Wojtek Wodzicki, President and CEO of the Company, commented, "We are very pleased with the progress made at Josemaria over the past year. We have substantially increased and upgraded the resource. We successfully converted all the previous Inferred Resource to Indicated plus added a significant amount to both the Indicated and Inferred categories. Furthermore the deposit is still open in several directions and we believe that there is excellent potential to add to the current resource through additional drilling. We are especially encouraged by the exploration potential to the north of JMDH 49 and 50, two drill holes which hit shallow high grade mineralization at the northern edge of the current resource block. The Josemaria Deposit has a number of natural advantages that will work in its favour, should further work show potential to develop an open pit mining operation. The resource is shallow and lies along the top of a ridge. Groundwater is available nearby.
"Although Josemaria has been somewhat overshadowed by the outstanding recent results from the Company's nearby Los Helados Project, today's results confirm it as a very significant deposit in its own right and an important part of the Company's growing copper-gold resource base in the region. Ongoing exploration at Los Helados, Filo del Sol, as well as early stage targets between Josemaria and Los Helados has the potential to add additional resources."
Based on its geological features and location, the Josemaria Project is classified as a copper-gold porphyry deposit. Porphyry deposits are well documented throughout the Andes and are a widespread deposit type in Argentina and Chile. Mineralization is characterized by large volumes of disseminated and vein controlled copper and gold mineralization. Josemaria is located approximately 12 kilometers to the southeast of the Company's 60% owned Los Helados Project which is located across the international border in Chile (see attached map). NGEX holds a 60% interest in the Josemaria Project and is the operator. Japan Oil, Gas, and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) holds a 40% interest.
Summary Table
The updated Mineral Resource was estimated by Gino Zandonai, Senior Associate of Behre Dolbear International Ltd. It has an effective date of December 15, 2012 and replaces and increases the previous resource estimate completed in 2007. The following table summarizes the Mineral Resource Estimate by classification and at various cut-off grades.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- JOSEMARIA INDICATED MINERAL RESOURCE - SULPHIDE ZONE---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resource Grade Contained Metal---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cu AuCutoff Million Cu Au CuEq(i) (billion (million(CuEq(i)) Tonnes (%) (g/t) (%) lbs) oz)----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.50 306 0.46 0.35 0.70 3.10 3.46----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.45 388 0.43 0.32 0.65 3.68 4.05----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.40 487 0.40 0.30 0.61 4.31 4.68----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.35 575 0.38 0.28 0.57 4.81 5.18----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.30 656 0.36 0.26 0.54 5.21 5.55----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.25 731 0.34 0.25 0.51 5.54 5.84----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.20 807 0.33 0.23 0.49 5.80 6.08-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JOSEMARIA INFERRED MINERAL RESOURCE - SULPHIDE ZONE---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resource Grade Contained Metal---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cu AuCutoff Million Cu Au CuEq(i) (billion (million(CuEq(i)) Tonnes (%) (g/t) (%) lbs) oz)----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.50 73 0.52 0.30 0.73 0.84 0.70----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.45 105 0.46 0.27 0.65 1.07 0.92----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.40 171 0.40 0.24 0.56 1.51 1.32----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.35 243 0.36 0.22 0.51 1.93 1.68----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.30 326 0.33 0.19 0.46 2.36 2.02----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.25 419 0.30 0.17 0.42 2.78 2.33----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.20 541 0.27 0.15 0.37 3.22 2.69-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JOSEMARIA INDICATED MINERAL RESOURCE - OXIDE ZONE---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resource Grade Contained Metal---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cu AuCutoff Million Cu Au CuEq(i) (billion (million(CuEq(i)) Tonnes (%) (g/t) (%) lbs) oz)----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.30 44 0.22 0.33 0.45 0.22 0.47----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.20 61 0.19 0.30 0.39 0.26 0.59----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.10 76 0.16 0.27 0.35 0.27 0.66-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JOSEMARIA INFERRED MINERAL RESOURCE - OXIDE ZONE---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Resource Grade Contained Metal---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cu AuCutoff Million Cu Au CuEq(i) (billion (million(CuEq(i)) Tonnes (%) (g/t) (%) lbs) oz)----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.30 6 0.10 0.35 0.34 0.01 0.07----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.20 12 0.12 0.28 0.31 0.03 0.10----------------------------------------------------------------------------0.10 24 0.10 0.17 0.21 0.05 0.13----------------------------------------------------------------------------(i) CuEq - Copper Equivalent is calculated using US$3.00/lb copper and US$ 1,400/oz gold, with no provision for metallurgical recoveries. The formula used is CuEq% = Cu% + 0.6806(i)Au (g/t). Small discrepancies may exist due to rounding errors.
