Exeter Resource Corporation (TSX VENTURE: XRC)(NYSE Amex:
XRA)(FRANKFURT: EXB) ("Exeter" or the "Company") is pleased to
provide an updated National Instrument 43-101 compliant inferred
mineral resource estimate for its Caspiche Project of 1,117 Mt
(million metric tons) at a grade of 0.55 g/t gold (grams per metric
ton) and 3.81 g/t silver including 1,017 Mt at a grade of 0.22%
copper. This equates to in-situ inferred resources of 19.6 million
ounces of gold, 137 million ounces of silver and 4.84 billion
pounds of copper (a total of 33.7 million gold equivalent
ounces)(i). The resource estimate uses all data available to the
end of the 2008/2009 drilling campaign in May.
TABLE 1 Caspiche Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate September 2009.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Material AMEC Million Gold Gold Silver Silver
Gold metric (g/t) (million (g/t) (million
Equivalent tons ounces) ounces)
Cut-off(ii)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Oxide 0.2 100 0.50 1.6 2.49 8
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sulphide 0.3 1,017 0.55 18.0 3.94 129
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals 1,117 0.55 19.6 3.81 137
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Material Copper Copper EXETER EXETER
(%) (billion Gold Gold
pounds) Equivalent Equivalent
(g/t)(i) (million
ounces)(i)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Oxide 0.5 1.7
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sulphide 0.22 4.84 0.98 32.0
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals 0.94 33.7
--------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE 2 Caspiche Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate September 2009
- HIGHER CUT-OFF FOR SULPHIDE MATERIAL.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Material AMEC Million Gold Gold Silver Silver
Gold metric (g/t) (million (g/t) (million
Equivalent tons ounces) ounces)
Cut-off(ii)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sulphide 0.9 499 0.78 12.5 4.16 67
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Material Copper Copper EXETER EXETER
(%) (billion Gold Gold
pounds) Equivalent Equivalent
(g/t)(i) (million
ounces)(i)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sulphide 0.3 3.30 1.35 21.8
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Exeter's Chairman, Yale Simpson, stated "This updated resource
estimate places Caspiche firmly among the world's largest
gold-copper discoveries in recent years and clearly supports our
decision to aggressively drill the property, despite the global
economic decline.
"We expect that the very substantial copper and silver credits
will be extremely important, and will markedly impact the potential
viability of Caspiche. Specifically, using metal prices of
US$2.00/pound copper, US$800/ounce gold and US$12/ounce silver, the
4.84 billion pounds of copper and 137 million ounces of silver are
equivalent to 12.1 and 2.0 million ounces of gold respectively. As
shown in Table 1 above, these by-product metals increase the
resource estimate to 33.7 million gold equivalent ounces(i).
"Our recent drilling has defined what appears to be a coherent
higher grade central zone associated with a definable early stage
diorite intrusion. We expect this zone will be important in
developing various mining and economic models for the project.
"Assuming favourable weather conditions, drilling is scheduled
to recommence early in October and is expected to carry through the
southern summer until May, 2010. The program will have two
objectives: firstly to expand the resource estimate by drilling to
the southeast and to depth, and secondly to upgrade the higher
grade central zone to "indicated resource" status.
"Exeter intends to enhance the value of Caspiche by continuing
to de-risk the project through ongoing exploration, metallurgy,
engineering, water and environmental studies. These studies will
continue through the next 12 months and will lead to a conceptual
development study. A timeline for the release of that study is
presently being formulated. The project budget for the next 12
months is C$14 million."
Click here to view related plan and sections:
http://www.exeterresource.com/images/gallery/plans/Figures_82.pdf
(i)Gold ("Au") equivalence for copper ("Cu") and silver ("Ag")
was calculated by Exeter using assumed metal prices of US$800/ounce
("oz") for Au, US$12/oz for Ag and US$2/pound ("lb") for Cu. The
formula to calculate Au equivalence for Cu was pounds of Cu
multiplied by 2 and divided by 800; Au equivalence for Ag was
calculated using the formula oz of Ag multiplied by 12 and divided
by 800, and in both cases assumes 100% recovery. Reported grades
and tonnes have been rounded.
