THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Oct. 31, 2013) - Mega Precious Metals Inc. (News - Market indicators) ("Mega") is pleased to announce that it has commenced a gold and tungsten metallurgical testing program on samples taken from the Monument Bay Gold Project, located in North Eastern Manitoba. The testing program will be carried out by Thibault & Associates Inc. in Fredericton, New Brunswick and under the guidance of Marianne Utiger, QP & Process Engineer along with Mohammed Belarbi, Mineral Processing Specialist of GENIVAR, who together have over 40 years of experience along and will work in conjunction with Mega's technical team. This testing builds on the previously released metallurgical and mineralogical studies that were completed by Mega and previous explorers and is part of the overall technical and engineering work in progress to support a planned preliminary economic assessment at Monument Bay Gold Project that is expected to be completed in 2014.
The testing for the Twin Lakes deposit would build on the initial metallurgical work demonstrating that a conventional processing (gravity separation, flotation and cyanidation) can yield recoveries of up to 92-98% of gold (Page 19, NI 43-101 Report of August 1, 2013) . The testing will also test the recoveries of the coarse grained tungsten mineralization that is found in significant concentrations and is in its purest end state (scheelite) and therefore highly amenable to standard gravity and flotation processes. As a point of reference, the tungsten assays to date continue to increase the overall gold equivalent grade by a weighted average of approximately 30%. The current open pit has a gold grade of 1.2 g/t gold and the starter pit has a grade of 2.7 g/t gold. The recovery of the tungsten will continue to demonstrate the potential for an economic by-product credit due to the consistent nature of the gold/tungsten association throughout the Monument Bay Gold Project.
The follow-up metallurgical testing program will focus on the development of a gold and tungsten gravity concentration and flotation circuit and optimization of the tungsten recovery as a saleable concentrate while looking for additional opportunities for process improvement in the already previously proven >92% gold recovery circuit.
President & CEO, Glen Kuntz, P.Geo., stated "The commencement of metallurgical testing for the Twin Lakes deposit reflects our confidence that this deposit will continue to see significant gold equivalent additions to the already established multi-million ounce gold deposit (NI 43-101 Report of August 1, 2013) at the Monument Bay Gold Project. The experienced team at GENIVAR has been responsible for the development of several gold projects, the majority of which are now in production and will significantly add credibility to the recoveries of the gold and tungsten. The planned programs continue to demonstrate we want to advance the Monument Bay Gold Project and today's announcement represents a significant milestone towards that end. Thibault & Associates specializes in the development of process technology assessment of production economics and design of industrial processing facilities. They has provided process development support on numerous gold and tungsten projects since 1988 and the project manager, Dean Thibault, P. Eng., has worked directly within tungsten processing facilities and has developed gravity, flotation, magnetic separation and ammonium paratungstate (APT) process technologies on behalf of Billiton Canada -- Royal Dutch Shell group.
The OCAP sampling program is advancing well and we've commenced our resource definition infill and step out drill program at site. Results from work currently underway and the planned programs will be incorporated into the next updated mineral resource estimate expected sometime in 2014."
For the 2013 study, drill core samples from the Twin Lakes deposit are combined to form an overall master composite for metallurgical test work. This will further develop our understanding of the head sample characterization, gold and tungsten recoveries, bond ball mill work index testing, gold and scheelite gravity recovery and flotation tests plus additional test work designed to optimize the recovery of gold and tungsten is still in progress.
Tungsten results to date exhibit the same predictable and consistent high grade gold cores that occur every 180-290 m, begin at or near surface and increase in size with depth which has the potential to significantly enrich the current overall open pit resource grade of 1.4 g/t gold only (see slides 7-11 in the June 2013 Resource Update Presentation).
Monument Bay's high grade deposits are unique assets in terms of having both high grade gold and tungsten values within an open pit in addition to the overall large size of the deposit with near surface mineralization and grade continuity.
In fill and Step Out Drilling -- More Near Term Potential for Success
Mega has commenced the fall drill program at the Monument Bay Gold Project that will focus on resource expansion to establish potential for future resource growth by outlining multiple gold targets along the 120 kms of prospective mineralized corridors.
All of the deposits remain open both along strike and down-plunge and new prospective horizons located in close proximity to the current resource are currently being further defined by drilling, OCAP, and surface exploration which will provide valuable information to make additional new discoveries.
Monument Bay Gold Project is located 52 kms North of Red Sucker First Nation (RSLFN), Manitoba. The property is located on Crown property in an area of low topographic relief and outcrop is fairly rare. Manitoba's Current Northern Development Strategy is building all-purpose roads and infrastructure improvements within the region. Once these are complete, we will have all purpose roads and power lines with very low electricity rates ($0.02-0.04/kWh) that are within approximately 52 kms of our project area.
Technical Information
The design of Mega's drilling and metallurgical programs, Quality Assurance/Quality Control and interpretation of results is under the control of Mega's geological staff including qualified persons employing a QA/QC program consistent with NI 43-101 and industry best practices. A detailed review of Mega's QA/QC procedures is filed in the NI 43-101 report dated March 19, 2012 and on SEDAR.
All drill core is transported by Company personnel from drill site to our camp for logging, sampling preparation are completed. Sampling intervals are defined after core logging and determination of scheelite content by examination under short-wave UV-light. One half of the core is sent for analysis, while the other half is retained in the core boxes for future reference. All samples are shipped to Accurassay Laboratories in Thunder Bay, Ontario and analyzed employing the appropriate gold fire assaying technique. For QA/QC purposes the Company as well as the lab submits standards and blanks every 20 samples. Samples are analyzed for W by XRF and Assay results for tungsten are reported by the laboratory as W%. WO3 values are calculated using a conversion factor of 1.2611. BC Energy & Mines. A current economic analysis has not been completed and there is no certainty the project will be economically viable even with the tungsten credit.
Glen Kuntz, President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Director is the Qualified Person for the information contained in this press release and is a Qualified Person defined by National Instrument 43-101. Glen was Sr. Resource Geologist at the Campbell Gold Mine and Global Spatial Data Systems Coordinator for Placer Dome, Vice President Enterprise Mining Solutions for Runge Ltd., and most recently, President and Interim Chief Executive Officer with Mega Precious Metals.
Mega Precious Metals Inc. is a well-financed Canadian-based mineral exploration company with several projects in Northwestern Ontario, Manitoba and Nunavut. The Company is committed to an accelerated growth strategy and is backed by a team of experienced mining experts and a strong financial position. The Company is poised for rapid expansion through quick response to new opportunities and changes in the market. Mega's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol MGP.
For further information and presentation material, please review the Mega website at www.megapmi.com.
Forward-looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release relating to the Company's exploration activities, project expenditures and business plans are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of securities legislation. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent management's best judgment based on current facts and assumptions that management considers reasonable. The Company makes no representation that reasonable business people in possession of the same information would reach the same conclusions. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. In particular, fluctuations in the price of gold or in currency markets could prevent the Company from achieving its targets. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. More information about risks and uncertainties affecting the Company and its business is available in Mega Precious Metal's filings which are posted on sedar at www.sedar.com.
There is no guarantee that drill results reported in this news release will lead to the identification of a deposit that can be mined economically, and further work is required to identify a reserve or resource.
Neither 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.
