TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 15, 2015) - Emerita Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE:EMO) (the "Company" or "Emerita") has submitted detailed technical documentation for the final phase of the Aznalcóllar deposit public tender. Emerita is one of only two companies to qualify for the final round of bidding for the project. The Government of Andalusia and the Province of Seville announced the public tender for the past producing property (Concurso público para la adjudicación de la explotación de la reserva de Aznalcóllar en la provincia de Sevilla) in 2014 (see news release dated May 22, 2014). On December 16th 2014, Emerita submitted a detailed technical proposal, which was the final requirement for the public tender process. The regional government is expected to take up to three months to evaluate the project proposals submitted by Emerita and the other bidder and under the prescribed process will award the tender by March 16th, 2015.
The Aznalcóllar Project is a past producing property within the famous Iberian Pyrite Belt that hosted the Aznalcóllar and Los Frailes open pit zinc-lead-silver mines (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Iberian Pyrite Belt. Aznalcóllar Location Map: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/987629.jpg
The focus of the project is re-development of the Los Frailes deposit which was developed in the mid 1990s. The historical open pit mineral resource as calculated by the previous operator of the mine was estimated to be 71 million tonnes grading 3.86% zinc, 2.18% lead, 0.34% copper and 60 ppm silver (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Deposit locations at the Aznalcóllar Project: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/987629b.jpg
Reports by the operation's mine department and a review of the diamond drilling data for the mine indicate the existence of a higher grade portion of the resource that is estimated to contain 20 million tonnes grading 6.66% zinc, 3.87% lead, 0.29% copper and 84 ppm silver. The Aznalcollar and Los Frailes deposits are open for further expansion by drilling at depth, as historical drilling was primarily constrained to depths accessible by open pit mining. A qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 has not done sufficient work on behalf of Emerita to classify the historical estimate reported above as current mineral resources or mineral reserves and Emerita is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The historical estimate should not be relied upon. A summary of the historical resource estimate is available on the Government of Andalucia's web site in a report prepared by the prior operator of the Aznalcóllar Project entitled "Proyecto de Explotacion Yacimiento Los Frailes, Memoria Andaluza de Piritas, Boliden- Apirsa, Octubre 1994" (Los Frailes Development project Report, Boliden-Apirsa, October 1994) along with subsequent resource estimate updates, the latest being from 2000. The Los Frailes operation was only in production for approximately 1.5 years when a tailings dam failure along with low metal prices caused the former operator to shut down the project. The Government subsequently completed reclamation and took ownership of the site. Since the mine was only in production for a short period, most of the deposit remains intact for future development.
Emerita submitted a detailed technical proposal for a conceptual underground mining operation that covers all aspects of the future project development, including a major focus on the environment and water management, exploration, mine development, beneficiation and social impact and improvements. The comprehensive submission comprises 17 volumes of technical documentation and 16 volumes of maps and site plans. The work was completed by a team of 80 people including Emerita and Forbes & Manhattan technical personnel, as well as leading Spanish and international consulting companies. Should the Company's bid be successful, Emerita intends to commence work immediately upon receiving appropriate permits to carry out drilling on the property and complete an NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate required for the completion of a feasibility study in support of development of a mining operation at the site.
The proposed mining method would be cut and fill with paste back-fill to return mine waste to the voids created by the underground mining. The backfill process would prevent the construction of new dumps. The environmental improvements incorporated into the proposal include the improvement of the existing water treatment plant, the construction of a new water treatment plant, restoration of the Aznalcóllar open pit and dumps and recovery of animal and plant habitats. The Company developed the technical proposal based on a database collected from a number of sources including data provided by the Government of Andalucia comprising drillhole information, environmental data, and geotechnical and metallurgical data. Emerita understands the importance of community support for the project and has presented the proposal to the local community of Aznalcóllar, local and national union representatives, the Andalusia business community and local and national government agencies, among other institutions. Emerita's project proposal and approach has seen strong support from these important stakeholders.
According to Joaquin Merino, P.Geo, Emerita's President and CEO, "Emerita's team has a great deal of experience with deposits similar to the Aznalcóllar deposits, including successful mine developments in the Matagami and Bathurst mining camps in Canada. We have a strong technical team based in our Seville office that put together an excellent proposal incorporating the most innovative technology and processes available to the industry globally. The Company has dedicated a substantial amount of economic and human resources to prepare what we consider the best possible proposal for the project. We have worked hard to understand technical aspects but more importantly also the social and environmental aspects of the project. Emerita's team is confident that Aznalcóllar can be developed in a responsible manner that benefits all stakeholders."
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Joaquin Merino, P.Geo, President and CEO of the Company and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators.
About Emerita Resources Corp.
Emerita is a natural resource company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties in Europe, with a primary focus on exploring the Las Morras and Sierra Alta properties in Spain. The Company's corporate office and technical team are based in Sevilla, Spain with an administrative office in Toronto, Canada.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information
This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding the anticipated or implied success of the Company in the tender process, the anticipating timing of the tender process, historical mineral resource estimates for the Aznacollar property, the potential of the Aznacollar property and the Company's future plans. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward- looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Emerita, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: general business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; the actual results of current exploration activities; risks associated with operation in foreign jurisdictions; ability to successfully integrate the purchased properties; foreign operations risks; and other risks inherent in the mining industry. Although Emerita has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be 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 information. Emerita does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
NEITHER 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.