Hassai Mine Tailings Begin Adding to La Mancha's Gold Resources
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- Jan. 7, 2009- La Mancha Resources Inc. (TSX: LMA), hereinafter "La Mancha" or the "Company").
All amounts are expressed in CA dollars, unless otherwise indicated.
HIGHLIGHTS:
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Sampling of the first 75% of the Hassai tailings adds 114,000 ounces of gold to La Mancha's M&I resource
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Grade of new M&I resource exceeds expectations, at 2.06 g Au/t
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Tailings also add an Inferred resource of 70,000 ounces at 2 g Au/t
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A minimum of 2 million tonnes of tailings still to be estimated
La Mancha Resources Inc. (TSX:LMA), hereinafter "La Mancha" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the tailings that have been accumulated near the plant at its Hassai mine over 16 years of operation represent an additional Measured and Indicated ("M&I") resource of 287,000 ounces of gold (114,000 ounces attributable to La Mancha) at an average grade of 2.06 g Au/t. An additional 2.75 million tonnes of tailings have also been qualified, adding 175,000 ounces of gold (70,000 ounces attributable to La Mancha) grading 2.00 g Au/t to Hassai's Inferred resource.
The following table shows the new Hassai tailings resource estimate:
(as at December, 2008) |
Tonnes |
Grade
(g/t Au) |
Ounces |
Ounces
(attributable to
La Mancha) |
Measured |
3,725,000 |
2.06 |
246,500 |
98,600 |
Indicated |
610,000 |
2.07 |
40,500 |
16,200 |
Total Measured & Indicated |
4,335,000 |
2.06 |
287,000 |
114,800 |
Inferred |
2,750,000 |
2.00 |
175,000 |
70,000 |
All of the Inferred resource comes from the lower portions of the tailings that are the hardest to reach for sampling purposes. Management is confident of upgrading a significant portion of this Inferred resource to the M&I category once the proper methodology for accessing these portions of the tailings has been determined.
As shown on Figure 1 (below), it is also worth noting that, to date, a further 2.1 million tonnes of tailings remain to be sampled, including 1.7 million tonnes to be sampled in the first quarter of 2009. The remaining 400,000 tonnes are still active and will therefore only be qualified at a later stage. Moreover, all the tailings are located within 750m of the current plant and have already been crushed to minus 10mm and agglomerated with lime and cyanide solution prior to stacking for heap leaching. Gold recovery from the heap leach was typically 65% to 75% based on the historic metallurgical reconciliation. Preliminary metallurgical testwork conducted in 2008 indicated the heap tailings are suitable for treatment via a conventional CIP circuit to recover around 65% of the gold contained in the tailings.
"The existence of this significant pre-mined and pre-crushed resource, grading more than 2 g Au/t and within 750 meters of our processing plant, may represent the equivalent of a new pre-mined deposit for La Mancha. We believe that this new resource could fully justify the capital required for the construction of a new CIP plant on site, but also that it could significantly increase future gold production while increasing the Hassai life with the current heap leaching circuit. Today's initial reading of the Hassai tailings potential represents one of the many building blocks for the future of the mine," said Michel Cuilhe, President and CEO of La Mancha.
METHODOLOGY
The resource estimation is derived from the results of 343 holes completed according to a pattern of 25 x 20 m. A cut off grade of 0.9 g Au/t was used for the calculation.
NEXT STEPS
As previously mentioned, drilling activities are scheduled to resume in the first quarter of 2009 to upgrade the tailings Inferred resource to the M&I category, and to qualify the 1.7 million tonnes of tailings that remain to be sampled as resources. The Company expects to provide an update of resources contained into the tailings before the end of the second quarter of 2009. The complete year-end assessment of La Mancha's reserves and resources is being completed for each property and should be made public in February 2009.
