Apogee Silver Awards Contract to Complete Feasibility Study for Pulacayo Silver Mine and Clarifies Technical Disclosure with Respect to Its Preliminary Assessment of June 25, 2010
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 05/29/12 -- Apogee Silver Ltd. ("Apogee" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: APE) awarded a contract for the completion of a feasibility study of an underground mine and concentrator plant at its 100% controlled Pulacayo Project to TWP Sudamerica S.A. ("TWP").
TWP is a member of the Basil Read Group, a leading engineering and construction company in the world, with offices across South Africa, Australia, and Peru. TWP has established a reputation of excellence in the provision of engineering, construction and project management services throughout the world. The feasibility study will commence immediately and is expected to be completed by the end of 2012. On completion of the feasibility study, a technical report in compliance with the Canadian National Instrument 43-101 will be prepared.
The feasibility study will incorporate an updated mineral resource estimate which is currently being developed by Mercator Geological Services Limited ("Mercator"). In addition, the Company has subcontracted Klohn Crippen Berger S.A. based out of Lima, Peru, to identify and quantify the water supply sources in support of the feasibility study, and RRD International Corporation based out of Panama City, Panama have been subcontracted to support the feasibility work on the Tailings Storage Facility.
Neil Ringdahl, CEO of Apogee, commented, "Awarding the feasibility study represents another very important milestone for Apogee Silver as we move the Pulacayo Project forward. We are excited by the prospects of the next stage of project development and are pleased to formally expand the work with TWP Sudamerica. We believe our ongoing test mining is providing valuable knowledge toward the future development of this project."
Trial mining initiatives at Pulacayo have been ongoing since October 2011. To the end of April 2012 trial mining operations have resulted in the rehabilitation of over 1,600 meters of historical mine galleries and tunnels. Over 9,400 tonnes of material were mined in this period and 428 meters of new development has been completed including 259 meters in mineralized material on the 4,275 meter level of the mine. The mineralized material is currently being stockpiled on site and opportunities to process the stockpiles at any one of several flotation plants in the Department of Potosi are currently being evaluated.
In light of the contract awarded to TWP evaluating feasibility of a larger mine and mill complex, other activities relating to the previously announced development of a 400 tpd Pilot Concentrator and tailings storage facility have been suspended pending completion of this feasibility study.
Technical Disclosure Clarification
Based upon the results of Mercator's updated mineral resource estimate effective October 19th, 2011, as filed on SEDAR, the Company has determined that its previously announced preliminary economic assessment dated June 25, 2010 ("PEA") is no longer current and should not be relied upon. In response to the need to clarify this disclosure, the Company anticipates that an amended technical report supporting the updated mineral resource estimate dated October 19th, 2011, noting that the updated disclosure supersedes the previous PEA, will be filed on the Company's SEDAR profile in June 2012. The amended mineral resource estimate technical report will not reflect any material changes to the mineral resource estimate itself, however, it will clarify that the PEA is no longer current and should not be relied upon. The mineral resource estimate in the amended technical report is summarized as follows:
Table 1: Summary of Mineral Resources, Pulacayo Deposits effective October 19th, 2011, amended May 24th 2012
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Pulacayo Underground Mineral Resources - Inverse Distance Squared Model
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All blocks within $40 NSR Domain and greater than or equal to $40NSR cutoff
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Class Tonnes Ag Pb Zn Ag Pb Zn
g/t % % Million Million Million
oz. lbs. lbs.
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Indicated 5,960,000 153.14 0.91 2.04 29.34 119.57 268.05
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Inferred 5,420,000 150.61 0.83 2.07 26.24 99.18 247.35
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1) Notes: Mineral resources are reported at a $40US NSR cut-off
2) Metal prices used were $24.78US/oz Ag, $1.19US/lb Pb, and $1.09US/'b Zn
3) Tonnages have been rounded to the nearest 10,000
4) Contributing 1.0 m assay composites were capped at 1500g/t Ag, 15% Pb,
and 15% Zn
5) Specific gravity is based on an interpolated ID2 model
6) Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated
economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially
affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation,
sociopolitical, marketing, or other relevant issues.
Quality Control
The Company employs a quality assurance/quality control protocol on all aspects of the diamond drilling, sampling and analytical procedures. The quality control and all aspects of the exploration program carried out under the supervision of Chris Collins, P. Geo. a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101. The scientific and technical information presented in the press release has been reviewed and approved by Chris Collins, P. Geo., President of Apogee, and a qualified person, as defined by NI 43-101.
For detailed project information please refer to Apogee's web site at www.apogeesilver.com.
About Apogee Silver Ltd.
Apogee Silver Ltd. is a mineral exploration and development stage company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol APE. Apogee targets advanced silver-zinc-lead projects in South America that demonstrate potential to be developed to production. Currently its projects are located in the historic silver producing regions of southwest Bolivia and northern Chile.
Its most advanced project is the 100% controlled Pulacayo-Paca project in Bolivia, This project includes the property that covered the second-largest silver mine in the history of Bolivia with a historical estimate of over 600 million ounces of past production.
Web: www.apogeesilver.com
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, but is not limited to, statements with respect to anticipated timing of the feasibility study and the mineral resource estimate, the potential effect of the silver oxide drill results, the future financial or operating performance of the Company, its subsidiaries and its projects, the development of and the anticipated timing with respect to the Pulacayo-Paca project, the anticipated timing with respect to completion of the diamond drill program, the current drill program, anticipated timing with respect to the trial mining program and statements regarding exploration prospects. 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: financing not being available at desired prices; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the actual results of current exploration activities; timing and availability of external financing on acceptable terms; conclusions of economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; future prices of mineral prices; failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; and, delays in obtaining governmental approvals or required financing or in the completion of activities. 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
On Behalf of the Board,
Neil Ringdahl, Chief Executive Officer
To view the map associated with this press release, "Figure 1: Pulacayo Project Location Map," please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/APE2905_figure1.pdf.
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Contacts:
Apogee Silver Ltd.
Marilia Bento
Vice President Corporate Development
+1 (416) 309-2694
info@apogeesilver.com
Apogee Silver Ltd.
G. Scott Paterson
Chairman of the Board
+1 (416) 368-6464
info@apogeesilver.com
www.apogeesilver.com