Crocodile Gold Corp. has issued a new press release. Please see below for details or visit the Crocodile Gold Corp. web site at:
Crocodile Gold Adds 310,000 Gold Ounces to Mineral Reserves and 776,000 Gold Ounces to Mineral Resources at Its Northern Territory Properties
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 04/26/11 -- Crocodile Gold Corp. (TSX: CRK)(OTCQX: CROCF)(FRANKFURT: XGC) ("Crocodile Gold" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the updated mineral resource and mineral reserve statement as at, 31st of December 2010, covering their Northern Territory ("NT") Properties (refer to Figure 1 below for location map).
The following significant mineral resource inventory estimate changes were achieved:
-- For Cosmo: a gain of 100,000 ounces in indicated mineral resources and a
gain of 100,000 ounces in inferred mineral ounces.
-- For Pine Creek: a gain of 219,000 ounces in indicated mineral resources,
resulting in a reduction of 98,000 ounces in inferred mineral resources.
-- For Howley (including Mottrams): a loss of 120,000 ounces in indicated
mineral resources and a loss of 88,000 ounces in inferred mineral
resources. The reduction in indicated mineral resources was due to
mining depletion and partly due to the re-classification of mineral
resources.
-- For Mt Bundy (including Tom's Gully): an overall gain of 490,000 ounces
in indicated mineral resources and a gain of 283,000 ounces in inferred
mineral resources despite a reduction in Indicated and Inferred mineral
resources at Tom's Gully.
Crocodile Gold completed a significant amount of exploration drilling through 2010 and this update in mineral resources has resulted from the recalculation of several mineral resource models and the review of many historic resource models. There is also a substantial upgrade in inferred to indicated mineral resources, which demonstrates the near term upside potential of the NT Properties. Crocodile Gold has implemented a new mine schedule with the updated mineral reserves and is also in the process of analyzing other indicated mineral resources, particularly at Cosmo, to try to re-classify these mineral reserves and the current Life of Mine Plan.
Additional Highlights include:
-- An increase to probable mineral reserves of 310,000 contained ounces,
representing an increase of 54% before depletion of 95,000 ounces
through mining and the removal of 99,000 ounces from the mineral
reserves at Tom's Gully.
-- An addition to measured and indicated mineral resources of 776,000
ounces, an increase of 31%. This includes adding 100,000 indicated
mineral resource ounces to the Cosmo mineral resource, which now stands
at over 750,000 indicated mineral resource ounces.
-- Discovery cost per measured and indicated mineral resource ounce of A$16
per ounce.
-- An increase to inferred mineral resources from 1.7 million ounces to 2.1
million ounces, representing an increase of 29%. Inferred base metal
(other commodities) resources now consist of 556,000 pounds of Uranium,
229,750,000 pounds of Zinc and 53,163,000 pounds of Lead, as well as
10.2 million ounces of silver.
In releasing this information, David Keough, Chief Operating Officer of Crocodile Gold commented, "During the first full year of systematic exploration by Crocodile Gold, a significant increase in the estimated mineral resources occurred at a very low discovery cost of A$16 per gold ounce. This includes a significant increase in mineral resources for the Cosmo deposit, currently in development. In addition, several new deposits have been included in the mineral reserve inventory for 2011, providing additional opportunities to optimise the Life of Mine Plan."
During 2010, Crocodile Gold updated the mineral resource estimates for the Cosmo East Lode, the Howley deposits (including Mottrams), Pine Creek, Toms Gully, Princess Louise, Iron Blow and Thunderball (through Joint Venture partner, Thundelarra Exploration Ltd.). Crocodile Gold also reviewed and re-optimized all other deposits to ensure consistency in reporting. The mineral resource optimizations were completed using a gold price of US$1,000 per ounce and current mining and milling costs.
Finally, through reviewing historic mineral resources and new field studies, Crocodile Gold has managed to estimate mineral resources at several historic deposits in the Union Reefs Project area. These include Lady Alice, Millars/Big Tree, Orinoco, Union North and Union South deposits. Several other historic resources are located within the Crocodile Gold tenement package which will require reviewing and evaluation, this process is ongoing during 2011 and 2012.
