🕐06.04.10 - 15:47 Uhr
Exeter Increases Caspiche Resource To: Indicated – 14.3 Million Ounces Gold +
3.5 Billion Pounds Copper - Inferred – 10.0 Million Ounces Gold + 2.9 Billion Pounds Copper
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Exeter Increases Caspiche Resource To:
Indicated - 14.3 Million Ounces Gold + 3.5 Billion Pounds Copper
Inferred - 10.0 Million Ounces Gold + 2.9 Billion Pounds Copper
Vancouver, B.C., April 6, 2010 - Exeter Resource Corporation
(NYSE-AMEX:XRA, TSX:XRC, Frankfurt:EXB - "Exeter" or the "Company
") is pleased to provide an updated National Instrument 43-101
compliant mineral resource estimate for its Caspiche Project.
The new estimate is based on drilling to the end of 2009 and
assay data to February 5th, 2010.
The new resource shows an
increase of 23% in gold content over the October 2009 resource;
14% contributed by the new drilling and 9% contributed by AMECs
change to higher long term metal prices.
59% of the contained
ounces of gold now report to the indicated resource category.
The new indicated resource comprises 785 Mt (million metric tons)
at a grade of 0.57 g/t gold (grams per metric ton) and 1.33 g/t
silver, including 690 Mt at a grade of 0.23% copper.
This
equates to in-situ indicated resources of 14.3 M (million)
ounces of gold, 33.6 M ounces of silver and 3.5 billion pounds
of copper (a total of 23.9 M gold equivalent ounces*).
In addition to the indicated resource, is an inferred resource of
688 Mt at a grade of 0.45 g/t gold and 1.21 g/t silver,
including 675 Mt at a grade of 0.19% copper.
This equates to in
-situ inferred resources of 10.0 M ounces of gold, 26.7 M ounces
of silver and 2.9 billion pounds of copper (a total of 17.8 M
gold equivalent ounces*).
The new inferred resource contains a
substantial component of new material (not previously estimated)
.
TABLE 1: Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate for
Open Pit Mining Combined with Underground Mining Scenario
Category Source Material Gold Equivalent Cut-off
(g/t) Million
Metric
Tonnes
(Mt) Gold
(g/t) Gold
(Million Ounces) Copper
(%) Copper
(Billion pounds) Silver
(g/t) Silver
(Million Ounces) Gold Equivalent
(g/t) Gold Equivalent* (Million Ounces) Indicated Open Pit
Oxide 0.2 95 0.46 1.4 0.01 0.0 1.84 5.6 0.46 1.4 Indicated
Open Pit Sulphide 0.3 482 0.58 9.0 0.20 2.2 1.24 19.1 0.97 15.0
Indicated Underground Sulphide** NA* 208 0.59 3.9 0.29 1.3 1.32
8.8 1.13 7.5 TOTAL INDICATED 785 0.57 14.3 0.20 3.5 1.33 33
.6 0.95 23.9 Inferred Open Pit Oxide 0.2 13 0.30 0.1 0.01 0.0 1
.94 0.8 0.30 0.1 Inferred
Open Pit Sulphide
0.3 377 0.44 5.3 0.15 1.2 1.16 14.1 0.71 8.6 Inferred
Underground Sulphide** NA* 298 0.47 4.5 0.25 1.6 1.23 11.8 0.95
9.1 TOTAL INFERRED 688 0.45 10.0 0.19 2.9 1.21 26.7 0.81 17
.8
TABLE 2: Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate for
Open Pit Mining of the Oxide Resource Only Combined with
Underground Mining of the Central Higher Grade Zone
Category Source Material Gold Equivalent Cut-off
(g/t) Million
Metric
Tonnes
(Mt) Gold
(g/t) Gold
(Million Ounces) Copper
(%) Copper
(Billion pounds) Silver
(g/t) Silver
(Million Ounces) Gold Equivalent
(g/t) Gold Equivalent* (Million Ounces) Indicated Open Pit
Oxide 0.2 70 0.51 1.2 0.01 0.0 1.84 4.1 0.52 1.2 Indicated
Underground Sulphide** NA* 398 0.73 9.4 0.29 2.6 1.37 17.6 1.28
16.4 TOTAL INDICATED 469 0.70 10.6 0.25 2.6 1.44 21.7 1.17
17.6 Inferred Open Pit Oxide 0.2 5 0.37 0.1 0.01 0.0 1.94 0.3
0.37 0.1 Inferred Underground Sulphide** NA* 234 0.63 4.8 0.28
1.5 1.47 11.0 1.16 8.7 TOTAL INFERRED 239 0.63 4.8 0.28 1.5
1.48 11.3 1.15 8.8
In calculating the resources AMEC considered two mining scenarios
: firstly mining from a single large open pit, and secondly, an
open pit followed by underground mining by block cave methods (a
technique commonly used in mines in Chile).
