VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Apr 29, 2014) - Mr. Ian Rozier, President of Newport Exploration Ltd. ("Newport" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:NWX), is pleased to provide information with respect to the operators on permits in Australia that are subject to the Company's oil and gas royalty interests and an update on metallurgical work conducted on core from the Chu Chua copper-gold project in British Columbia.
Oil and Gas Royalty Interests, Australia
As disclosed in financial statements and reported in various news releases since September 2002, the Company holds a 2.5% overriding royalty on several oil and gas permits in the Cooper Basin in Australia. These permits are being operated variously by Drillsearch Energy Limited ("Drillsearch") (www.drillsearch.com.au), Beach Energy Ltd. ("Beach") (www.beachenergy.com.au), and by Santos Ltd. ("Santos") (www.santos.com), with the most active permits currently being PEL 91 and PEL 106. The Company received royalty payments of Cdn$3.834 million dollars for the first quarter of 2014.
The royalties are all non-operating interests and the Company consequently cannot speculate on production, development plans, or potential revenues. Interested shareholders and potential investors are encouraged to access the information released independently by Drillsearch, Beach and Santos, which are all major Australian oil and gas exploration and production companies.
All royalty payments received by the Company will continue to be reported in our financial statements.
Chu Chua, British Columbia
The initial resource estimate for the Chu Chua deposit was reported in a News Release dated June 26th, 2012, and a NI 43-101 Technical Report was filed on SEDAR on August 16th, 2012. A preliminary metallurgical testing program was reported in a New Release dated October 10th, 2013. Initial metallurgy tests completed by ALS Metallurgy, Kamloops, BC ("ALS"), reported that copper recoveries for the base case rougher test were 58.5%, with poor chalcopyrite-pyrite liberation at a course 152 micron (um) grind size. Five additional rougher tests at increasingly finer grind sizes (down to 51 um) and variable pH reported much improved copper recoveries to a maximum of 92.2%; with gold and silver recoveries of 35.5% and 61.3%, respectively (51 um grind size and pH 12 test parameters). A single preliminary cleaner floatation test utilizing a 16 um re-grind of the rougher concentrate produced a 22.4% copper concentrate. Further metallurgical tests will be conducted in an effort to improve further on pyrite selectivity and increase cleaner flotation concentrate copper grades.
Mr. Kris Raffle, P.Geol., of APEX Geoscience Ltd. is the Qualified Person who reviewed the scientific and technical information with respect to the Chu Chua project contained in this News Release.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of the contents of this news release.