(ii)AMEC chose to report the contained inferred resource above a
Au equivalent cutoff. For this they used prices of US$825/oz for Au
and $2.07/lb for Cu. The formula used to calculate Au equivalents
is Au(g/t) + Cu (%) x (Cu Price ($/lb)/Au Price ($/oz)) x (Rec
Cu/Rec Au) x 0.06857 x 10000. Where Rec equals % recovery and
0.06857 equals conversion g x lb/oz. Au and Cu are the block kriged
Au and Cu grades. Projected metallurgical recoveries were 75% and
85% for Au and Cu respectively in sulphide material and 50% for Au
in the oxide zone. Recoveries are based on benchmarking of similar
deposits.
Resource Estimate Methodology
This updated National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant
resource estimation completed for the Caspiche porphyry follows an
interim inferred resource estimate released on March 24, 2009.
The Caspiche inferred mineral resource estimate was prepared
under the supervision of Mr. Rodrigo Marinho, CPG-AIPG, Principal
Geologist of AMEC International (Chile) S.A. ("AMEC"), and
Francisco Castillo, AMEC Senior Modeller. The mineral resource
estimates were prepared under Canadian Institute of Mining
Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Definition Standards (2005) and CIM
Best Practice Guidelines for preparing mineral resources and
mineral reserves. Mr. Marinho is "independent" and "qualified
persons" as such terms are defined in NI 43-101.
A total of 25,187 metres ("m") of drilling, including 44 drill
holes completed by both Exeter and earlier third parties, was used
in the preparation of this resource estimate. The cut-off date for
drill hole information in the resource model database was 30 July
2009.
AMEC was provided with solid models, surfaces and density data
by Exeter representing the major lithological, alteration and
weathering boundaries. These were used to provide the main support
for the selection of estimation domains. AMEC estimated gold, total
copper and silver using Ordinary Kriging ("OK") for most domains
with the exception of the volumetrically small and poorly
mineralized DTB unit which was estimated using the inverse distance
squared ("ID2") estimation method. These methods were considered
appropriate given the low variability of gold and copper within the
deposit.
To determine prospects of economic extraction the results were
tabulated and are reported within several permutations of
break-even open pit and/or underground resource shapes. Only
mineralized material contained within the mining shells has been
reported as mineral resources. Mining and process costs and process
recoveries were estimated from benchmark studies of similar
projects in Chile. The resource figures quoted above come from a
large open pit scenario with no underground component which
provided the largest tonnage scenario of those modelled (Click here
to view Figure 4 for the AMEC Mineral Resource Statement:
http://www.exeterresource.com/images/gallery/plans/Figures_83.pdf).
Table 2 uses the same large open pit and reports the contained
material at a higher cutoff. The base case reported mineral
resource uses an approximation of the marginal cut-off values as
defined by AMEC.
The cut-off was calculated based on gold equivalent values using
gold and copper and determined for oxide and sulphide material.
Considering the current drill grid spacing and associated
uncertainty in the geological model AMEC classified the Caspiche
mineral resource in the "inferred" category. AMEC note that the
deposit remains open at depth, to the south and to the west.
The block model consists of regular blocks (25 m x 25 m x 12 m)
and is rotated to a 057 degrees azimuth. The estimation plan for
gold is the same for oxide and sulphide domains. The estimation
plan for all elements includes restricted searches for high grade
values and a multi pass approach. The estimation plan for copper
includes a hard boundary between the oxide and sulphide boundary.
Inter domain boundaries and sample sharing were determined based on
geological relationships, contact profiles and statistical
analysis.
AMEC validated the Caspiche model using summary statistics
checking for global estimation bias, drift analysis, and visual
inspection. AMEC also generated a nearest neighbour (NN) model to
validate the OK model. Grade variation between estimates for both
methods was considered acceptable.
AMEC is currently finalizing a NI 43-101 compliant technical
report, which will be available shortly on SEDAR at www.sedar.com
and on the Company's website noted below. A technical report
summarizing the work and status of programs at Caspiche to March
27, 2009 is also available on SEDAR and the Company's website.
Justin Tolman, Exeter's Caspiche Project Manager and a
"qualified person" within the definition of that term in NI 43-101,
has supervised the preparation of the technical information
contained in this news release.
About Exeter
Exeter Resource Corporation is a Canadian mineral exploration
company focused on the discovery and development of gold and silver
properties in South America. The Company has C$30 million in its
treasury.