As the mineral
endowment was similar for both scenarios AMEC selected the Open
Pit Mining Combined with Underground Mining scenario as
presented in Table 1 as the base case for the project.
This
presentation is consistent with the preferred extraction
scenario developed by our engineering consultants NCL Ingenieria
y Construccion (NCL), a firm commissioned to undertake
conceptual mining and infrastructure studies for Exeters
internal evaluation purposes.
Exeters Chairman, Yale Simpson, stated "We are very pleased with
the results from our ongoing drilling of the Caspiche Porphyry.
The new resource estimate, calculated by independent engineering
firm, AMEC International (Chile) S.A., delivers on our stated
goals of expanding the resource base, and concurrently
converting the best mineralized zone of the resource into the
higher confidence indicated category.
"The Table 2 presentation of the resource is derived from
applying an elevated cut-off grade of 1.0 g/t AuEq to the
central higher grade zone.
The size of this zone and its
continuity into the upper portion of the deposit demonstrates
the remarkably cohesive character of the zone.
This area of
higher grades should allow flexibility in mine scheduling,
particularly in maintaining head grades during the early years
of mining.
"Part of the increased size of the resource is attributed to
recently identified mineralized areas, including the new
MacNeill Zone, immediately west of the known resource.
In
addition, AMEC is now using higher metal prices for their
resource calculations.
The new long term metal price assumptions
are $950/oz gold (formerly $825/oz) and $2.30/lb.
copper
(formerly $2.07/lb.).
The choice of these prices was an
independent determination by AMEC.
The effect of the increased
gold price on total gold is the addition of 0.8 M oz.
to the
indicated resource and 1.0 M oz.
to the inferred resource.
The
effect of the new assumptions on tonnage is to increase the
tonnages for indicated and inferred resources by 6.4% and 15.4%
respectively.
"The size of the Caspiche resource on a gold equivalent basis
demonstrates the significant contribution of copper to the
resource.
While primarily a gold-rich porphyry system, copper
contributes approximately 40% of the value of the metal
endowment of the deposit.
"The calculated silver endowment of the system in the indicated
and inferred categories is 33.6 M ounces and 26.7 M ounces
respectively.
Silver could, in fact, constitute an important by
-product credit as we progress our project studies.
However it
should be noted that the impact of silver was not considered in
the gold equivalent calculation or in the optimisation of the
mining shells to define the new resources.
Exeter`s preference
was to focus on the primary value drivers."
Six rigs are scheduled to continue drilling at Caspiche, at least
until the onset of the southern winter in May, 2010.
The Company
has already completed over 10,000 metres of additional drilling
since the February 16, 2010 data cut-off date for the resource
estimate.
The drilling program retains two objectives: to continue the
expansion of the deposit through step out drilling, and to
complete the upgrade of the higher grade central zone to
"indicated resource" status or better.
A final resource estimate
for the 2009/2010 season is expected late Q3-2010.
Metallurgy, engineering, water, infrastructure and environmental
studies are continuing.
An update on these studies is included
in the NI43-101 report which will be filed on SEDAR and posted
to the Companys website shortly.
Click here to view related plan and sections
*AMEC chose to report the resource above a Au equivalent cutoff.
For this they used prices of US$950/oz for Au and $2.30/lb for
Cu.
The formula used to calculate Au equivalents is Au(g/t) + Cu
(%) * (Cu Price [$/lb]/Au Price [$/oz]) * (Rec Cu/Rec Au)*0
.06857*10000.
Where Rec = % recovery and 0.06857 = conversion g
*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.
**The underground resource shell is defined assuming a block
caving mining method and appropriate mining costs.
The block
caving mining method does not permit any selectivity during the
mining process and all material within the underground resource
shell is therefore considered a resource.
Resource Estimate Methodology
This updated National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant
resource estimate for the Caspiche porphyry follows a previous
estimate announced on October 19, 2009.
The mineral resource estimate was prepared under the supervision
of Mr.
Rodrigo Marinho, CPG-AIPG, AMEC Principal Geologist, and
Daniel Silva AMEC Junior Geostatistician.
The mineral resource
estimates were prepared under Canadian Institute of Mining
Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) Definition Standards for Mineral
Resources and Mineral Reserves (2005) and CIM Estimation of
Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves Best Practice Guidelines
(2003).
Mr.
Marinho is "independent" and a "qualified person" as
such terms are defined in NI 43-101.
A total of 38,051 metres ("m") of drilling, including 85 drill
holes completed by both Exeter and earlier third parties, was
used in the preparation of this mineral resource estimate.
The
cut-off date for drill hole information in the resource model
database was February 5, 2010.
Exeter provided AMEC with solid models, surfaces and density data
representing the major lithological, alteration and weathering
boundaries.
