TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 18, 2011) - Continental Precious Minerals Inc. (News - Market indicators) (the "Company" or "Continental") announces an update on the metallurgical research on samples from its MMS Viken project in Sweden.
Recent results from bench-scale testing on Viken samples have shown a significant reduction in reagent consumption in metal recovery processing. Based on results to date, overall uranium and molybdenum recoveries should be little changed from values in the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA), although the rate of uranium leaching may be slower. Vanadium leaching from material roasted at larger scale than in earlier work returned vanadium extractions lower than that assumed for the PEA. It is unknown at present whether this is an effect of chemistry or the scale of the tests. Testing and confirmation are ongoing and the Company expects to release detailed results later this year.
The research is being carried out at Process Research ORTECH Inc. in Mississauga, Ontario. Al Hayden of EHA Engineering Ltd. is working with Process Research personnel on the project. Their previous research was incorporated into the Preliminary Economic Assessment filed on SEDAR on October 19, 2010. As alkaline leaching and roasting are the recommended methods of metal recovery to be applied at MMS Viken, a reduction of 85 to 90 percent in reagent consumption in the alkaline leaching for uranium extraction, as indicated by recent testwork, will have a direct impact on the operating cost and hence the cost of production.
The final results from the metallurgical research will be incorporated into a pre-feasibility study and will be considered in the company's decision to build a pilot plant.
Qualified Persons
Dr. V.I. Lakshmanan of Process Research Ortech Inc. and Alfred Hayden, P. Eng. of EHA Engineering are qualified persons, as defined in National Instrument 43-101, are independent of the Company and are responsible for the technical disclosure contained in this news release.
About Continental Precious Minerals Inc.
Continental Precious Minerals Inc. is a multi-mineral exploration company with multiple interests and exploration licences in Sweden. Continental published an NI 43-101 compliant technical report on March 19, 2009, that estimated an inferred resource at MMS Viken of about 2.81 billion tonnes containing 17 billion pounds of vanadium, grading at 5.4 pounds per ton, 1.5 billion pounds of molybdenum at a grade of 0.49 pounds per ton and one billion pounds of uranium at a grade of 0.3 pounds per ton. Resources have been reported using an average internal (processing plus G&A) US $7.50/tonne NSR cut off. Since March 2005, Continental's primary goal has been to advance its Swedish assets. The Company is also evaluating other opportunities as they emerge in current market conditions.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding anticipated results of metallurgical studies expected to be released later this year and the anticipated impact on operating costs and the cost of production, a pre-feasibility study and possible pilot plant at the MMS Viken Licence and surrounding licences in Sweden. There is no assurance that the Company will in fact be able to reduce reagent consumption, operating cost or cost of production or ever be successful in extracting metals from the Company's mineral exploration licences in Sweden on a commercial scale, or at all. The forward looking statements contained in this news release represent the Company's views and expectations as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its views and expectations at any subsequent date.
