Minera IRL Ltd Initiates Underground Exploration Drilling at Ollachea
December 03 2012 - 1:00AM
Marketwired
Minera IRL Limited (Minera IRL or the "Company") (TSX:IRL)
(AIM:MIRL) (BVLAC:MIRL), the Latin American gold mining company, is
pleased to announce that a diamond drilling contract has been
awarded to begin drilling the eastern extensions of the Ollachea
ore bodies from underground.
Highlights:
-- Underground diamond drilling contract for a minimum of 4,000m awarded to
Ingetrol Peru SAC. Mobilization to site and set up will enable drilling
to commence on 2 January 2013
-- The 1,200m exploration drive is scheduled to reach 1,000m by early
January providing excellent positioning for exploration drilling of the
eastern extension of the Minapampa ore body
-- Good progress is being achieved in the drive with ground conditions
significantly better than predicted and low water in-flow
"The coming months will be most interesting as we are now in an
ideal position to explore the eastern strike extension of the
Minapampa orebody where we have just completed our feasibility
study." said Courtney Chamberlain, Executive Chairman of Minera
IRL. "The tunnel, which is approximately 250 meters below the
outcrop at Minapampa, will also place us in an ideal position to
explore the down-dip extension of Minapampa as the tunnel advances.
The defined mineralization remains open ended and untested along
strike and down-dip."
The portal of the exploration drive was collared earlier in 2012
from an adjacent, deeper valley at the site of the future ore
processing plant. The rate of progress by the contractor has
increased significantly with 370 meters of advance during October
and November. Mining has passed through a major regional lineament,
the Ollachea thrust fault, and is now within the slate rock package
that hosts the gold mineralization. Ground conditions have been
better than expected and much less water is seeping into the tunnel
than anticipated.
Exploration diamond drilling operations will take place from
bays, or "cuddies" excavated at regular intervals along the
sidewalls of the exploration drive. Initially, drilling will be
directed towards exploring for gold bearing extensions east of the
Minapampa orebody. Deeper, down-dip probing can also take place
from these same cuddies. As the tunnel access drive reaches the
eastern limits of the Minapampa deposit, drilling of depth
extensions will become a major focus.
Ingetrol Peru SAC has been selected and is a well established,
international drilling company who is also a provider of surface
drilling services to Minera IRL. Mobilization to Ollachea will take
place during December to enable drilling to commence on 2 January
2013.
At Ollachea, Minera IRL has completed a Definitive Feasibility
Study (DFS) which confirmed a robust project. The Company is
investigating financing options and detailed engineering is planned
to commence in early 2013. The objective is to commence production
at the beginning of 2015. The life of the mine as defined in the
DFS is nine years. This does not include over 0.9 million ounces of
Inferred Mineral Resource (10.4 million tonnes grading 2.8 g/t Au)
at the Concurayoc Zone, only 400 meters west of Minapampa.
Extensions of the known mineralization have the potential to
further extend the mine life.
Competent Persons Statement
The preparation of the technical information contained herein
was supervised by Donald McIver, VP Exploration of the Company, MSc
Exploration and Economic Geology, a Fellow of the Australian
Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (FAusIMM), as well as the
Society of Economic Geologists (FSEG), who is recognized as a
Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101,
and who has reviewed and approved the technical information in this
press release.
To view the Ollachea Project: 3-D cross-section map :
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/OllacheaProject.pdf
Minera IRL Limited is the AIM traded, TSX and BVL listed holding
company of precious metals mining and exploration companies focused
in Latin America. Minera IRL is led by an experienced senior
management team with extensive industry experience, particularly
operating in South America. The Group operates the Corihuarmi Gold
Mine and the advanced gold projects Ollachea in Peru and Don
Nicolas in Argentina. For more information, please visit
www.minera-irl.com.
The Toronto Stock Exchange neither approves nor disapproves the
information contained in this News Release.
Some of the statements contained in this release are
forward-looking statements, such as estimates and statements that
describe the Company's future plans, objectives or goals, including
words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated
condition or result to occur. Since forward-looking statements
address future events and conditions, by their very nature, they
involve inherent risks and uncertainties.
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 or regulation, Minera IRL Limited does not intend to update any
forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual
results.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control Procedures Disclosure
The Company has implemented and maintains a Minera IRL quality
assurance/quality control (QA/QC) protocol on the Ollachea Project
to ensure best industry practice in sampling and analysis of
exploration and resource drill core samples. The insertion of field
duplicates, certified standards and blank samples into the sample
stream form part of the MIRL procedure (these act as an independent
check on contamination, precision and accuracy in the analytical
laboratory).
Assay results are reported once rigorous QAQC procedures have
been approved.
Independent Audit Programs
Towards maintaining compliancy with international standards as
they pertain to the minerals industry resource evaluation and
estimation procedure, MIRL regularly contracts the services of
industry experts to conduct detailed audits of established QAQC
procedures.
Contacts: Minera IRL Trish Kent, Vice President, Corporate
Relations +511 418 1230 Canaccord Genuity Limited (Nominated
Adviser & Broker, London) Adam Miller + 44 (0)20 7523 8350
finnCap (Co-broker, London) Geoff Nash (Corporate Finance) Matthew
Robinson (Corporate Finance) Joanna Weaving (Corporate Broking) +
44 (0)20 7600 1658 RBC Europe Ltd (Co-broker, London) Stephen Foss
Martin Eales +44 (0)20 7653 4000 Buchanan (Financial PR, London)
Bobby Morse Gordon Poole Louise Mason +44 (0)20 7466 5000
Hill+Knowlton Strategies (PR, Toronto) Rick Harari +1 416 413
4766