Monument Starts Mining and Processing Oxide Materials at Buffalo Reef Intercepts 4.91 g/t Gold over 14.3m in Recent Drilling Results

VANCOUVER, April 15, 2013 /CNW/ - Monument Mining Limited (TSX-V: MMY and FSE: D7Q1) "Monument" or the "Company" is pleased to report that recent drill assay results from its ongoing drilling program at Buffalo Reef continue to define and extend the oxide and sulfide resources located next to its producing Selinsing open pit gold mine in Pahang, Malaysia. Delivery of oxide material from Buffalo Reef to the Selinsing plant started in February 2013 and processing of these ores commenced in earnest in early March, 2013.

ASSAY HIGHLIGHTS:

• MBRDD034 intersected 9.0 meters (9.5-18.5m) at 6.60 g/t gold in oxide and two separate underlying sulphide zones of 2.9m (71.0-73.9m) at 3.22 g/t Au and 7.4m (75.6-83.0m) at 3.88 g/t Au;
• MBRDD036 intersected  14.3m (0-14.3m) at 4.91 g/t gold in oxide;
• MBRRC173 intersected 3.0m (13.0-16.0m) at 2.56 g/t Au and 10.0m (22.0-32.0m) at 5.63 g/t Au in oxide; and
• MBRRC175 intersected 7.0m (22.0-29.0m) at 3.71 g/t Au in oxide and an underlying zone of 7.0m (29.0-36.0m) at 3.63 g/t Au in sulfide.

Monument started its Buffalo Reef exploration program in 2010 with an initial $0.8 million budget for 5,700 meters of drilling in 33 holes.  As of December 2012 a total of 13,516 meters in 178 holes have been drilled:

2010-October 2011: 947 meters in 8 holes
Oct 2011-June 2012: 3,172 meters in 17 holes
July 2012-Dec 2012: 9,397 meters in 153 holes 

The first 8 drill holes (MBRDD001 to MBRDD008) totaling 947 meters were drilled for metallurgy testing and were completed by October 2011. Drilling since October 2011 focused on exploration and resource definition adjacent to and along strike from the known North, Central and South resources, including the area between Buffalo Reef South and the Selinsing pit.

The FY2013 Buffalo Reef drilling, budgeted at US$4.44 million, not including assays and labor, commenced July 1, 2012 and includes 5,171m reverse circulation (RC) drilling and 10,825m diamond drilling. As of December 31, 2012, 50 diamond drill holes (MBRDD025 to MBRDD073) totaling 4,785.9m and 93 RC drill holes (MBRRC167 to MBRRC259) totaling 4,611m have been completed. From January 1, 2013 to March 31, 2013 a total of 26 drill holes totaling 3225.8m have been completed at Buffalo Reef (sampling and/or assays for these drill holes are in progress). There are currently 3 exploration drills operating at Selinsing and Buffalo Reef.

Assaying of early Buffalo Reef drill holes was delayed due to prioritization of Selinsing exploration and production drill holes. Table 1 below lists assays received as of December 31, 2012. Drill results for portions of MBRDD001 to MBRDD008 were previously reported in the 2011 NI 43-101 report by Snowden.   Assays for RC drill holes from MBRRC179 to MBRRC259 as well as several diamond drill holes are pending.  The full list of drill results and a drill hole location map are presented on the Company's website at www.MonumentMining.com.

Some of the better Buffalo Reef South drilling results are highlighted above. These drill results demonstrate that gold mineralization at the Buffalo Reef deposit continues at depth along several east-dipping structural zones.  Mineralization is hosted in an interbedded sequence of argillite, graphitic argillite, calcareous argillite, graphitic calcareous arenite, felsic tuff, and phyllite rocks with weak to moderate gold-bearing quartz+arsenopyrite±stibnite veins and stockwork veinlets.  Oxide materials exposed in the Buffalo Reef South resource are currently being mined and processed.

