Dia Bras Drilling Programme continues to expand and clarify the silver disseminated mineralisation at its Promontorio mine (Cusi Property) and is discovering structures inside the disseminated zone with High Silver Grades

TSX Venture Exchange - DIB
# 24-2012

TORONTO, July 17, 2012 /CNW/ - Dia Bras Exploration Inc. (TSX-V:DIB) ("Dia Bras" or the "Company") is pleased to report that continued drilling from  surface at its Promontorio mine has expanded the wide zones of disseminated silver mineralization at the Promontorio mine. The extent of the disseminated mineralized zone is becoming clearer and illustrates the significant potential of this discovery.

"As our drilling and development continue, we are especially excited about the tremendous upside potential of the Promontorio disseminated zone," stated Daniel Tellechea, President and CEO of Dia Bras Exploration.  "The remarkably high grades in structures inside the disseminated zone and the larger, overall size of the zone, prove that our recent strategy of a more aggressive exploration and development program for our Cusi silver property is yielding positive surprises and is proving to have been the right strategy to add shareholder value through organic growth.  We are rehabilitating the old workings in this area and developing new drill stations that will allow us to drill at tighter spacing and determine our development and mine plan for this important discovery.  This discovery is significant to Dia Bras because it is in an historic mine with underground infrastructure near the areas of disseminated mineralization. The Company will continue its pilot-mining operations at Cusi and plans to release a NI 43-101 resource report in late 2012 or early 2013."

Promontorio Disseminated Zone:

The Promontorio disseminated zone was first recognized in late summer, 2011 (see press release of September 14, 2011).  Since then, the Company has completed 47 surface and 12 underground drill holes in the zone (totaling 9875.5 m and 607.2 m, respectively) and has conducted rehabilitation of the Promontorio shaft and historical underground workings.  Development continues, especially the extension of the ramp from Level 4 with the objective of providing access to the zone for pilot mining and for constructing drill stations that are better positioned to define the zone.

The disseminated zone is bounded by the Cusi Fault and occurs in and around the Promontorio Main Vein and several of its subsidiary veins, such as veins J and L, which have strike lengths of hundreds of meters.  These veins strike more or less NE and truncate against the NW-trending Cusi Fault (see Figure 1).  It is now recognized that between these veins are second-order veins that strike generally E-W but have short strike lengths, on the order of less than 25 m up to100 m.  These veins are distributed in a relatively random pattern.  These second-order veins and the mm-scale fractures that are more or less parallel to them provided the fluid pathways for the mineralizing hydrothermal fluids that created the disseminated zone.  As a result of the random nature of the second-order veins, interpreting their drill intercepts is difficult because a vein may only show up on a single section and pinch out before it reaches the next section 25 m away.

Figure 2 is a cross section showing one of these second-order veins and its envelope of disseminated mineralization.  Drilling has identified other second-order veins of short strike length, which are shown on Figure 3. The vein in Figure 2 has a short strike length (not defined but probably about 100 m) but varies in width from 10 to 20 m.  The vein has been drilled to a depth of 250 m below the surface and is open to depth.  More holes at a tight spacing are required to define this vein.  It is worth repeating that drill hole DC12B476 cut this second-order vein in the disseminated zone and averaged 1,296 g/t Ag over 8.3 m within 23 m interval averaging 543 g/t Ag.

Figure 3 is a plan view of Level 8 of the Promontorio Mine that shows the known limit of the disseminated zone at its southwestern edge and where it is open to the northeast towards and along the Cusi Fault.  The vein of Figure 2 can be seen on Figure 3, within the disseminated zone.

Although significant drilling remains to be done to determine the limits of the disseminated zone towards the Cusi Fault and to the NW and SE, the Company's geologists believe the volume potential of this zone is large.  As shown in Figure 3, the zone has a minimum width of approximately 100 m and is open towards and along the Cusi Fault, an observation that supports the interpretation by the Company's geologists that the zone could extend NW-SE for 200-300 m.  Drilling has already shown that the zone extends vertically at least 250 m.  Because of the zone's potential size, many holes will have to be drilled to define it.  Drill stations planned along the ramp from Level 4 will provide better positions for drilling.