Through the detailed review of Crocodile Gold's mineral resource inventory, several deposits in the Pine Creek Project area were up-graded from inferred to indicated mineral resources (see press release dated October 14, 2010). These deposits have now been included in the mineral reserve statement. At Tom's Gully reserves have been removed until a thorough review of the Mt Bundy project is completed in 2011. New mineral reserves have been incorporated for the Princess Louise, Mottrams, Kohinoor, Cox, International, Gandys and South Enterprise deposits.
Engineering studies are underway at the Cosmo deposit using the updated indicated mineral resource model and additional ore reserves are anticipated. All mineral reserves have been calculated using a US$1,000 gold price and current mining and mill cost and recovery estimates for each deposit. Exchange rate used was $A0.91=$US1.00
Exploration priorities for 2011 at Crocodile Gold include the following:
-- Detailed definition drilling at Cosmo to further upgrade mineral
reserves and mineral resources. Exploration drilling will be conducted
on the West and Eastern Lodes in order to add further mineral resources
and potentially, mineral reserves;
-- The Union Reefs Project area will be explored with the priority to find
an additional source of high grade mill feed with the near term
priorities being the Prospect, Lady Alice and Crosscourse deposits;
-- Exploration on the precious metal (gold - silver) base metal targets at
Mt. Bonnie and Iron Blow to find near surface precious metal enriched
deposits and upgrade resources on existing deposits;
-- Further drilling of historical deposits along the Howley Trend such as
Western Arm and Bridge Creek to upgrade existing mineral resources to
mineral reserves and bring historical mineral resources into the overall
resource;
-- Continue the review of historical geological information to assist in
prioritizing future targets. This will entail compiling an extensive
database of all past work; and
-- Complete airborne geophysical surveys over selected areas in order to
more fully understand the underlying geology and define base and
precious metal targets of significance.
About Crocodile Gold
Crocodile Gold is a Canadian company with operating gold mines in the Northern Territory of Australia and a land position of over 2,700 km2. Crocodile Gold is currently mining from the Howley, Mottrams North Point and Princess Louise open pit mines. The Company is currently developing the Cosmo underground mine. Ore is currently processed at the 2.4 million tonne per year Union Reefs Mill. Crocodile Gold has 3.175 million ounces of National Instrument 43-101 compliant measured and indicated mineral resources (51.85 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.9 g/t gold) and 2.14 million ounces of inferred mineral resources (36.35 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.8 g/t gold). The Company has an exploration program in place with a main focus on the Union Reefs Project and the Cosmo Howley Mineral corridor which covers a strike length of over 25 kilometres and includes other deposits such as Bons Rush and Bridge Creek.
Qualified Persons
Mark Edwards, General Manager Exploration and Business Development of Crocodile Gold Australia Operations, and Heath Gerritsen, Director HG Mine Design are each a "qualified person" as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and confirmed the technical information and verified the data included in this press release.
Cautionary Note
Certain information set forth in this press release contains "forward-looking statements", and "forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. Except for statements of historical fact, certain information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements which include management's assessment of Crocodile Gold's targeted production, future plans, operations and mineral resource estimates and are based on Crocodile Gold's current internal expectations, estimates, projections, assumptions and beliefs, which may prove to be incorrect. Some of the forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as "expects" "anticipates", "believes", "projects", "plans", and similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause Crocodile Gold's actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: liabilities inherent in mine development and production; geological, mining and processing technical problems; Crocodile Gold's inability to obtain required mine licenses, mine permits and regulatory approvals required in connection with mining and mineral processing operations; competition for, among other things, capital, acquisitions of mineral reserves, undeveloped lands and skilled personnel; incorrect assessments of the value of acquisitions; changes in commodity prices and exchange rates; currency and interest rate fluctuations; various events which could disrupt operations and/or the transportation of mineral products, including labour stoppages and severe weather conditions; the demand for and availability of rail, port and other transportation services; the ability to secure adequate financing and management's ability to anticipate and manage the foregoing factors and risks. 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. Crocodile Gold undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
To view the tables and figures associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/crk_pdf_rls.pdf
Contacts:
Crocodile Gold Corp.
Michael Hoffman
President and CEO
416-861-2964
Crocodile Gold Corp.
Investor Relations
416-861-5899
info@crocgold.com
Source: Crocodile Gold Corp.
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