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Orex Minerals? Completes Mill Upgrading, Begins
Direct Shipments of Tennantite
and Readies Project for Drilling
Vancouver,
B.C. ? Orex Minerals Inc.
(formerly Orex Ventures Inc.) - REX:
TSX-V wishes to provide an operational
update on its Santa Cruz Project in Durango State, Mexico a joint venture
with Silverex S.A. de C.V.(?Silverex?).
Located in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains, Otaez Municipality, midway
between Tayoltita (San Dimas) and Topia mining camps, the Santa Cruz Project
is in one of the World?s most prolific mineral belts. Santa Cruz is an epithermal gold-silver
camp divided into three structural districts. The property hosts three main
gold-silver bearing districts, the Eastern, Central and Western, as well as
the previously operating Santa Cruz Mine.
Our joint venture partner,
Silverex reports that most of the refurbishment and upgrading of the 90 ton
per day mill at Santa Cruz
is complete at this time. Rehabilitation of the coarse and fine ore bins is
completed, as well as the construction of new decantation tanks, a 150,000 litre water
reservoir and a new fire assay / wet assaying building. In addition, all
electrical starters and switches have been dismantled, cleaned and
reinstalled, the entire plant has been rewired, all electrical motors, all
generators, conveyors and sand pumps have been fully serviced, floatation
cells have been cleaned and inspected, and primary and secondary crushers and
a 60 tpd ball mill have been disassembled, cleaned, lubricated and
reassembled and are fully operational. The test milling operation will be
operated and overseen by Silverex and an experienced mine/mill manager with
over 20 years experience has been hired to manage the day-to-day operations.
As a result of this significant progress to date, the mill is expected to
commence production later this month, initially at 60 tpd, and to ramp up to
90 tpd, when a second ball mill will be operational. All proceeds from the
operation are to be split on 50/50 basis by Silverex and Orex, once Orex?s start-up advance is repaid.
The daily direct-shipping production has averaged 300 kg of tennantite, and
the first shipment of 22 tons of Tennantite concentrate, grading 23 g/ton Au,
2,950 g/ton Ag and 22 per cent Cu is ready to be made, which is expected to
yield net proceeds of approximately US$56,000.This is high grade ore from the
La Fragua Vein
in the Eastern District which is shipped to China without going through any
milling process.
Looking ahead, the 2008-09 exploration program on Santa Cruz will be divided
into several phases of drilling, totaling about 20,000 metres, as
well as additional geological mapping and sampling, the scheduling of which
will depend on access.
Western District: Road
extension of the Zambrane?a Road (upper road) and
Jesus Maria (lower road) has been conducted in 2008 to provide improved
access. At the time of writing, the upper road is 150 metres from the
Zambrane?a workings and a spur road will be
constructed to La Perla.
The lower road is still approximately 1000 metres from the
Jesus Maria area and will be completed later this year.
The Western District has never been drilled. Drilling is planned for two
phases totaling 10,000
metres on the Jesus Maria, Christian, Zambrane?a, La
Perla and Carmen vein areas. Old mine workings will be
re-opened for examination and additional mapping is planned along the Creston
and Cordon veins.
Central District:
Location of the original Santa Cruz Mine, the Central District consists of
multiple veins, including Santa Cruz,
Guadalupana, Marte, Buena Suerte, El Chino, Veta Grande, San Juan and Guadalupe. Only the El Chino
and Veta Grande veins have had a minor amount of historic drilling. A two
phase 5,000 metre
drilling program is being planned for this district, focusing initially along
the Santa Cruz
vein to identify additional ?clavos? (mineralized shoots) along strike adjacent to the mine
workings.
Eastern District: Current
production operations are in the La
Fragua vein of the Eastern District. This is a small-scale
mine extracting tennantite direct-shipping ore being sent to China and ore destined for the Santa Cruz mill.
Similar to many privately operated Mexican vein
hosted mines, past mining has drifted on known mineralization without
pre-defining drill indicated resources. A further 5,000 metres
drilling along La Fragua
and nearby Orozco veins is planned. Additional veins in the district, Las Trojas,
San Luis, San Jose, San Pedro, San Juan (east) and San
Benedicto, will also be examined.
Ben Whiting, P.Geo., is the Qualified Person and
takes responsibility for the technical disclosure in this news release.
Gary Cope, President of Orex, adds, ?We are very pleased with the progress of
our Joint Venture partner Silverex in moving forward the Santa Cruz
Project. We continue to believe that Santa Cruz will be an excellent combination
of near term source of net production revenues, with significant upside
exploration potential.?
About Orex Minerals Inc.
Orex Minerals Inc. is a junior mineral exploration company comprised of
highly qualified mining professionals with a focus on the exploration of
prospective gold and gold-silver properties in Mexico and northern Peru.
ON
BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Gary
Cope
President
For further information, contact Orex
Minerals Inc. at (604) 684-4691 or
Via email at info@orexminerals.com
or visit our website on line at www.orexminerals.com
This
News Release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited
to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs,
geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral
recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and
conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual
results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such
statements. Orex relies upon litigation protection for forward-looking
statements.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does
not accept responsibility for this News Release.
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