Drilling Results

Significant results from surface and underground drill holes at Promontorio are presented in Tables 1 & 2, from El Gallo in Table 3, and from Santa Eduwiges in Table 4.

* All holes have prefix DC12B except DC07B151 (results published January 30, 2008)
** nd = not determined

* All holes have prefix DC12M
** nd = not determined

* All holes have prefix DC12B

* All holes have prefix DC12B

Cusi Pilot Mining Update:    
During June, the Company's wholly-owned Malpaso mill processed 4,641 tonnes of development rock averaging 204.4 g/t Ag.  Pilot mining provides important information on metallurgy, recovery rates, mining and milling costs, etc., that are essential in determining the economic viability of a project.

Development of the Promontorio and Santa Eduwiges mines continues.  During the month of June, development at Santa Eduwiges was done on Levels 7.5, 8.5 & 10, three stopes were started, and Ramp 9384 SW was advanced 46 m at -12% from Level 10 towards Level 11.

At Promontorio, a contractor was engaged to extend the ramp from Level 4 to Level 9 and to clean and rehabilitate the Promontorio shaft from Level 9 to Level 11.

The table below shows the results from sampling of veins along the development drifts:

Method of Analysis
Samples were prepared at the ALS Chemex lab facility in Chihuahua, Mexico, and analyzed by ICP and AA methods at their facilities in Vancouver, Canada. Diamond drill samples sent for analysis consisted of half NQ-size and BQ-size diamond core split on site, prepared by the ALS Chemex sample preparation laboratory in Chihuahua, Mexico, and assayed for Au by 50 g fire assay with AA finish, and for Ag by AA on 50 g split sample at the ALS Chemex North Vancouver Laboratory. Assays for Pb, Zn and Cu are analyzed by Induction Coupled Plasma (ICP) at ALS Chemex.

Quality Control
The quality assurance-quality control (QA-QC) of Dia Bras has been described in detail in both RPA's NI 43-101 reports of December 2006 at Cusi and October 2005 for Bolivar.

The technical content of this news release has been approved by Thomas L. Robyn, Ph.D., CPG, RPG, a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101.

About Dia Bras
Dia Bras Exploration is a Canadian mining company focused on precious and base metals in Chihuahua State, other areas of northern Mexico, and most recently at its Yauricocha silver-lead-zinc-copper-gold mine in Peru. The Company is accelerating exploration at the Yauricocha property as well as pursuing the development and exploration of its most advanced Mexican assets - the Bolivar Property (copper-zinc-silver) and the Cusi Property (silver-lead) and is exploring in Mexico several precious metal targets such as La Sidra gold project at the Bolivar Property, Las Coloradas silver project at Melchor Ocampo (Zacatecas State), the Bacerac silver project (Sonora State), and the La Verde gold project at the Batopilas Property (Chihuahua State).  Dia Bras is also exploring base metal projects in Mexico such as the Corralitos intrusion-hosted molybdenum deposit (Chihuahua State).

The Company's shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "DIB". 

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 news release.

Forward-looking Statements
Except for statements of historical fact, all statements in this news release without limitation regarding new projects, acquisitions, future plans and objectives are forward-looking statements which involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate; actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. 

SOURCE Dia Bras Exploration Inc.

Image with caption: "Figure 1: Cusi Project Map View (CNW Group/Dia Bras Exploration Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20120717_C8801_PHOTO_EN_16272.jpg

Image with caption: "Figure 2: Cross Section Showing Second-Order Vein in Disseminated Zone and its envelope of disseminated silver mineralization. (CNW Group/Dia Bras Exploration Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20120717_C8801_PHOTO_EN_16271.jpg

Image with caption: "Figure 3: Map of Level 8 showing vein of Figure 2, other second-order veins and contours of silver content.  Disseminated zone closed off to SW but open elsewhere. (CNW Group/Dia Bras Exploration Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20120717_C8801_PHOTO_EN_16270.jpg