The Caspiche gold-copper discovery is situated in the Maricunga
gold district of Chile, between the Refugio mine (Kinross Gold
Corp.) and the giant Cerro Casale gold deposit (Barrick Gold Corp.
and Kinross Gold Corp.). Drilling to expand and upgrade the
existing resource estimate is scheduled to recommence in October
2009.
On its Cerro Moro Project in Argentina, Exeter recently
announced an initial inferred mineral resource estimate of 646,000
ounces gold equivalent(iii) at a grade of 18 g/t gold
equivalent(iii). Exeter has drilled over 150 infill holes on the
Escondida vein structure in order to upgrade the sectors of the
inferred resource that might be scheduled for early mining.
Drilling will continue through 2009. Drilling recently commenced
for possible extensions of the Escondida zone on the adjacent
Fomicruz joint venture property. Engineering, environmental and
infrastructure studies are being advanced ahead of a scoping study
in 2010.
No site work is planned on the Don Sixto gold-silver project in
Argentina over the next quarter. The Company will continue to work
with provincial authorities and with representatives of other
mining companies, to effect amendment to the 2007 legislation that
banned the use of cyanide in mining operations in Mendoza
Province.
(iii)Inferred mineral resource estimate of 1,098,000 containing
371,000 ounces gold at a grade of 10.5 g/t and 19.2 million ounces
silver at a grade of 545 g/t for 646,000 ounces gold equivalent at
a grade of 18 g/t gold equivalent. Gold equivalent is calculated by
dividing the silver assay result by 70, adding it to the gold value
and assuming 100% metallurgical recovery (see news release NR 9-14
dated July 8, 2009).
You are invited to visit the Exeter web site at
www.exeterresource.com. To view the video version of this press
release along with many others click here "Watch Video News:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ExeterResourceCorp".
EXETER RESOURCE CORPORATION
Bryce Roxburgh, President and CEO
Safe Harbour Statement - This news release contains
"forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements"
(together, the "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of
applicable securities laws and the United States Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the Company's belief as to
the extent and timing of its drilling programs and exploration
results, budgets for its exploration programs, the potential
tonnage, grades and content of deposits, timing, establishment and
extent of resources estimates, potential for financing its
activities, potential production from and viability of its
properties and expected cash reserves. These forward-looking
statements are made as of the date of this news release. Users of
forward-looking statements are cautioned that actual results may
vary from the forward-looking statements contained herein. While
the Company has based these forward-looking statements on its
expectations about future events as at the date that such
statements were prepared, the statements are not a guarantee of the
Company's future performance and are subject to risks,
uncertainties, assumptions and other factors which could cause
actual results to differ materially from future results expressed
or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Such factors and assumptions include, amongst others, the
effects of general economic conditions, the price of gold, silver
and copper, changing foreign exchange rates and actions by
government authorities, uncertainties associated with legal
proceedings and negotiations and misjudgements in the course of
preparing forward-looking information. In addition, there are also
known and unknown risk factors which could cause the Company's
actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially
from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or
implied by the forward-looking statements. Known risk factors
include risks associated with project development; the need for
additional financing; operational risks associated with mining and
mineral processing; fluctuations in metal prices; title matters;
uncertainties and risks related to carrying on business in foreign
countries; environmental liability claims and insurance; reliance
on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among
certain officers, directors or promoters of the Company with
certain other projects; the absence of dividends; currency
fluctuations; competition; dilution; the volatility of the
Company's common share price and volume; tax consequences to U.S.
investors; and other risks and uncertainties, including those
described in the Company's Annual Information Form for the
financial year ended December 31, 2008, dated March 27, 2009 filed
with the Canadian Securities Administrators and available at
www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify
important factors that could cause actual actions, events or
results to differ materially from those described in
forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause
actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements
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 statements. The Company is under no obligation to
update or alter any forward-looking statements except as required
under applicable securities laws.
NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES
PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX
VENTURE EXCHNAGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR
ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE
Contacts: Exeter Resource Corporation B. Roxburgh President
604.688.9592 or Toll Free: 1.888.688.9592 604.688.9532 (FAX) Exeter
Resource Corporation Rob Grey VP Corporate Communications
604.688.9592 or Toll Free: 1.888.688.9592 604.688.9532 (FAX)
exeter@exeterresource.com
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