Today, VMS Ventures has reached a long awaited, but significant milestone on its road to becoming a partner in an operating mine. Our JV partner, HudBay Minerals, has announced the initial 43-101 tonnage and grade for our Reed Lake deposit. The complete document will be posted on SEDAR sometime within the next 45 days.

The report tells us that there are 2.55 million tonnes of 4.52% copper in the Indicated Category in the Reed Lake deposit. The complete table describing the Mineral Resource and the Contained Metal is at the top of our press release, immediately below this note.

Clearly, the grade steals the show. I'm taking a quote from the release that comes from COO Neil Richardson which summarizes its impact well:

"We are very pleased that this initial resource contains such remarkably high copper values. With today's copper prices, and when we combine the favourable characteristics of the Reed Lake deposit, in particular the very high grade copper component being near vertical, and near surface, with the likelihood this will be in production next year, benefits should flow to our shareholders much more quickly than would be the case if we had grades more typical of this belt. We look forward to HudBay developing the project quickly."

Analysts can now begin their work in earnest to determine valuations.. I'm sure it will be a busy time for COO Neil Richardson and President John Roozendaal as they will now be able to talk specifically about the profit potential of Reed Lake as of this snapshot taken on March 31, 2011, the initial 43-101 document.

Of course, exploration "never sleeps" and we are expecting more developments. HudBay and VMS drills are turning now. For HudBay, they are drilling In the JV claims around the deposit and in the option agreement claims surrounding the JV, and for VMS, we are drilling at Cowan River, 10 km east of the Reed Lake deposit.

I look forward to discussing today's release with you.

Best Regards,

Rick Mark
CEO
VMS Ventures Inc.

VMS ANNOUNCES NI 43-101 MINERAL RESOURCE FOR THE REED LAKE DEPOSIT AT 2.55 MILLION TONNES @ 4.52% COPPER IN THE INDICATED CATEGORY/HUDBAY AND VMS DRILLING CONTINUES

Vancouver, B.C., April 1, 2011. VMS Ventures Inc. (TSX-V:VMS) ("VMS") and  Joint Venture partner HudBay Minerals Inc. (TSX:HBM) (NYSE:HBM) ("HudBay") are pleased to announce a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate at the Reed Lake polymetallic deposit, near Snow Lake, Manitoba.

Reed Lake Copper Project ^(1-5)

Notes:

1)    CIM definitions were followed for the estimation of mineral resources. Drilling was included up to February 2011.

2)    Mineral resources are estimated at a CUEQ cut-off of 1.5% (CUEQ% equals Cu% + Zn% x 0.211 + Au g/t x 0.359 + Ag g/t x 0.006) and a minimum two metre core length.

3)    Long term $US metal prices of $900/oz gold, $15.00/oz silver, $2.50/lb copper and $1.00/lb zinc were used for the estimation of CUEQ.  These prices may be conservative, considering the near-term commencement of operations.

4)    Metal recovery assumptions of 65% gold, 60% silver, 95% copper and 50% zinc were used for the estimation of CUEQ

5)    Specific gravity measurements were taken on a portion of the samples, where actual measurements were not available either stoichiometric values were calculated or average SG values were used. 

A NI 43-101 compliant resource was provided today by HudBay Minerals for the Reed Lake copper project. It is supported by Neil Richardson, P.Geo, QP for VMS Ventures.

The new resource provides the basis to conduct a prefeasibility study. The Joint Venture project, in which VMS has a 30% carried interest and operator HudBay has a 70% interest  represents a high grade, near surface copper deposit that can be accessed via a ramp and in which ore can be trucked to the Flin Flon concentrator. Permitting and pre-feasibility efforts will be conducted by HudBay Minerals throughout 2011 with the expectation of a construction decision by year end.

Neil Richardson, COO states "We are very pleased that this initial resource contains such remarkably high copper values. With today's copper prices, and when we combine the favourable characteristics of the Reed Lake deposit, in particular the very high grade copper component being near vertical, and near surface, with the likelihood this will be in production next year, benefits should flow to our shareholders much more quickly than would be the case if we had grades more typical of this belt. We look forward to HudBay developing the project quickly." CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

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