Buffalo Reef Mining and Metallurgy
Buffalo Reef South has been pre-stripped of overburden and is currently being mined.   Long term planning enabled the overburden to be used for the nearby TSF upgrade and precluded the need at this stage to establish a new waste dump. Buffalo Reef oxide materials are targeted to contribute approximately 13,000 tonnes of mill feed to the Selinsing mill on a monthly basis for the remaining FY2013.  Additional metallurgy testwork is currently in progress on sulfide refractory mineralization from the Buffalo Reef Central resource zone to confirm the excellent gold recovery results (using flotation, bio-oxidation, and CIL processing) achieved at Buffalo Reef South and North resource zones as published in the 2011 NI 43-101 Technical Report by Snowden.

The updated Selinsing and Buffalo Reef NI 43-101 resource and reserve is planned to be published soon.  This report will include an update of the Phase IV bio-oxidation mill plant expansion that will be required in order to process some of the more complex refractory sulfide materials.

QA/QC
The information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by Todd Johnson (MS, P.E.), Vice President of Exploration for Monument Mining Limited, who is also the Qualified Person as required by National Instrument 43-101 guidelines.  Todd Johnson has visited the Selinsing and Buffalo Reef sites several times since October 2011 to the present (last trip was in November 2012) to observe the drilling, sampling, and geological activities.

Drill holes at Buffalo Reef are being sampled and logged at site in a secured and fenced area. Most of the drill hole samples are shipped to SGS Malaysia at Port Klang, an accredited lab that complies with MS ISO/IEC 17025:2005 requirements, for sample preparation and analysis.  The samples are dried, crushed to 90% passing 4.0 mm and pulverized to 90% passing -75 microns and analyzed for:   Au fire assay (2 assay ton) using the FAA505 analysis method; and ICP Ag, ICP As, and ICP Sb.  As part of the Quality Control and Quality Assurance program, certified Au standards and non-certified blank materials are inserted approximately every 20 samples into the sample sequence.  Some of the Buffalo Reef drill holes are being assayed at the Selinsing Mine assay lab (not an accredited lab) operated by Monument staff using similar sample preparation and assay protocols.  Assay results reported in this press release are drill thicknesses but approximate true thickness as most drill holes are generally oriented at a magnetic azimuth of 270 degrees with an inclination of 50 to 70 degrees (near perpendicular to the strike and dip of the mineralization zones).  All reported diamond drill hole assay results in this press release are associated with recoveries greater than 80 pct.

Table 1. Summary of Buffalo Reef drill hole intercepts received as of December 31, 2012.

About Monument
Monument Mining Limited (TSX-V:MMY, FSE:D7Q1) is an established Canadian gold producer that owns and operates the Selinsing Gold Mine in Malaysia, with production cash costs among the lowest in the world.  Its experienced management team is committed to growth and is advancing several exploration and development projects in Malaysia, including the 100% owned, development stage, Mengapur Polymetalic Project. The Company employs 280 people in Malaysia and is committed to the highest standards of environmental management, social responsibility, and health and safety for its employees and neighboring communities.

Robert F. Baldock, President and CEO
Monument Mining Limited
Suite 910- 688 West Hastings Street
Vancouver B.C. Canada V6B 1P1

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Forward-Looking Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements about Monument Mining Limited ("Monument"), its business and future plans. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and include the timing of the proposed programs and events.  The forward-looking statements in this news release are subject to various risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.  These risks and certain other factors include, without limitation, the estimated cash cost per ounce of gold production and the estimated cash flows which may be generated from the operations, general economic factors and other factors that may be beyond the control of Monument; statements regarding the future price of gold; the estimation of mineral resources; conclusions of economic evaluation (including scoping studies); the realization of mineral resource estimates; the timing and amount of estimated future production, development and exploration; costs of future activities; capital and operating expenditures; success of exploration activities; mining or processing issues; currency exchange rates; government regulation of mining operations; and environmental risks. 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 the Company 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; foreign operations risks; other risks inherent in the mining industry and other risks described in the annual information form of the Company, which is available under the profile of the Company on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company 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. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE Monument Mining Limited