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Coro Announces Conclusions From NI 43-101 Technical Report on San Jorge Float Only Copper Gold Project Preliminary Economic Assessment VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(MARKET WIRE)--Apr 22, 2008 -- Coro Mining Corp. ("Coro", or the "Company") (Toronto:COP.TO - News)
is pleased to announce the conclusions from the San Jorge
Flotation Only Copper Gold Project ("the Float Only Project"
or "the Project") National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report
(the "Minproc Technical Report") being finalized by GRD
Minproc ("Minproc"). The Project is located in the Department
of Las Heras, Mendoza Province, Argentina.
The Minproc Technical Report is based on the outcomes of an engineering study completed by Minproc to preliminary economic assessment study standards. The Minproc Technical Report includes the resources, open pit mine plan, operating and capital costs and financial analysis for the Float Only Project which contemplates the production of an average of 39,500 metric tonnes (approximately 90,000,000 lbs) per year of copper and 39,000 oz per year of gold contained in concentrate for a period of 16 years. The Minproc Technical Report was prepared in conjunction with an updated NI 43-101 resource estimate completed by NCL Ingenieria y Construccion S.A. ("NCL"), Santiago, Chile, as announced in the Company's news release NR-08-01 on January 16, 2008, and which updated NI 43-101 resource estimate is available for review on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. All references to $ in this News Release are references to US$. Conclusions - Measured and Indicated Resources of primary and enriched material of 152 million tonnes at 0.48% CuT and 0.20 g/t Au containing approximately 719,000 tonnes (1,584 million lbs) of copper and 984,000 ounces of gold. - Inferred Resources of primary and enriched material of 11 million tonnes at 0.38% CuT and 0.16 g/t Au containing approximately 43,000 tonnes (95 million lbs) of copper and 57,000 ounces of gold. - Open Pit Mine Plan for total copper production of 632,000 tonnes (approximately 1,393 million lbs) of copper and 629,000 ounces of gold. - Mine Life of 16 years. - 10 million tonnes per year production rate. - Base Case copper price of $1.65/lb and gold price of $600/oz. - Upside Case copper price of $2.00/lb and gold price of $600/oz. - Average production in years 1-5 of 51,000 tonnes of copper and 42,000 ounces of gold. - Average cash operating costs in years 1-5 of $0.91/lb before gold credit. - Average cash operating costs in years 1-5 of $0.69/lb net of $0.22/lb gold credit. - Initial capital costs of $277 million with an accuracy of +/- 30%, including $14 million in project contingency, $9 million in estimating accuracy allowance, and $8 million in working capital. - Base Case pre-tax NPV (10%) $291 million with an IRR of 31.4%. - Base Case after tax NPV (10%) $82 million with an IRR of 17.7%. - Upside case after tax NPV (10%) $220 million with an IRR of 28.6%. Minproc's assessments are preliminary in nature, and include inferred mineral resources that are too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be characterized as mineral reserves. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no assurance the preliminary assessments will be realized. Based on the positive conclusions of the Minproc Technical Report, the Company intends to complete an Environmental Impact Study ("EIS") for the Project and submit this to the Mendoza Province Environment Ministry during the third quarter of 2008. Assuming a positive response to the submission of the EIS is received, Coro will advance the Project to the Pre-feasibility study stage. This announcement describes the conclusions from the Technical Report for development of the Project by conventional flotation methods. Although current legislation in the Province of Mendoza prohibits the use of toxic substances (including sulphuric acid which is required in heap leaching of copper ore), in the Company's opinion, conventional flotation methods would not require the use of prohibited toxic substances. Coro is confident that San Jorge could be developed in an environmentally responsible manner to the lasting economic and social benefit of the local community and the Province of Mendoza. For further information about San Jorge please refer to the Company's website, www.coromining.com. I. Mineral Resources: San Jorge is a mid-sized porphyry copper gold deposit, containing oxide, enriched, and primary mineralization. Resources are contained within oxide material (which can only be processed by heap leach methods), enriched material (which could be processed by heap leach or flotation), and primary material (which can only be processed by flotation methods).
