TSXV: LCO
VANCOUVER,
July 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - El Condor
Minerals Inc. ("El Condor" or the "Company") is pleased to provide
the following information concerning its acquisition (the
"Acquisition") of the Horden Lake Property, previously
announced on June 20, 2011.
Pursuant to the terms of a property purchase
agreement made effective June 15,
2011 between the Company and Quetzal Energy Ltd., the
Company will acquire 100% of the interest held by Quetzal in the
Horden Lake Property, an advanced exploration stage copper, nickel
and platinum group elements project located approximately 140
kilometers north of Mattagami, in east central Quebec. The total land package is in excess of
52 square kilometers comprising 106 mineral claims, and includes a
National Instrument 43-101-compliant resource in a copper-nickel
deposit (see Report below).
Leigh Freeman,
President and Chief Executive Officer of El Condor, said "We are
extremely excited to be purchasing Horden Lake. The
opportunity to acquire an actual copper resource gives El Condor a
leg up from being an explorer - with copper of course one of the
most utilized metals commodities world-wide. An advanced
exploration stage project with more than 150 drill holes defining a
NI43-101 resource, our initial studies also indicate the current
resource to be easily expandable, plus it has outstanding
exploration upside. And importantly, it is located in one of the
premier geological and geopolitical locales in the world."
"Horden Lake is a Canadian legacy mineral
property, initially discovered in the 1960's by an INCO-Noranda
joint venture, early in the deployment of airborne electromagnetic
exploration of the Canadian Shield. After extensive work, a
prefeasibility study in the early 1980's modeled an initial
open-pit mine followed by bulk mining underground, however
commodity pricing at that time wouldn't support development.
But as a result of improved metals prices and road access with
power lines, the deposit and the district are extremely relevant
today."
The Horden Lake deposit is a classic magmatic
copper-nickel deposit with platinum group and precious metal
credits. It lies within a 40 kilometer long, 1-1.5 kilometer
wide layered mafic to ultra-mafic sill in a volcano-sedimentary
rock sequence of Archean age. The Horden Lake deposit is the most
advanced exploration project within this large mineral
district.
The Company engaged an independent geological
consulting firm to prepare a NI43-101-compliant technical report in
respect of the Horden Lake Property. The report
("Report"), entitled "Independent Technical Report:
Horden Lake Property, Quebec" is
being finalized and will be filed on SEDAR under the Company's
profile in the coming days.
The resource number from the Report is as
follows, calculated effective April
2009 using the Ordinary Kriging method with a 0.5% copper
cut off as a limiting factor:
- Indicated Tonnes 8,759,200 at 0.88% Cu and 0.21% Ni
- Inferred Tonnes: 7,791,195 at 0.87% Cu and 0.25% Ni
This resource is unbounded at depth as well as
along both its northeasterly and southwesterly strike extensions
where historic drilling by INCO continued to intersect the
mineralization.
According to the Report, this resource occurs as
two lenses within the ultra-mafic rock sequence. Zone 1 is 1,500
meters long, averages 19 meters thick and is followed down-dip at
least 300 meters. Zone 2 located in the hanging wall of Zone 1 is
290 meters long, averages 10 meters thick and is also followed
substantially down-dip. The deposit sub-crops immediately beneath a
sheet of glacial till.
As mentioned above, Horden Lake is a Canadian
legacy property. INCO explored the area from 1962 to 1969
(initially in the joint venture with Noranda) and conducted
regional and ground geophysical and geological surveys followed by
diamond drilling totaling 32,229 meters in 157 drill holes. This
work led to the discovery and initial delineation of the Horden
Lake Property mineral system. The property's remote location
combined with low metal prices precluded development at the time of
discovery. Metals prices have now increased substantially,
and the recently completed road and power line for the Le Grande
hydroelectric project transects the district, making it readily
accessible. These positive factors prompted recent work
(2008) by Southampton Ventures Inc. (now Quetzal) which was
designed to confirm and expand on that of INCO.
Exploration work undertaken by Southampton on the Horden Lake Property
includes:
- Drilling: 18,136 meters in 73 holes between January 26, 2008 and March
19, 2009. This work provided infill drilling with a 50
meters spacing within the central portion of mineralization defined
by 95 holes previously completed within the deposit by INCO in
1969.
- A Fugro HeliGEOTEM II airborne geophysical survey, including an
orientation/calibration survey over the Horden Lake Property
deposit and 592 line kilometers of collected over the Northeastern
Claim group. The former documented a strong electromagnetic and
magnetic response of the known mineralization and the latter
identified a number of similar and very promising targets in the
Northeastern Claim group.
- Completion of a NI43-101 compliant report on April 15, 2009 qualifying a significant
resource.
Proposed Future Work
A two-phase program is recommended with the goal
of developing the necessary information for a Preliminary Economic
Evaluation to qualify Horden Lake as an Early Stage Development
project. The total cost of this work is $1.4
million, to be completed in less than 12 months.
- Phase I will develop independent wireframe geological models
for the distributions for Cu, Ni and PGEs assays, which in turn
will be combined to provide a more comprehensive and complete
mineral inventory. This model will also be used to design a drill
program to upgrade and increase the mineral resource as well as
define locations to collect drill core for metallurgical
testing.
- Phase II includes 3,000 meters of drilling, metallurgical
testing, recalculation of the mineral inventory and preparation of
an updated NI43-101 report.
Iain Kelso, who
is independent from the Company and is a Qualified Person under
NI43-101 is responsible for the preparation of the resource
estimate referenced above. Elisabeth
Ronacher, who is independent from the Company and is a
Qualified Person under NI43-101, has reviewed the technical content
of this news release.
The Acquisition
The purchase price for Quetzal's interest in the
Horden Lake Property is $5 million,
which will be paid as to $3 million
in cash (of which a non-refundable deposit of $100,000 has been paid), and by the issuance of
$2 million in common shares of the
Company, to be issued at the lesser of $0.20 and the price per share of a private
placement (the "Private Placement Financing") of common
shares that will be undertaken by El Condor for proceeds of not
less than $3 million. The
Private Placement Financing will complete concurrently with, or in
conjunction with, the Acquisition.
Upon the completion of the Acquisition and the
Private Placement Financing, it is expected that Quetzal will hold
approximately 13-18% of the issued and outstanding common shares of
the Company (dependent upon pricing of the issue) and one nominee
of Quetzal will be appointed to the El Condor board of
directors.
The Acquisition and the Private Placement
Financing are subject to regulatory approval. No finders'
fees or commissions are payable in respect of the
Acquisition. The terms of the Private Placement Financing are
being finalized.
About El Condor Minerals Inc.
El Condor Minerals Inc. is a minerals
exploration company focused on the discovery of large precious- and
base-metal mineral systems in stable political jurisdictions.
Additional information on El Condor, its properties and exploration
activities is available at the Company's website:
www.elcondorminerals.com.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
"Leigh W. Freeman"
President & CEO
Statements in this press release, other than
purely historical information, including statements relating to the
Company's future plans and objectives or expected results, may
include forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are
based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks
and uncertainties inherent in resource exploration and development.
As a result, actual results may vary materially from those
described in the forward-looking statements.
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.
SOURCE El Condor Minerals Inc.