TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 22, 2011) - Carpathian Gold Inc. (TSX:CPN) (the "Corporation" or "Carpathian") is pleased to provide further results from its 35,000 meter planned 2011 drill program at the Corporation's 100% owned Rovina Valley Project ("RVP") in west-central Romania. The RVP includes three Au-Cu porphyries discovered by the Corporation with the focus of the 2011 drilling program on the Au-rich Ciresata Porphyry deposit. The 2011 drill program will focus on defining the limits of the Ciresata deposit, upgrade the inferred resource to the measured plus indicated resource categories, as well as test satellite targets.
Core hole RGD-20 is near the southern edge of the known mineralization halo in an area with sparse drilling and intersected 240 metres of significant gold-copper grades which extends the >0.80 g/t Au-eq grade shell 120 metres to the southwest and contributes higher grades.
Core hole RGD-21 is located at the northwest edge of the present drill pattern and intersected 626 meters of high-grade gold-copper mineralization that extends this zone and is open northwest of the present drill pattern. This drill hole expands the >0.80 g/t Au-eq grade shell significantly from the previous resource estimate in 2008. Highlight intersections from this hole are shown below.
Drill hole | From (m) | To (m) | Length (m) | Au (g/t) | Cu (%) | Au-eq* (g/t) |
RGD-20** | 310 | 550 | 240 | 0.81 | 0.16 | 1.13 |
Including | 421 | 497 | 76 | 1.01 | 0.17 | 1.36 |
RGD-21** | 170 | 773 | 603 | 0.94 | 0.20 | 1.34 |
Including | 170 | 773 | 603 | 0.94 | 0.20 | 1.34 |
Including | 147 | 629 | 482 | 1.06 | 0.21 | 1.50 |
Including | 208 | 544 | 336 | 1.22 | 0.23 | 1.70 |
* To estimate Au-eq (Gold Equivalent) a gold price of US $1000 and a copper price of US $3.00/lb is used. Metallurgical recoveries are not taken into account. This is consistent with the Au-eq. calculations the Corporation has used in its recent press releases for Ciresata. | ||||||
** RGD-20 is located on drill fence 925N and drilled vertical to 778.0 m depth; RGD-21 is located on drill fence 1140N and drill vertical to 879.7 m depth. Drill hole locations are shown on Drill-hole Plan Map at www.carpathiangold.com. |
"We continue to be impressed with the drill results from the Ciresata porphyry and look forward to further drill results from our accelerated program", said Dino Titaro, President and CEO of Carpathian." Mr. Titaro adds, "The Ciresata porphyry continues to demonstrate its high-grade tenor emphasizing the new gold-rich porphyry class of deposit we have discovered in Romania. We believe that the 2011 drill program could add significantly to the size of this deposit and provide a good basis for pre-feasibility/feasibility studies at the Rovina Valley Project in 2011".
The Ciresata porphyry system is a blind deposit that begins 40 to 140 m below surface. Drill hole RDG-21 with 626 metres at 0.92 g/t Au and 0.19% Cu extends the high-grade core of Ciresata to the northwest edge of the present drill pattern. This intersection is located 100 metres west of drill hole RGD-17 which intersected 716 metres at 1.14 g/t Au and 0.16% Cu (see Corporation's Press Release dated September 8th, 2010) and indicates this high-grade zone is open to the west and north. Two drill rigs are presently operating at Ciresata with plans to ramp-up to four operating drill rigs in the next 3-4 weeks.
RVP Background Information
RVP is comprised of three Au-Cu porphyry systems (Rovina, Colnic and Ciresata) discovered by the Corporation. From 2006 to 2009, 181 diamond drill holes totaling 71,375 m have been completed on the project. In late 2008, PEG Mining Consultants Inc. ("PEG") completed a NI 43-101 resource estimate ("2008 Resource").
A detailed Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") was released on March 23, 2010. The PEA was completed by PEG, which led a consortium of specialists assembled for the study. The onsite metallurgical facility will include conventional unit operations such as crushing, grinding, froth flotation and dewatering to produce a gold-rich copper flotation concentrate. Ore processing will utilize an industry-standard flotation process-only at a rate of 40,000 tonnes per day to produce a gold-rich saleable copper concentrate. This process does not require the use of cyanide.
A summary of the PEA results is provided below.
