Latin American Minerals' Paso Yobai Project Advances With Additional High Grade Gold Intersections and Continuing Plant Construction
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 05/25/11 -- Latin American Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE: LAT) (the 'Company') announces interim drill results and pilot plant implementation advances for the Paso Yobai Gold Project, located in Paraguay.
The Paso Yobai district has been an historic small scale gold producer for 10 years, producing an estimated 150,000 oz. from surface workings. Over the last four years, the Company has mapped a 100 sq-km epithermal mineral system on its Paso Yobai mineral concessions. The gold-bearing Discovery Trend is the Company's most advanced target in this large system.
The Company is developing the Discovery Trend Pilot Plant operation on the 70% owned Minera Guaira mining concession, part of the Company's larger Paso Yobai Gold Project. The objective of the Pilot Plant is to facilitate resource evaluation the Discovery Trend, which is characterised by coarse gold mineralization extending from surface to greater than 100m depth. The 'nuggety' distribution of the gold complicates conventional resource estimation by diamond drilling due to the small sample volume extracted in exploration holes.
The Company's strategy to develop the Discovery Trend target is to detect and delineate mineral shoots by trenching and diamond drilling, then to verify the grades of these zones by bulk sampling. The Discovery Trend Pilot Plant will allow the Company to expand these operations to a commercial scale in order to accelerate the development of a resource. To prepare the initial evaluation pit area, localized delineation drilling began in February, 2011.
The Stage 1 delineation drill programme was designed to increase the sampling density of previous drilling, yielding geologic information on 25m sections through a 200m zone of the much larger Discovery Trend. The results from the initial 2000m of diamond drilling are not yet complete, thus interim results are provided at this time.
Highlights of the delineation drill program include:
-- Drilling has defined the continuity of ore shoots along more than 200m
of the Discovery Zone, from surface to approximately 120m depth,
-- Visible gold was found at 121m depth in DDH-53, the deepest occurrence
of visible gold at the project to date.
-- Gold mineralization was encountered in all of the holes analyzed so far
in this drill campaign.
-- Multiple mineralized zones were crossed in DDH-49, 51, 52, 54, 56
and 58.
-- Visible gold was encountered in DDH 53, 54, 56 and 58.
-- The best intersection to date in this drill campaign was 17.03 grams
over 2.55 metres in DDH-49.
Table 1 provides a summary of the most significant intersections tested in new drilling.
Miles Rideout, President and CEO of Latin American Minerals, summarized 'We continue to get excellent results from the Discovery Trend, characterized by high grade gold in near surface ore shoots. Of particular importance is that the tight drill spacing now appears to resolve the plunge of ore shoots, facilitating drill targeting to depth.'
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Width (m) Observation
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DDH-49 66.30 68.85 2.55 17.03 fire assay
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DDH-51 77.50 78.20 0.70 2.67 fire assay
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DDH-53 121.02 121.52 0.50 17.02 fire assay
121.02 121.52 0.50 6.29 screen assay
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DDH-54 67.55 68.05 0.50 37.6 fire assay
76.80 77.30 0.50 1.42 fire assay
77.30 77.80 0.50 2.13 screen assay
77.80 78.30 0.50 1.22 fire assay
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DDH-56 81.35 81.95 1.64 4.77 fire assay
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DDH-58 83.10 83.90 0.80 2.52 screen assay
85.05 85.55 0.50 18.85 screen assay
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Table 1. Interim 2011 delineation drilling results for the Discovery Trend
target
Figure 1, linked to the bottom of the document, provides a composite view of Discovery Trend trench results (upper image) and historic and new drilling (lower image) over 1000m extent of the Discovery Trend. The complete table of interim drill results and the composite figure of trench and drill results (Figure 1) are posted on www.latinamericanminerals.com.
Also within the Minera Guaira concession, the Company continues to develop the 4500m long Discovery Trend gold target by mechanically excavating trenches along its unexplored northern extent to expose, map and sample new ore shoots. Drilling will continue on new targets as interpretation and modeling information becomes available.
