release on October 16, 2013 (the "October News Release"). The following is a restatement of the resources announced in the
Company's October News Release.
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 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 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. Location maps and plans with simplified geology, collar locations and
drill hole traces are available for reference on the Company's website
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 resources 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 gold 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 NI 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 at El Hito
|
|
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 NI 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. Indicated and Inferred copper resources for Santa Barbara
South are shown in Table 1, above.
|
Santa Barbara North Zone Drilling
On November 5th, 2013 EGX reported that it has mobilized two drill rigs to the
Company's Condor Gold and Copper Project to execute a 3,000 meter drill
program that will target expansion of resources around the Santa
Barbara North Zone, approximately 1,000 meters to the northeast of the
mineralized centre of the Santa Barbara South Zone.
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
are included in the Technical Report posted at www.sedar.com.
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
Pty Ltd. 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.