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Average annual gold production of 238,000 ounces per annum for the first five years and averaging 196,000 ounces per annum over the mine life of 19 years, for a total of 3.72 million ounces of recoverable gold over the life-of-mine (LOM).
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Average annual copper production of 53.5 million lbs for the first five years and averaging 49.4 million lbs per annum over the19-year mine life, totaling 938 million lbs of recoverable copper over LOM.
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Total gold equivalent ounces produced over the 19-year mine life are 6.22 million.
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Total operating cash cost of US $81/oz with copper as a by-product credit and US $446/oz gold on a co-product basis (copper cash cost is US $1.05/lb on a co-product basis), using metal prices of US $1,000/oz Au and US $3.00/lb Cu.
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At metal prices of US $1,000/oz gold and US $3.00/lb copper the NPV is US $1.13 billion based on a 5% discount rate.
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Project internal rate of return ("IRR") of 24.2%, with an approximate 3.3-year payback on an initial Project capital expenditure of US $509.4 million, at a gold price of US $1,000/oz and copper price of US $3.00/lb.
There has been no previous commercial mining activity at RVP and the proposed mine site footprint as defined by the PEA does not include any known protected heritage sites or archaeological occurrences and has been designed to minimize impact in the nearby communities of Rovina and Bucuresci.
According to the cautionary statement required by NI 43-101, it should be noted that this PEA is preliminary in nature as it includes inferred mineral resources that cannot be categorized as reserves at this time and as such there is no certainty that the preliminary assessment and economics will be realized. The full Study of the PEA is available on www.SEDAR.com.
Sample Protocol
All samples collected from any program in Romania are prepared and analyzed at the independent ALS Romania SRL Laboratory in Gura Rosiei, Romania, owned and operated by ISO Certified ALS-Chemex Laboratory, using industry standard fire assay techniques for gold on 50-gram sample charges with AAS finish. Copper is analyzed using the industry-standard method of aqua-regia digest on a 0.40-gram sub sample with an AAS finish. Coarse blanks, pulp blanks, pulp duplicates, core twins and certified gold and copper standards are inserted on a routine basis. They consist of 15 per cent of submitted samples. In addition, coarse rejects from 3% of the samples are periodically re-submitted for analysis. For the current drill program a minimum of 3% of sample pulps are analyzed at the ISO Certified OMAC Laboratory in Ireland, for check assays. The drill assays reported in this press release are from split HQ and NQ size diamond core with the remaining half retained for reference. All holes at the Ciresata deposit are sampled at one metre intervals through the mineralized zone and two-metre intervals in the upper barren zone.
Mr. Titaro is the qualified person (as defined in National Instrument 43-101) overseeing the design and implementation of the present exploration programs. He is responsible for preparing the technical information contained in this news release.
About Carpathian
The Corporation is an exploration and development company whose primary business interest is developing near-term gold production on its 100% owned Riacho dos Machados Gold Project in Brazil, which is currently in the Feasibility Study stage, along with progressing its exploration and development plans on its 100% owned Rovina Valley Au-Cu Project located in Romania. On a company wide basis, the Corporation currently hosts 43-101 resources of 3.88 million ounces of gold in the measured plus indicated categories and 4.58 million ounces of gold in the inferred category, as well as 759.1 million pounds of copper in the measured plus indicated category and 663.1 million pounds of copper in the inferred category.
The Riacho dos Machados Gold Project, which is in the final phase of a Feasibility Study, is targeted to produce in the order of 100,000 ounces of gold per annum, with construction targeted by management to be initiated by mid 2011 with an anticipated goal for the commencement of production in late 2012. The Rovina Valley Project will enhance the Corporations growth profile as a mid-tier gold producer.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "Project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future exploration drilling, exploration activities and events or developments that the Corporation expects, are forward-looking statements. Although the Corporation believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated statements. The Corporation undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Contact Information: Carpathian Gold Inc.
Dino Titaro
President & CEO
+1(416) 368-7744
+1(416) 260-2243 (FAX)
or
Carpathian Gold Inc.
Mike O'Brien
Manager Investor Relations
+1(416) 368-7744
+1(416) 260-2243 (FAX)
info@carpathiangold.com
www.carpathiangold.com
or
Paradox Investor Relations
Montreal
+1(514) 341-0408 or
+1(514) 341-1527 (FAX)
info@paradox-pr.ca
or
Seton Services, UK
Toni Vallen
+44 207 224 8468
toni@setonservices.co.uk