TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Jan. 16, 2012) - Continental Precious Minerals Inc. (News - Market indicators) (the "Company" or "Continental") is pleased to update shareholders on ongoing activities.
The Preliminary Economic Assessment dated October 19, 2010 ("PEA") on the Company's MMS Viken project recommended that the Company advance the MMS Viken project to a pre-feasibility study level by continuing preparatory engineering work such as:
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continuing metallurgical work on a larger scale to determine and improve viable process flow sheets including work to determine power generation from alum shale roasting |
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continuing technical and engineering work to determine key parameters for mine design and processing |
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investigating and studying the socio-political situation in the project area and securing land access for critical development |
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investigating and negotiating commercial parameters of key project components such as power generation and supply agreements of electricity, supply agreements and sourcing for key mill reagents. |
The Company has completed a significant amount of additional metallurgical test work since completion of the PEA. The intent of the ongoing test work has been to further improve process performance at a conceptual stage. Work on updating the PEA is ongoing. The Company and the authors of the PEA are currently in the process of reviewing and firming up metal price assumptions, which has proved to be a more challenging task than initially anticipated given the volatility of metal prices in the current global economic situation. Some further project cost estimating is also ongoing.
In addition to the Company's goal of updating the PEA with improved operating costs, Hatch Ltd. is currently reviewing the work completed to date and will be analyzing various process options, including bio-leaching.
As announced on November 7, 2011, a small group of shareholders (Sajjad Ebrahim, Ali Ebrahim, Salman Ebrahim, Jatinder Dhillon and Rita Hoff) filed notice of an application in the Superior Court of Ontario. The Company has filed a counter-application against the applicants. Cross-examinations are currently underway. The hearing is currently scheduled to be heard on February 15-16, 2012.
About Continental Precious Minerals Inc.
Continental Precious Minerals Inc. is a multi-mineral exploration company with multiple interests and exploration licences in Sweden. Since March 2005, Continental's primary goal has been to advance its Swedish assets. The Company is also evaluating other opportunities as they emerge in current market conditions.
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of this date. Such forward-looking statements are identified by words such as "estimates", "intends", "plans", "expects", "believes", "may" and "will" and include, without limitation, the Company's goal of advancing the MMS Viken project to a pre-feasibility study level by completing the steps recommended by the preliminary economic assessment dated October 19, 2010 and the goal of completing an updated preliminary economic assessment with improved operating costs as an interim step. There is no assurance that the Company will be able to achieve any of the goals referred to in this news release. Factors that could affect the outcome include, without limitation, the unpredictable nature of metallurgical work, metal prices and other factors that could affect operating and other costs not yet identified. There is no assurance that the Company will in fact be able to reduce operating costs or ever be successful in extracting metals from the Company's mineral exploration licences in Sweden on a commercial scale, or at all. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release represent the Company's views and expectations as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its views and expectations at any subsequent date.