Table 1: San Jorge Project Mineral Resources
Measured & Indicated (at 0.30% CuT cut-off)
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Kilotonnes CuT Au CuT Metal Au
Domain Category (kt) (%) (g/t) (Klb) (kozs)
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Oxide Measured 19,435 0.59 0.23 250,803 147
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Oxide Indicated 12,852 0.46 0.20 129,223 81
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Oxide Measured + Indicated 32,276 0.53 0.22 380,026 228
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Enriched Measured 24,315 0.67 0.21 356,763 167
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Enriched Indicated 1,658 0.47 0.20 17,076 11
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Enriched Measured + Indicated 25,963 0.65 0.21 373,839 178
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Primary Measured 36,043 0.49 0.23 391,629 272
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Primary Indicated 100,162 0.41 0.18 905,486 580
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Primary Measured + Indicated 136,205 0.43 0.19 1,297,114 852
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Totals Measured + Indicated 194,445 0.48 0.21 2,050,979 1,257
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----------------------------------------------------------------------The oxide resources would not be recoverable in the Float Only Project, and therefore only the enriched and primary copper resources within an economic envelope of $1.50/lb copper are shown in Table 2 below;
Table 2: San Jorge Project Mineral Resources within economic envelope,
based on a price of US$ 1.50/lb Copper and $600/oz Gold.
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Tonnage CuT CuT Metal Au Au Metal
Domain Category (Ktons) (%) (klb) (g/t) (koz)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Measured 24,315 0.67 356,763 0.21 167
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Indicated 1,648 0.47 17,076 0.20 11
Enriched ---------------------------------------------------------------
Measured + Indicated 25,963 0.65 373,839 0.21 177
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Inferred 395 0.52 4,524 0.07 1
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Measured 35,808 0.49 389,789 0.24 271
---------------------------------------------------------------
Indicated 90,013 0.41 820,658 0.19 536
Primary ---------------------------------------------------------------
Measured + Indicated 125,821 0.44 1,210,448 0.20 807
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Inferred 10,720 0.38 90,698 0.16 56
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Measured 60,123 0.56 746,552 0.23 438
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Indicated 91,661 0.41 837,734 0.19 547
Total ---------------------------------------------------------------
Measured + Indicated 151,784 0.48 1,584,287 0.20 984
---------------------------------------------------------------
Inferred 11,115 0.38 95,222 0.16 57
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------II. Mining, Processing and Production Plan: The Float Only Project contemplates an open pit mine to extract enriched and primary material and their processing by conventional flotation, with oxide material stockpiled as waste. Copper concentrate is produced via crushing, grinding, flotation, thickening and filtering the enriched and primary ores. Overall material contained in the mine plan developed by NCL has 157 million tonnes, with the average grade of 0.47% CuT and 0.19 g/t of gold. The Inferred resources shown in Table 2 were included in the mine plan. The mine plan was driven by two factors; firstly to process up to a maximum of 10 million tonnes per year in the crushing plant; and secondly to minimize the overall strip ratio, especially in the early years. This plan to process a total of 157 million tonnes of enriched and primary material was then used by Minproc to prepare a production plan for an average of 39,500 metric tonnes (approximately 90,000,000 lbs) per year of copper and 39,000 oz per year of gold contained in concentrate over the Life of Mine ("LOM") as set out in Table 3.