These data were checked, validated and subsequently
used to provide the main support for the selection of estimation
domains.
AMEC estimated gold, total copper and silver resources
using Ordinary Kriging ("OK") following extensive exploratory
data analysis, variography and capping of outlier values.
Click here to view Figure 4 for the AMEC Mineral Resource
Statement.
To determine prospects of economic extraction the results were
tabulated and reported within several permutations of break-even
whittle 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.
Table 1 represents AMECs current "base case" or preferred
extraction scenario optimized against a marginal cutoff.
Each
block was evaluated to determine if the block could be
potentially mined by open pit (using a Lerchs-Grossman
optimization using Whittle® version 4) or by underground block
caving (using AMECs internal floating stopes program).
Table 2 is a scenario prepared by AMEC that considers an
optimization of an open pit for the oxide material only, and
then using its in-house floating stope program to optimize a
block caving option underneath the pit surface.
This block cave
is designed to target higher grade resources that occur in the
center of the deposit, using contour polygons with a cut-off of
1.0 g/t AuEq.
This contouring is not a grade shell or cut-off
that ignores all blocks below the threshold used.
Instead, as
the block caving mining method does not permit any selectivity
during the mining process, all material within the underground
resource shell is considered part of the resource.
The cut-off was calculated based on gold equivalent values using
gold and copper only and was determined separately for oxide and
sulphide material.
Exeters current 2009/2010 drilling campaign added thousands of
metres of new information, confirming mineralization and grade
continuity.
Also, in October 2009, AMEC did a drill hole spacing
study for the Caspiche deposit that determined the drill hole
spacing required to convert resources to the Measured and
Indicated Resource categories.
Following this work, a mathematical script was written to
classify the resource into measured, indicated and inferred
categories based on the results of the drill hole spacing study
and drilling to date.
This was further refined by a manual
smoothing pass that removed isolated blocks or pools of blocks
of one category within a different one.
AMEC designed polygons
by benches every 6 metres to control this.
In AMECs opinion,
the geological data and economic parameters are suitable for
calculating Inferred and Indicated Mineral Resources.
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 Companys website noted below.
Technical reports
summarizing past work programs at Caspiche are also available on
SEDAR and the Companys website.
Justin Tolman, Exeters 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 exploration and development of the
Caspiche project in Chile.
The Company has C$43 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 is expected to continue until the onset of
winter in May.
You are invited to visit the Exeter web site at www
.exeterresource.com
EXETER RESOURCE CORPORATION
Bryce Roxburgh
President and CEO
For further information, please contact:
B.
Roxburgh, President or
Rob Grey, VP Corporate Communications
Tel: 604.688.9592 Fax: 604.688.9532
Toll-free: 1.888.688.9592
Suite 1260, 999 West Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC Canada V6C 2W2
[]
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, the Companys belief
as to the extent and timing of its drilling programs, various
studies including engineering, environmental, infrastructure and
other studies, 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, permitting
submission and timing and expected cash reserves.
These forward
-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release.
Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward
-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the future
circumstances, outcomes or results anticipated in or implied by
such forward-looking statements will occur or that plans,
intentions or expectations upon which the forward-looking
statements are based will occur.
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 that such future events will
occur and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and
other factors which could cause events or outcomes to differ
materially from those expressed or implied by such forward
-looking statements.
Such factors and assumptions include, among
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 known and unknown risk factors which could cause the
Companys 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 the ability to obtain
any necessary approvals, waivers, consents and other
requirements necessary or desirable to permit or facilitate the
proposed Arrangement, the risk that any applicable conditions of
the proposed transaction may not be satisfied, 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 Companys common
share price and volume; tax consequences to U.S.
investors; and
other risks and uncertainties, including those described in the
Companys Annual Information Form for the financial year ended
December 31, 2009, dated March 30, 2010 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.
Cautionary Note to United States Investors - The information
contained herein and incorporated by reference herein has been
prepared in accordance with the requirements of Canadian
securities laws, which differ from the requirements of United
States securities laws.
In particular, the term "resource" does
not equate to the term "reserve".
The Securities Exchange
Commissions (the "SEC") disclosure standards normally do not
permit the inclusion of information concerning "measured mineral
resources", "indicated mineral resources" or "inferred mineral
resources" or other descriptions of the amount of mineralization
in mineral deposits that do not constitute "reserves" by U.S.,
unless such information is required to be disclosed by the law
of the Companys jurisdiction of incorporation or of a
jurisdiction in which its securities are traded.
U.S.
investors
should also understand that "inferred mineral resources" have a
great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and great
uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility.
Disclosure of "contained ounces" is permitted disclosure under
Canadian regulations; however, the SEC normally only permits
issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute
"reserves" by SEC standards as in place tonnage and grade without
reference to unit measures.
NEITHER THE TSX NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT
TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS NEWS RELEASE
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