www.oroperu.com
White Rock, B.C.- New Oroperu Resources Inc. (TSX Venture: ORO) (“New Oroperu” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has received a progress report on activities on its Tres Cruces project, located in North-Central Peru, by Minera Barrick Misquichilca S.A. (“Barrick”). The Tres Cruces project is a 100% company owned project subject to an option agreement with Barrick. Under the terms of the agreement, in order to exercise the option Barrick must pay for all expenditures up to a production decision. The Company retains a 30% interest. The Company’s share of production costs are financed by Barrick. Additionally, the Company retains 1 ½ % NSR royalty of which US$1,000,000 which is to be paid in advance at the time of a production decision. To maintain the option Barrick must pay US$250,000 to the Company on May 31st each year until a production decision is made.
Barrick states in their report the following:
Highlights
Definition Drilling underway to bring the known mineralization zones to Measured and Indicated categories as well as to collect representative samples from the four principal zones for continued metallurgical testing.
19 Diamond drill holes completed during the month of March for a total of 3548 meters drilled.
Drill Program
The current drill program (5295 meters) has a primary objective of passing the known mineralized zones to Measured and Indicated categories as well as to collect sufficient representative samples from the principal mineralized zones in order to advance metallurgical testing of these. All drill cores are split in half with the first half sent for standard analysis. All samples are prepared at Lagunas Norte (crushed and pulverized) and sent for outside analysis to ALS Chemex lab in Lima. QAQC samples (blanks, standards and duplicates) are included in every batch.
Metallurgical samples from the second half of the drill cores will be sent for flotation test work as well as for CIL bottle roll testing. Sulfide content determined by LECO analysis. It is anticipated that tails from the flotation work will also be tested for CIL recovery to optimize recovery.
Planned Activities
The current diamond drill program may be expanded depending on results obtained after completion of the first phase. Geotechnical drilling (7 diamond drill holes) is also planned and should be completed near the end of April.
Sometime in May we plan on drilling some 13 holes for piezometer installations with a reverse circulation drill after completion of drill programs at Lagunas Norte.
Permit applications is also being presented to the MEM (Ministry of Energy and Mines) for further exploration and condemnation drilling around know mineralization in the general area of the project. The “final” definition of these targets will follow a geophysical program consisting mainly of IP and review of results from the current drilling program. It is anticipated that this work could start as early as July depending on permitting and social considerations.
Environmental and Social baseline studies should start in late May.”
The results of Barrick’s activities on the Tres Cruces project will be reported from time to time as the Company receives information. This initial phase of work to complete a new measured and indicated resource base on additional drilling, more comprehensive metallurgical test work, engineering, environmental and social baseline studies is an important first step towards any production decision.
Prior to this Barrick work, the Company had reported a measured and indicated resource of 34.5 million tones grading 1.59 g/t., about 1,700,000 m oz. gold. These resources were calculated and reported to the Company by Battle Mountain Gold in 1999. The Company’s qualified person reviewed the data and interviewed the Battle Mountain personnel responsible for the calculation and determined that it was according to industry standards at the time. The details are in the Company’s NI 43-101 report “Summary Report of the Tres Cruces Property dated July 25 2002” and filed on SEDAR, www.sedar.com, on July 31 2002. These resources were determined after considering nearly 36,000 meters of drilling.
The Company notes that prior drilling encountered high grade intercepts in deeper parts of two drill holes showing visible gold. This combined with other alteration observations and deep breccias suggest deeper exploration potential for higher grade feeders within the low sulphidation system. This remains untested.
The Company looks forward to Barrick’s continued evaluation. The close proximity (12 Km.) of the Tres Cruces deposit to Barrick’s Lagunas Norte (Alto Chicama) operating mine will present common operating synergies which could enhance the economics of the Tres Cruces deposit.
White Rock, B.C.- New Oroperu Resources Inc. (TSX Venture: ORO) (“New Oroperu” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has received a progress report on activities on its Tres Cruces project, located in North-Central Peru, by Minera Barrick Misquichilca S.A. (“Barrick”). The Tres Cruces project is a 100% company owned project subject to an option agreement with Barrick. Under the terms of the agreement, in order to exercise the option Barrick must pay for all expenditures up to a production decision. The Company retains a 30% interest. The Company’s share of production costs are financed by Barrick. Additionally, the Company retains 1 ½ % NSR royalty of which US$1,000,000 which is to be paid in advance at the time of a production decision. To maintain the option Barrick must pay US$250,000 to the Company on May 31st each year until a production decision is made.
Barrick states in their report the following:
Highlights
Definition Drilling underway to bring the known mineralization zones to Measured and Indicated categories as well as to collect representative samples from the four principal zones for continued metallurgical testing.
19 Diamond drill holes completed during the month of March for a total of 3548 meters drilled.
Drill Program
The current drill program (5295 meters) has a primary objective of passing the known mineralized zones to Measured and Indicated categories as well as to collect sufficient representative samples from the principal mineralized zones in order to advance metallurgical testing of these. All drill cores are split in half with the first half sent for standard analysis. All samples are prepared at Lagunas Norte (crushed and pulverized) and sent for outside analysis to ALS Chemex lab in Lima. QAQC samples (blanks, standards and duplicates) are included in every batch.
Metallurgical samples from the second half of the drill cores will be sent for flotation test work as well as for CIL bottle roll testing. Sulfide content determined by LECO analysis. It is anticipated that tails from the flotation work will also be tested for CIL recovery to optimize recovery.
Planned Activities
The current diamond drill program may be expanded depending on results obtained after completion of the first phase. Geotechnical drilling (7 diamond drill holes) is also planned and should be completed near the end of April.
Sometime in May we plan on drilling some 13 holes for piezometer installations with a reverse circulation drill after completion of drill programs at Lagunas Norte.
Permit applications is also being presented to the MEM (Ministry of Energy and Mines) for further exploration and condemnation drilling around know mineralization in the general area of the project. The “final” definition of these targets will follow a geophysical program consisting mainly of IP and review of results from the current drilling program. It is anticipated that this work could start as early as July depending on permitting and social considerations.
Environmental and Social baseline studies should start in late May.”
The results of Barrick’s activities on the Tres Cruces project will be reported from time to time as the Company receives information. This initial phase of work to complete a new measured and indicated resource base on additional drilling, more comprehensive metallurgical test work, engineering, environmental and social baseline studies is an important first step towards any production decision.
Prior to this Barrick work, the Company had reported a measured and indicated resource of 34.5 million tones grading 1.59 g/t., about 1,700,000 m oz. gold. These resources were calculated and reported to the Company by Battle Mountain Gold in 1999. The Company’s qualified person reviewed the data and interviewed the Battle Mountain personnel responsible for the calculation and determined that it was according to industry standards at the time. The details are in the Company’s NI 43-101 report “Summary Report of the Tres Cruces Property dated July 25 2002” and filed on SEDAR, www.sedar.com, on July 31 2002. These resources were determined after considering nearly 36,000 meters of drilling.
The Company notes that prior drilling encountered high grade intercepts in deeper parts of two drill holes showing visible gold. This combined with other alteration observations and deep breccias suggest deeper exploration potential for higher grade feeders within the low sulphidation system. This remains untested.
The Company looks forward to Barrick’s continued evaluation. The close proximity (12 Km.) of the Tres Cruces deposit to Barrick’s Lagunas Norte (Alto Chicama) operating mine will present common operating synergies which could enhance the economics of the Tres Cruces deposit.