Table 3: San Jorge - Mine, Plant Processing and Production Plan
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Years PS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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Tonnes Total 25 32 30 30 30 30 30 30
mined Waste 25 22 20 20 20 20 20 20
(millions)
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Enriched Mt 9 5 1 3 2 0 0
Ore %CuT 0.53 1.03 1.46 0.58 0.58 1.25 0.49
Au g/t 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.20
------------------------------------------------------------
Primary Mt 1 5 9 7 8 10 10
Ore %CuT 0.54 0.63 0.53 0.56 0.49 0.43 0.42
Au g/t 0.22 0.22 0.21 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20
------------------------------------------------------------
Ore Mt 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
Processed %CuT 0.53 0.83 0.65 0.56 0.50 0.45 0.42
Au g/t 0.21 0.21 0.21 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20
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Strip Ratio 2.2 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
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Production Cu kt 42 68 55 47 43 39 37
-----------------------------------------------
Au koz 40 42 44 42 42 43 43
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Years 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 TOT
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Tonnes Total 30 30 25 25 25 25 24 15 14 450
mined Waste 20 20 15 15 15 15 14 5 7 293
(millions)
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Enriched Mt 1 0 0 0 21
Ore %CuT 0.43 0.49 0.32 0.35 0.72
Au g/t 0.20 0.16 0.14 0.12 0.21
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Primary Mt 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 7 137
Ore %CuT 0.41 0.36 0.39 0.41 0.40 0.41 0.37 0.42 0.39 0.43
Au g/t 0.19 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.19
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Ore Mt 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 7 157
Processed %CuT 0.41 0.36 0.39 0.41 0.40 0.41 0.37 0.42 0.39 0.47
Au g/t 0.19 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.18 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.19
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Strip Ratio 2.0 2.0 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.4 0.5 0.9 1.87
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Production Cu kt 36 32 34 36 35 35 32 37 24 632
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Au koz 40 39 39 39 39 38 37 37 26 629
-------------------------------------------------------------------------The operating LOM strip ratio is 1.7:1, and peaks at 2.2 in the first year with a minimum strip ratio of 0.5 in year fifteen. In addition, the Project has a pre-stripping requirement of 25 million tonnes of waste and oxide material included in the capital cost for an overall LOM of 1.87:1. In developing the mine plan, NCL used a Whittle Pit design price of $1.50/lb copper. A Whittle Pit sensitivity analysis was undertaken which demonstrated that the mine plan is relatively insensitive to copper prices over $1.30/lb copper. The selected sequence minimizes waste extraction. A total of 12 open circuit and 6 closed circuit flotation tests were completed at SGS Laboratories, Santiago, Chile, and the results of this testwork statistically analyzed by Minproc to predict copper recoveries of 90.0% for primary material and 81.0% for enriched material. Gold recoveries of 74.0% for primary and 63.0% for enriched material were also predicted. Concentrate grades of 26% Cu for primary material and 32% Cu for enriched material, respectively, are predicted from the testwork. Concentrate gold grades range from 4.6 to 8.0 g/t (0.16 to 0.28 ounces per tonne). In addition, the testwork indicated the presence of 80 to 141 g/t (2.8 to 4.9 ounces per tonne) of silver in concentrates, which has not been considered in the economic analysis of the Project. Concentrates would be shipped by road to ports in Central Chile for subsequent smelting offshore. III. Operating Costs: Operating cost estimates reflect the current market environment in Argentina for owner mining, crushing, grinding, power supply, concentrate production by flotation, thickening and filtering, and truck transportation for copper concentrates. Concentrate truck transportation & ocean freight, insurance and handling are estimated at $85/t of concentrate, Tolling Charge ("TC") at $70/t, Refining Charge ("RC") at $0.07/lb and power at 0.05$/KWh. Revenues from gold contained in copper concentrates are treated as a credit against the overall project cash cost, as shown in Table 4. Table 4: San Jorge - Average Annual Operating Costs, Years 1-5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Category $/lb $/t ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mine 0.26 0.98 Plant 0.26 n/a Truck Transportation & Ocean Freight, Insurance and Handling 0.14 n/a G&A 0.06 n/a TC&RC 0.19 n/a ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cash Cost (C1) 0.91 n/a ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gold Credit (0.22) n/a ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Net Cash Cost 0.69 n/a ------------------------------------------------------------------------ IV. Capital Costs: Initial capital costs, including mining fleet costs, owner costs, working capital, accuracy allowance and contingencies, were estimated by GRD Minproc and NCL at $277 million, as set out in Table 5 below. Table 5: San Jorge - Capital Cost Estimate ------------------------------------------ Project Area $ million ------------------------------------------ Mine 41.6 Mine Pre-Stripping 23.1 Plant 111.4 Tailings 5.8 Power Supply 13.7 Water Supply 2.6 Facilities 6.4 Other Indirects 29.6 Owner Costs 11.9 Working Capital 7.7 Contingency & Accuracy Allowance 23.6 ------------------------------------------ Total CAPEX 277.4 ------------------------------------------ An additional $91 million in capital is expended over the life of the project as deferred, sustaining and closure costs. The capital cost estimate excludes losses or gains that may arise from foreign exchange rate variations, cost escalation, and other factors, as detailed in the Technical Report. Operating and capital cost estimation benefited from knowledge gained during Coro's recent completion of an engineering study on the San Jorge Leach project, which was done to pre-feasibility standards, as disclosed in Coro's NR 08-08 on April 3, 2008. V. Financial Analysis: The Project has been evaluated on both a pre-tax basis and after all taxes, including 10% export levy and 3% provincial royalty. The Base Case operating cash flow peaks at $161 million in the second year with a minimum cash flow of $37 million in the sixteenth year, which is the last operating period, as shown in Table 6 below.