The permitting and construction of the Pilot Plant continues on track to have the plant operational at the end of July, 2011. Significant developments associated with this undertaking include:
-- The environmental permit for mining on the concession has been received
from the Paraguayan authority.
-- Site and tailings dam construction are underway.
-- The mill and gravity-concentrator machinery for the plant is in final
assembly and testing stages with the manufacturer, Sepro Systems in
Canada and the UK. The pilot plant will be installed on site during July
2011.
-- The 2000m Stage 1delineation drill program has concluded in the area of
the initial evaluation pit. Interim drill results confirm the continuity
of high gold grades along the apparently elongated ore shoots.
-- Excavation of new trenches at 25m intervals along the gold-trend is
underway in the area of the initial evaluation pit. These trenches,
combined with the in-fill drilling, will allow the Company to produce
geologic sections at 25m intervals through the area of the initial
evaluation pit.
-- Small-scale bulk sampling program continues in historic and new
trenches, to produce more accurate grade measurements at a project where
the nugget effect is prominent.
Miles Rideout commented on the recent advances: 'The production of gold at Paso Yobai in the second half of 2011 will mark an important milestone. In addition to accelerating the resource estimate, it provides a starting point for up-scaled gold production at a future date.'
To view Figure 1, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/lat525g.pdf.
About the Company:
Latin American Minerals Inc. is a well-financed mineral exploration company focused on the acquisition and development of base mineral projects in highly prospective countries of South America. In addition to the Paso Yobai Gold Project, the Company's Itapoty Diamond Project and Chiriguelo REE/Niobium Project are also located in Paraguay.
Sampling and Analytical Protocols: The sampling and analytical protocols were established, implemented and supervised by or under the direction of Dr. Waldo Perez, the Company's internal Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. At the drill site, the core was placed in core boxes and delivered to a secure field core processing center. The core was 'split' using a diamond saw by experienced exploration technicians and logged by professional geologists. The typically sample interval was 1m and locally the interval was increased to 2m or decreased to 0.5m. The sample interval was designated by the project geologists. Half of the core was left in the core box as a permanent reference of the interval sampled and half of the designated sample interval was delivered to the Company's sample preparation facility, operated by Company technicians under the direct onsite supervision and QA/QC provided by professionals from ALS CHEMEX Laboratories (ALS). ALS is a certified laboratory with facilities in Santiago, Chile. The core samples were crushed, dried and split. A portion of the split sample was tagged and archived as coarse reject and the remaining portion ground to minus 200 mesh and shipped by bonded courier to ALS laboratories in La Serena, Chile. All samples were assayed for gold and multi-elements by ICP. Gold was analyzed by Fire Assay with AA finish using 50 gram sample. For the multi-elements the samples were dissolved in Aqua Regia at 120 degrees C and read in ICP-OES. Accuracy of results is tested through the systematic inclusion of blanks, duplicates and certified reference standards. Metallic screen assay analysis was employed in the cases where coarse visible gold was observed.
The statements made in this press release that are not historical facts contain forward-looking information that involves risk and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, which address Latin American Minerals' expectations, should be considered forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on management's exercise of business judgment as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management. When used in this document, the words 'may', 'will', 'anticipate', 'believe', 'estimate', 'expect', 'intend' and words of similar import, are intended to identify any forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current view of future events and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties as contained in Latin American Minerals' filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation, and do not intend, to update, revise or otherwise publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of any unanticipated events, unless required under applicable securities laws. Although we believe that our expectations are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will materialize.
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.
Contacts:
Latin American Minerals Inc.
Miles Rideout
President and CEO
Argentina: (54-261) 439-9268
Toronto: (1-416) 363-0841 or 902-8558
www.latinamericanminerals.com
Latin American Minerals Inc.
Andreas Curkovic
Investor Relations
416-577-9927