Northern Vertex Announces Amended and Updated Resource Estimate for Moss Mine Gold-Silver Project
New Resource Estimate to be included in NI 43-101 Preliminary Economic Assessment Technical Report
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 03/12/13 -- Northern Vertex Mining Corp. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: NEE) announces that, as a result of a review by the British Columbia Securities Commission, the Company is issuing the following news release to correct and update the recent disclosure related to the Company's Moss Mine Gold-Silver Project resource estimate. The Company retracts the resource estimate contained in news release of February 19, 2013 which should not be relied upon for any purpose. That estimate reflected the Company's initial attempt to estimate the magnitude of the error discovered in the September 2012 resource model. Based on additional information and ongoing analyses related to the Company's preliminary economic assessment work, the Company is now in a position to provide an updated resource estimate which has been completed in accordance with the requirements of Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (Disclosure Standards for Mineral Projects).
The new resource estimate for the Moss Mine Gold-Silver Project includes:
-- 12,611,000 tonnes of Measured Resources with an average grade of 0.85
grams/tonne Au and 9.10 grams/tonne Ag, or 1.03 grams/tonne gold
equivalent ("AuEq")
-- 9,978,000 tonnes of Indicated Resources with an average grade of 0.60
grams/tonne Au and 6.68 grams/tonne Ag, or 0.73 grams/tonne AuEq
-- 22,589,000 tonnes of Measured and Indicated Resources with an average
grade of 0.74 grams/tonne Au and 8.03 grams/tonne Ag, or 0.90
grams/tonne AuEq
-- 3,957,000 tonnes of Inferred Resources with an average grade of 0.57
grams/tonne Au and 6.65 grams/tonne Ag, or 0.64 grams/tonne AuEq
To reiterate, the Technical Report dated October 25, 2012 effective date September 10, 2012 should not be relied upon and a new, updated, Technical Report, incorporating a Preliminary Economic Assessment, will be filed on www.sedar.com within approximately ten days. It will also be available on the Company's website at www.northernvertex.com.
The new NI 43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate includes 418,760 AuEq oz of Measured Resources with average grade of 1.03 grams/tonne AuEq, 234,840 AuEq oz of Indicated Resources with an average grade of 0.73 grams/tonne AuEq and 82,020 AuEq oz of Inferred Resources with average grade at 0.64 grams/ tonne AuEq. The new, updated, numbers are detailed in the table below.
Metal Mining Consultants Inc. ("MMC") Summarized Resource Estimate
For Moss Mine Gold-Silver Project at a 0.3 g/t Au Cutoff
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grade
-----------------
AuEq Au Ag
Resource Au Eq Au Ag -----------------
Category (i)(oz) (oz) (oz) Tonnes (gpt) (gpt) (gpt)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Measured 418,760 345,000 3,688,000 12,611,000 1.03 0.85 9.10
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Indicated 234,840 192,000 2,142,000 9,978,000 0.73 0.60 6.68
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
M+I 653,600 537,000 5,830,000 22,589,000 0.90 0.74 8.03
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inferred 82,020 66,000 801,000 3,957,000 0.64 0.57 6.65
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Gold equivalency is based on a silver:gold ratio of 50:1 and assumes
100% recovery of all metals.
-- Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated
economic viability. There is no certainty that all or any part of the
Mineral Resources estimated will be converted into Mineral Reserves
estimates.
-- Mineral resource tonnage and contained metal have been rounded to
reflect the accuracy of the estimate and numbers may not add due to
rounding.
-- Resources were based on 36,805 meters of drilling in 658 exploration
drill holes and 530 meters of channel sampling. There were a total of
7,677-5 meter composite samples used in the estimation of gold and
silver. MMC used Inverse Power Distance (ID3) as the preferred
estimation technique for the Moss Project.
-- MMC capped gold assays, prior to compositing 5 meter samples, at 17
grams per tonne and silver at 140 grams per tonne in order to limit the
effect of high grade outlier grades in the estimation of mineral
resources.