Table 6: San Jorge Base Case Operating and Pre-Financing Cash Flows
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Base Case
Cash Flows -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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Copper
Revenues $m 0 0 154 248 201 173 157 142 134
Operating $m 0 0 93 113 108 102 99 97 97
Cost $/lb 0.00 0.00 1.00 0.75 0.89 0.98 1.04 1.12 1.19
Gold Credit $m 0 0 24 25 26 25 25 26 26
$/lb 0.00 0.00 0.26 0.17 0.22 0.24 0.27 0.30 0.32
Cash Cost $m 0 0 69 87 82 77 73 71 71
Net $/lb 0.00 0.00 0.74 0.58 0.67 0.74 0.77 0.82 0.87
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Operating
Cash Flows $m 0 0 85 161 119 96 83 71 63
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Capital
Investment $m 39 239 15 -2 8 0 5 1 20
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Cash Flow
Pre Tax $m -39 -239 70 163 111 96 78 71 44
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Taxes &
Royalties $m 0 0 19 29 26 45 39 36 30
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Cash Flow
After Tax $m -39 -239 51 133 85 51 39 35 14
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
Base Case
Cash Flows 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
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Copper
Revenues $m 131 115 122 129 126 129 117 134 88
Operating $m 97 95 94 98 97 98 95 87 67
Cost $/lb 1.23 1.36 1.26 1.25 1.27 1.26 1.34 1.07 1.25
Gold Credit $m 24 23 24 23 23 23 22 22 15
$/lb 0.31 0.33 0.32 0.30 0.30 0.29 0.31 0.27 0.29
Cash Cost $m 73 71 70 75 74 75 73 65 52
Net $/lb 0.92 1.02 0.95 0.95 0.97 0.97 1.03 0.80 0.97
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating
Cash Flows $m 58 44 52 55 52 53 44 70 37
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Capital
Investment $m 4 9 1 3 1 0 0 -1 15
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Cash Flow
Pre Tax $m 54 34 51 52 51 53 44 71 21
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Taxes &
Royalties $m 28 21 26 28 28 28 24 35 19
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Cash Flow
After Tax $m 27 14 25 24 24 25 20 36 2
----------------------------------------------------------------------Table 7 below provides a summary of the economic evaluation at the Base Case copper price of $1.65/lb and the Upside Case copper price of $2.00/lb, both at gold price of $600/oz.