TECHNICAL NOTE
The updated resource review and estimation conform to the requirements of NI 43-101 and the CIM Best Practices for Estimation of Mineral Resources. There are numerous uncertainties inherent in estimating mineral reserves, including many factors beyond the Company's control. Resource estimation is a subjective process, and the accuracy of any resource estimate is a function of the quality of available data and engineering and geological interpretation and judgment. Results from drilling, testing and production, as well as material changes in metal prices subsequent to the date of an estimate may justify revision of such estimates. To the best of La Mancha's knowledge, at the time of estimation there were no known environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic, marketing, political or other relevant issues that would materially impact on the eventual extraction of the mineral resources.
The technical information contained in this news release was prepared by Jean-Jacques Kachrillo, based upon resources estimation and classification prepared by Remi Bosc. MM. Kachrillo and Bosc are both Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). Mr. Kachrillo is Vice President Exploration and a full-time employee of La Mancha Resources. Remi Bosc is an independent consultant member of European Federation of Geologists and was the author of the February 2008 technical report for Hassai regarding the resources, which was filed in February 2008. Both have sufficient experience in the style of mineralization and type of deposit to qualify as a Qualified Person as defined in the 2005 Edition of "National Instruments 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects". Mr. Kachrillo and Bosc have consented to the content of this press release in the form and context in which it appears. Mr. Kachrillo and Bosc have read NI 43-101 and have ensured that this press release is written in compliance with the Instrument.
La Mancha has established an Analytical Quality Assurance Program to control and assure the analytical quality of assays in its gold exploration. This program includes the systematic addition of blank samples, pulp duplicates and internal material references ("standards") to each batch of samples sent for analysis. Blank samples are used to check for possible contamination in laboratory, duplicates allow the overall precision to be quantified while standards determine the analytical accuracy. All samples were recovered by Dump and Dune using an hand-auger with a casing. Samples were assayed at Intertek laboratory in Indonesia qualified ISO 17025 using fire assays on 30g sample followed by AAS. Variability of grade within each distinct pad is relatively low, with a coefficient of variation usually below 0.6. Variograms are well structured, with a moderate nugget effect and a typical maximal range of 50 to 65 meter. All heap-leach pads have been interpolated by ordinary kriging, within Surpac Vision V6.1 mining software.
ABOUT LA MANCHA RESOURCES Inc.:
La Mancha Resources Inc. is an international gold producer based in Canada with operations, development projects and exploration activities in Africa, Australia and Argentina.
La Mancha Resources operates and owns 40% of the Hassai mine in Sudan. The Hassai mine started production in 1992 and has produced 2.1 M oz to date from several pits inside the Ariab lease (24,000 km2). The ore is processed by heap leaching.
La Mancha's shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol "LMA". For more information on the Company, please visit its website at http://www.lamancha.ca/.
CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements", including but not limited to statements regarding the quantity of mineralization in place, the mineable character of the drill results, mining exploration risks, calculation and evolution of mineral resources, potential for additional resources, potential for converting inferred resources into the M&I category, future exploration programs and objectives associated therewith, drill targets and anticipated results, interpretation of work results, potential for these resources to support the capital required for the construction of a CIP plant, in particular as regards the economic and technical potential for a mining and milling operation. Forward-looking statements express, as at the date of this press release, the Company's plans, estimates, forecasts, projections, expectations or beliefs as to future events and results. Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, and there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. Therefore, actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Risks and uncertainties that could cause results or future events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, factors associated with fluctuations in the market price of precious metals, mining industry risks, risks associated with foreign operations, environmental risks and hazards, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral reserves and other risks referred to in La Mancha's 2007 Annual Information Form filed with the Securities Commissions and the Toronto Stock Exchange.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
La Mancha Resources Inc.
Martin Amyot
Vice President Corporate Development
514-987-5115
info@lamancha.ca
Renmark Financial Communications Inc.
John Boidman : jboidman@renmarkfinancial.com
Maurice Dagenais : mdagenais@renmarkfinancial.com
Montreal - Tel.: 514 939-3989 / Fax: 514 939-3717
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