Minera Alamos Inc. Drilling Confirms High-Grade Characteristics at Los Verdes North Deposit
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov 12, 2015) - Minera Alamos Inc. (the "Company" or "Minera Alamos") (TSX VENTURE:MAI) reported today that it has completed its first phase of drilling on the North Deposit at its 100% owned Los Verdes project in Sonora Mexico. The Company intends to produce a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the north area to include in its updated Preliminary Economic Assessment due for completion later this year. Assays for six of the 12 holes drilled during the 1,400-metre program are now available and have exceeded expectations based on available historical data for the project and the region.
"The drill results received to date confirm the existence of a second Los Verdes South quality deposit," said Darren Koningen, President, Minera Alamos Inc. "In fact, the grade, style and make-up of the mineralization may in a number of ways be superior to our existing reserves to the South."
Highlights
- This program represents the Company's first attempt to demonstrate the presence of multiple regional zones of mineralization to complement the existing resource at the South Deposit;
- All holes drilled to date contain material intervals of copper, molybdenum and silver mineralization;
- Assays from the first six holes exhibit an overall composite copper equivalent (CuEq) grade of 1.38%, significantly greater than that for the Los Verdes South deposit;
- Mineralization in all holes begins close to surface, making it ideal for open pit mining access;
- In a manner similar to the South Deposit, the deposit presents as long intervals of continuous disseminated mineralization;
- Assays from the remaining six holes are expected within the coming weeks.
Preliminary Drill Results
| Mineralized Interval(1 & 2) | Composite CuEq(3) | ||||||||||||
| Drill Hole | From (m) | To (m) | Width (m) | Cu (%) | Mo (%) | Ag g/t | CuEq(4) (%) | Width (m) | Grade (%) | ||||
| PO-13 | 17.00 | 62.00 | 45.00 | 0.61 | % | 0.03 | % | 6.08 | 0.68 | % | 30.40 | 0.93 | % |
| PO-14 | 21.00 | 77.00 | 56.00 | 1.22 | % | 0.05 | % | 14.12 | 1.40 | % | 46.45 | 1.69 | % |
| PO-15 | 17.20 | 68.50 | 51.30 | 0.54 | % | 0.04 | % | 7.36 | 0.66 | % | 29.00 | 1.10 | % |
| PO-16 | 26.50 | 46.00 | 19.50 | 0.45 | % | 0.06 | % | 4.87 | 0.61 | % | 16.50 | 0.74 | % |
| PO-17 | 21.00 | 58.50 | 37.50 | 0.93 | % | 0.04 | % | 8.71 | 1.07 | % | 31.50 | 1.28 | % |
| PO-18 | 5.50 | 60.00 | 54.50 | 1.14 | % | 0.05 | % | 12.48 | 1.30 | % | 33.15 | 2.01 | % |
| Weighted Total | 1.38 | % | |||||||||||
Notes:
- Grade/width of mineralized intersection as shown is complete interval "from" "to" drill depths as shown.
- All holes were drilled vertically and therefore it cannot be certain that the drill widths outlined in the table above represent the true widths of mineralization.
- Grade/width as shown is total of only those mineralized individual drill composite samples that have CuEq grade equal to or in excess of the cutoff used in the determination of the South Deposit Resource CuEq (0.45%) - see Los Verdes Cu/Mo Project Preliminary Economic Assessment, January 10, 2012.
- Copper equivalent grades (CuEq) are based on metal prices of: copper (Cu) US$2.75 per lb, molybdenum (Mo) US$8.25 per lb and silver (Ag) US$16.00 per oz.
Los Verdes North Deposit
The North Deposit at Los Verdes is located approximately 8 km northeast of the South Deposit within the Municipality of Yecora, a region with a mining history that dates back to the Mexican Revolution. The local communities of Santa Ana and Santa Rosa have long mined tungsten, molybdenum and copper throughout the area.
The 1,070-hectare Los Verdes North property contains two historic mines (Buenavista and La Providencia) which were in operation from 1960 through to the late 1970's. Although there are no records available as to the amount of production during that time, the remnants of the flotation mill, with its tailings remain on site. During this operating period, supplemental feed material from the Los Verdes South Deposit was transported north to be processed at the same facility.
In 2008, the Servicio Geologico Mexicano (SGM) completed an exploration program tasked with estimating the resources at the North Deposit and evaluating the property's additional potential. That work resulted in historical indicated mineral resources of 1,384,000 tonnes at a copper grade of 0.47% and a molybdenum grade of 0.12% as well as historical inferred mineral resources of 822,000 tonnes at a grade of 0.22% copper and 0.033% molybdenum.
In addition to the historic mining areas, the Minera Alamos' North Deposit property contains a number of additional largely unexplored prospects identified by SGM with significant geophysical and geochemical anomalies characteristic of local copper/molybdenum deposits. The Company plans to perform further evaluations of these areas following the completion of the North Deposit drilling programs.
About Minera Alamos
Minera Alamos is a junior exploration and development company. Its flagship project is the Los Verdes open pit copper-molybdenum project in Sonora, Mexico that is currently in development.
Note: Historical estimates were prepared in 2008 by the SGM. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify them as current mineral resources or mineral reserves and they should not be relied upon.
Mr. Darren Koningen, P. Eng., Minera Alamos Inc.'s President, is the Qualified Person responsible for technical content of this release under National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Koningen has supervised the preparation of, and approved the scientific and technical disclosures utilized in this news release.
All diamond drill samples were collected by Minera Alamos personnel including the company's exploration geologists. Drill samples were cut in halves and divided into 1.5m intervals. One half of the sample is bagged for analysis. The remaining half logged by Minera Alamos personnel and stored in the project warehouse for future reference. Blanks, duplicates and standards were randomly inserted with the samples sent for analysis as part of the normal QA/QC procedures.
All samples were prepared and analyzed for metals using ICP assay procedures with a four acid leach preparation. All samples were sent for analysis at the ALS-Chemex in Hermosillo.
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