Table 7: San Jorge Economic Evaluation Summary at $1.65/lb and $2.00/lb
-------------------------------------------
Base Case $ 1.65/lb Upside Case $ 2.00/lb
------------------- ---------------------
8% 10% 12% 8% 10% 12%
------------------------------------------------ ---------------------
Pre Tax Project NPV $m 354 291 238 625 530 451
------------------- ---------------------
IRR % 31.4% 45.9%
------------------- ---------------------
Payback 3 2
------------------- ---------------------
After Tax Project NPV $m 114 82 55 270 220 178
------------------- ---------------------
IRR % 17.7% 28.6%
------------------- ---------------------
Payback 4 3
------------------------------------------------------------------------As shown in Table 8, a total of 41 million tonnes of oxide material grading 0.48% CuT would be stockpiled as waste over the LOM. In the event that the existing legislation prohibiting the use of sulphuric acid were to be modified in the future, this material could be processed via heap leaching and SXEW to the benefit of the Project. Table 8: San Jorge Oxide Resources Stockpiled As Waste ------------------------------------------------------------------ Years PS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Oxide Ore Mt 7 6 4 5 8 1 1 3 stockpiled ---------------------------------------------------- as waste %CuT 0.50 0.56 0.76 0.48 0.44 0.51 0.32 0.32 ------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------- Years 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 TOT --------------------------------------------------------------------- Oxide Ore Mt 3 0 1 2 0 41 stockpiled ------------------------------------------------------- as waste %CuT 0.36 0.30 0.29 0.36 0.35 0.48 --------------------------------------------------------------------- A 6 million tonne per year throughput case was also evaluated by Minproc during the preliminary economic assessment; results and conclusions are included in the Minproc Technical Report. VI. San Jorge NI 43-101 Technical Report: GRD Minproc managed the preparation of the Minproc Technical Report which will be completed and filed on SEDAR and Coro's web site within 45 days of this release. All principal technical personnel and Qualified Persons ("QP") participating in the development and review of this Technical Report have extensive relevant experience. Rodrigo de Brito Mello, QP employed by NCL Ingenieria y Construccion ("NCL"), assisted by Fernando Fuentes, a principal with NCL, was responsible for the development of the resource model, mineral resources and mine plan. Heriban Soto, MSc, PhD, QP, and Technical Director from SGS was responsible for supervising the metallurgical testwork and reporting reviewing. David Miranda, Mining Engineer, member of IIMCh (Chile) and AUSIMM (Australia), QP, Process Manager of GRD Minproc Chile and Brian McNabb, BSc, P.Eng, from GRD Minproc, Perth, Australia, estimated the industrial processing copper and gold recoveries and operating costs. Gonzalo Vargas, Electrical Engineer, Engineering Manager of GRD Minproc Chile, was responsible for the capital estimates. Jorge Fuentes, Chemical Engineer, Project Director from GRD Minproc Chile was responsible for the financial analysis reported herein. Dan Greig, QP and Principal Geologist and Resource Analyst from GRD Minproc, Perth, Australia was responsible for the overall compilation of the Preliminary Economic Assessment Study. Collectively, Rodrigo de Brito Mello, Heriban Soto, and Dan Greig are the Qualified Persons for purposes of National Instrument 43-101, and have approved the San Jorge information contained in this News Release. Alan Stephens FIMMM, President and CEO of Coro, a geologist with more than 33 years of industry experience is the Qualified Person for Coro who has reviewed and approved the contents of this News Release. All mineral resources have been estimated in accordance with the definition standards on mineral resources and mineral reserves of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum referred to in National Instrument 43-101, commonly referred to as NI 43-101. U.S. reporting requirements for disclosure of mineral properties are governed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Industry Guide 7. Canadian and Guide 7 standards are substantially different. This News Release uses the terms "measured", "indicated" and "inferred" resources. Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. We advise investors that while those terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the SEC does not recognize them. Inferred mineral resources are considered too speculative geologically to have economic considerations applied to them that enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves. CORO MINING CORP. Alan Stephens, President and CEO About Coro Mining Corp.: The Company was founded with the goal of building a mining company focused on medium-sized base metals deposits in Latin America. The Company intends to achieve this through the exploration for, and acquisition of, projects that can be developed and placed into production and it has established an experienced development and exploration team to accomplish this. The Company has two main properties; Barreal Seco, in Chile and San Jorge, in Argentina, an option to acquire the Cerro Negro copper mine in Chile as well as other exploration properties located in Chile. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain "forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements or information, including but not limited to those with respect to the prices of copper and gold, estimated future production, estimated costs of future production, permitting time lines, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such factors include, among others, the actual prices of copper and gold, the factual results of current exploration, development and mining activities, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, foreign exchange rate variations as well as those factors disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time with the securities regulators in the Provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador. Contact: Contacts:
Coro Mining Corp.
Michael Philpot
Executive Vice-President
(604) 682-5546
Email: investor.info@coromining.com
Website: http://www.coromining.com
Source: Coro Mining Corp.
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