-- MMC applied Industry Standards in the selection of the drill hole and
assay information gathered from historic and current exploration
programs in its determination of Measured Mineral Resources, Indicated
Resources and Inferred Resources.
The new, updated, Moss Mine Gold-Silver Project Resource Estimate was prepared by Metal Mining Consultants Inc. ("MMC") (formerly Scott E. Wilson Consulting, Inc.), Scott E. Wilson and Dr. Stewart D. Redwood, FIMMM, both Qualified Persons as defined by NI 43-101 for those who have prepared or supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information contained therein. CDM Smith, International Consulting Engineers independently retained by the Company, has confirmed they have reviewed and verified the new, updated, Resource Estimate. The corrected and updated resource estimates will be incorporated into a new NI 43-101 compliant technical report which will include a Preliminary Economic Assessment of the Moss Mine Gold-Silver Project co-authored by CDM Smith and MMC.
The new, updated resource disclosed in this news release is based on all technical information available to MMC as of March 5, 2013, the new "effective date", and has allowed for better geological interpretation of the Moss Mine Gold-Silver Project deposit.
New technical information incorporated in the new estimate includes the following:
-- Drill hole information from 328 additional drill holes
-- Drilling density has been increased to approximately 15-30 meters in
most parts of the deposit, thereby resulting in increased confidence in
the geology required to move inferred mineral resources to measured and
indicated mineral resources
-- Approximately 8,000 additional meters of drilling
-- Increase in maximum intercepts used in estimations from maximum 3
intercepts to maximum 10 intercepts
-- An additional 1,805 composite drill samples utilized for a total of
7,677-5 meter composite drill samples
Dick Whittington, President and CEO Northern Vertex Mining Corp., commented, "We have rectified the resource modeling errors previously reported. We are confident in the integrity of the data going forward. Our new, updated, resource model is robust and incorporates all previous as well as new drilling results which post-date the September 2012 technical report and resource estimate. The release of the Preliminary Economic Assessment for Phase I and Phase II is still on target and is expected to be released in March."
About Northern Vertex:
Northern Vertex Mining Corp. is a Canadian based exploration and mining company focused on the development of the Moss Mine Gold-Silver Project located in NW Arizona, USA. The Company comprises an experienced management team with a strong background in all aspects of acquisition, exploration, development, operations and financing of mining projects worldwide. The Moss Mine Gold-Silver Project is a potential heap leach, open pit project being advanced under a three phase business plan, specifically designed to ensure that technical, economic, permitting and funding requirements are met prior to each phase proceeding. The Company is focused on working effectively and respectfully with our stakeholders in the vicinity of the historical Moss Mine and enhancing the capacity of the local communities in the area.
Qualified Person:
The foregoing geological disclosure has also been reviewed by Mr. Colin McKenzie, General Manager of Exploration for Northern Vertex and a Qualified Person ("QP") for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101 (Disclosure Standards for Mineral Projects).
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
J.R.H. (Dick) Whittington, President & CEO
Cautionary Note About Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains statements about our future business and planned activities. These are "forward-looking" because we have used what we know and expect today to make a statement about the future. Forward-looking statements including but are not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work and analyses. Forward-looking statements usually include words such as may, intend, plan, expect, anticipate, believe or other similar words. We believe the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, actual events and results could be substantially different because of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business or events that happen after the date of this news release. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. As a general policy, we do not update forward-looking statements except as required by securities laws and regulations
Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors:
This news release uses the terms "Measured", "Indicated", and "Inferred" resources. U.S. investors are advised that while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize them. "Inferred Mineral Resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and as to their 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 Canadian rules, estimates of Inferred Mineral Resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of Measured or Indicated Mineral Resources will ever be converted into Mineral Reserves. U.S. Investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of a Mineral Resource is economically or legally mineable.
2013 number 06
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.
Contacts:
Northern Vertex Mining Corp.
Investor Relations
604-601-3656 or 1-855-633-8798
www.northernvertex.com