Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Timmins Gold Corp Announces Updated Reserve and Resource Estimates for the San Francisco Gold Project
104% Increase in Proven & Probable Reserves over 2010
Vancouver, British Columbia. Timmins Gold Corp ("Timmins Gold" or the "Company") (TSX:TMM) is pleased to announce an updated reserve and resource estimate for the San Francisco Gold Project in the state of Sonora, Mexico that was previously updated on November 30, 2010. The National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") Technical Reports describing the details of the updated reserve and resource estimates will be filed on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) within 45 days from the date of this press release.
The Mineral Reserve and Resource estimate was prepared by MICON International Ltd. of Toronto. Ontario, using the Canadian Institute of Mining ("CIM") definitions for Mineral Reserves as required by NI 43-101. The updated mineral reserve and resource for the San Francisco Project which includes the nearby La Chicharra open pit is derived from information obtained from a drill program of 700 holes of core and reverse circulation drilling totaling 94,193 meters completed between July, 2010 and June, 2011. The past producing La Chicharra open pit is located 2 kilometres west of the San Francisco open pit. The updated proven and probable reserves for the San Francisco open pit have been estimated at 1,214,000 ounces of gold, represented by 64,245,000 tonnes at 0.588 g/t gold. The updated proven and probable reserves for the La Chicharra open pit have been estimated at 116,000 ounces of gold represented by 8,146,000 tonnes at 0.445 g/t gold. This is a 104% increase over the proven and probable reserves of 780,000 ounces (34,932,000 tonnes at 0.695 grams per tonne), net of production depletion of 129,000 gold ounces.
Table 1
Proven and Probable Mineral Reserves within the San Francisco and La Chicharra pits with Topography at June 30, 2011, Gold price US $1,100 per ounce
| PIT |
Ore
Type |
Metric
tonnes
(1000) |
Gold
g/t |
Contained
Gold Ounces |
| San Francisco Pit |
Proven |
42,850 |
0.604 |
831,000 |
| Probable |
21,395 |
0.556 |
383,000 |
| Total |
64,245 |
0.588 |
1,214,000 |
| La Chicharra Pit |
Proven |
6,180 |
0.447 |
89,000 |
| Probable |
1,966 |
0.439 |
27,000 |
| Total |
8,146 |
0.445 |
116,000 |
| Total |
Proven |
49,030 |
0.584 |
920,000 |
| Probable |
23,361 |
0.546 |
410,000 |
| Total |
72,391 |
0.572 |
1,330,000 |
- Mineral reserves are based on a gold price of $1,100 per ounce
- Reserve includes a dilution factor of 8.3%
- An internal cutoff grade of 0.14 g/t gold was used for proven and probable reserves
Table 2
Mineral Resource Estimate with Drill Data as of the end of June, 2011 (Inclusive of Mineral Reserve)
| PIT |
Ore
Type |
Metric
tonnes
(1000) |
Gold
g/t |
Contained
Gold Ounces |
| San Francisco Pit |
Measured |
42,546 |
0.640 |
876,000 |
| Indicated |
22,698 |
0.595 |
434,000 |
| Total Measured & Indicated |
65,244 |
0.625 |
1,310,000 |
| Inferred |
66,483 |
0.420 |
898,000 |
| La Chicharra Pit |
Measured |
6,158 |
0.488 |
96,000 |
| Indicated |
2,222 |
0.488 |
35,000 |
| Total Measured & Indicated |
8,380 |
0.488 |
131,000 |
| Inferred |
7,197 |
0.465 |
107,000 |
| Total |
Measured |
48,704 |
0.621 |
972,000 |
| Indicated |
24,920 |
0.586 |
469,000 |
| Total Measured & Indicated |
73,624 |
0.609 |
1,441,000 |
| Total Inferred |
73,680 |
0.424 |
1,005,000 |
|
- Mineral resources are based on a gold price of $1,200 per ounce
- An internal cutoff grade of 0.128 g/t gold was used for measured & indicated and inferred ounces
- The inferred resources include material outside of the pit shell. It has the potential to become additional reserves of the San Francisco mine at a future stage.
The Mineral Reserves are based on a gold price of US$1,100 per ounce. The reserve includes a dilution factor of 8.3% that takes into account the dilution of partially mineralized blocks in the model. An internal cutoff grade of 0.14 g/t gold was used for the proven and probable reserve estimate. Weighted average LOM gold recovery is estimated at 68.6% based on the new geological model and the respective metallurgical recoveries for each rock type generated for the deposit.
"This is a significant milestone for the Company, and the updated reserves now outline a 10 year mine life with a projected production rate of 100,000 gold ounces per annum. Based on the success of this drill program, the Company continues to drill aggressively at San Francisco and La Chicharra, and anticipates completing an additional 120,000 metres of drilling from July, 2011 to December, 2011," stated Mr. Bruce Bragagnolo, CEO of Timmins Gold Corp.
This press release was reviewed and prepared by Lawrence A. Dick, Ph.D., P.Geo, a director of the Company, who is recognized as a Qualified Person under the guidelines of National Instrument 43-101 and by Miguel Soto, P. Geo., a director and the COO of the Company. Pursuant to NI 43-101, Mr. William Lewis, B.Sc., P.Geo. and Mr. Mani Verma, M.Eng., P.Eng., both of Micon International Ltd, (Micon), of Toronto, Ontario are the independent Qualified Persons responsible for the Mineral Reserve and Mineral Resource Estimate. Each of Mr. Lewis, Mr. Verma, Mr. Dick and Mr. Soto have read and approved the contents of this news release. The mineral resource has been rounded to reflect that the numbers are estimates.
About Timmins Gold
Focused solely in Mexico, Timmins Gold Corp is in commercial gold production at its wholly owned San Francisco gold mine in Sonora, Mexico. The mine is a past-producing open pit heap leach operation. Timmins Gold has forecast production at a rate in excess of 100,000 ounces of gold per year at a life of mine cash cost. (Micon International NI 43-101F1 Technical Report dated November, 2010). The updated MICON International NI 43-101 Technical Report will be filed within 45 days.
For more information, please contact:
Mr. Bruce Bragagnolo, LLB
Chief Executive Officer
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Tel: 604-638-8980
bruce@timminsgold.com
Neither TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This News Release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements which relate to future events. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "should", "expects", "plans, "anticipates", believes", "estimates", "predicts", "potential", or "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
While these forward-looking statements, and any assumptions upon which they are based, are made in good faith and reflect our current judgment regarding the direction of our business, actual results will almost always vary, sometimes materially, from any estimates, predictions, projections, assumptions or other future performance suggestions herein. Except as required by applicable law, Timmins Gold does not intend to update any forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.
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