January 9, 2015 - Toronto, Ontario - Latin American Minerals Inc. (TSXV: LAT) (the "Company") announces construction of three heap leach pads and related infrastructure, now in operation at its wholly owned and fully permitted Independencia Mine, part of the Company's Paso Yobai gold property located in Paraguay. A fourth leach pad is under construction.
The Company further announces that it has re-paid the CAD$120,000 short-term loan (September 29, 2014 press release) along with $2,400 of interest, which was secured to partially offset start-up operating costs for the heap leach program.
Miles Rideout, President and CEO stated "The successful implementation of three pilot heap leach pads and infrastructure is a major step forward in achieving positive operating cash flow and reinforces the local mining support and cost-effectiveness of mining operations in Paraguay. The heap leach operations are now running concurrently with on-going gravity plant gold extraction. With an anticipated increase in pilot gold production, the Company expects to be in a position to continue exploration at Paso Yobai's large at-surface epithermal gold system."
The Company was pleased to obtain the support of a local Paraguayan bank which provided a USD$700,000 loan in June 2014 to partially fund the construction of the heap leach initiative. The Company is in full compliance with all loan covenants.
During the second half of 2014, the Company designed and constructed:
- an on-site plant to agglomerate gold-bearing saprolite rock with cement in preparation for heap leach processing,
- three 8,000 metric ton capacity reusable leach pads where gold is leached from the prepared mineralization and captured in columns of activated carbon (see Images I and II below), and
- an on-site desorption plant to recover gold from the carbon columns, prior to final on-site smelting.
Dr. Waldo Perez is the Company's internal "Qualified Person" under the requirements of National Instrument 43-101, and has reviewed and approved this news release.
The Company's heap leach processing decision is based on an exploration initiative and is not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability. As a consequence, readers are advised that there is no certainty the proposed operations will be economically viable.
Image I - Leach pad 2 while under construction, agglomeration plant in background
Image II - Panoramic view of first three leach pads while under construction. Gravity concentrator plant and fire-assay lab are in the centre background.
About the Company
Latin American Minerals Inc. is a mineral exploration company with its flagship Paso Yobai property located in eastern Paraguay, an emerging gold region. Paso Yobai hosts a large epithermal gold footprint focused on two parallel gold trends, namely the 10 km Discovery Trend and 14.8 km X-Mile Trend.
The Company holds a 100% interest in an on-site concentrator plant at the fully permitted Independencia Mine at Paso Yobai. In operation since 2012, the plant continues to provide operating cash flow and vital information on the grade, mineralogy and metallurgical characteristics of the Paso Yobai mineralization through self-funded operation. The Company is currently expanding the pilot facility to include heap-leach gold extraction.
The Company holds 100% of the adjacent Paso Yobai X-Mile Trend exploration concessions, the present exploration focus, and also holds 100% interests in highly prospective diamond and green-fields gold projects in Paraguay.
For more information, please contact:
Miles Rideout
President and CEO
Toronto: (1-416) 363-0841 or (1-416) 902-8558
The Company's public documents may be accessed at www.sedar.com.
For further information, please visit our website at www.latinamericanminerals.com
or email us at [email protected]
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
This news release includes certain forward-looking statements concerning the future performance of our business, its operations and its financial performance and condition, as well as management's objectives, strategies, beliefs and intentions. Forward-looking statements are frequently identified by such words as "may", "will", "plan", "expect", "anticipate", "estimate", "intend" and similar words referring to future events and results. Forward-looking statements are based on the current opinions and expectations of management. All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, including the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, fluctuating commodity prices, competitive risks and the availability of financing, as described in more detail in our recent securities filings available at www.sedar.com. Actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in the forward looking-statements and we caution against placing undue reliance thereon. We assume no obligation to revise or update these forward-looking statements unless required by securities law.