Project Developments
Atacama Pacific is currently undertaking a 20,000 m infill drilling program with the goal of converting existing inferred category resource to the measured and indicated category as well as targeting areas within the projected $1,400/oz Au pit shell which have not been drilled to date and are considered un-mineralized in the PEA.
Upon completion of the currently drilling program, Atacama Pacific will prepare an updated pit confined resource estimate that should be available early in the third quarter of 2013. The updated resource estimate will form the basis for a feasibility study intended to commence shortly thereafter.
PEA Study Basis and Assumptions
This study constitutes a PEA for NI 43-101 purposes and is preliminary in nature. It includes Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that enable them to be categorized as Measured or Indicated Resources or Mineral Reserves. Mineral Resources used in this study are not Mineral Reserves and require further work to demonstrate their economic viability. There is no certainty that the Inferred resources will be converted to Measured or Indicated resources. There is no certainty that the PEA results will be realized. Since the analysis is based on a cash flow estimate, it should be expected that actual economic results might vary from these results. The PEA has been completed to a level of accuracy of +35% to -10%. The PEA is not a preliminary feasibility study or feasibility study.
The NI 43-101 compliant PEA study was prepared by NCL for Atacama Pacific based on inputs from the following entities:
NCL Ingenieria y Construccion SA - Mining and Project Implementation Alquimia Conceptos S.A. - Process and Infrastructure Arcadis Chile S.A. - Environmental Permitting and ClosureKey assumptions used in the economic analysis in the PEA include thefollowing:
Gold Price (US$/oz Au) $1,450 Exchange Rate (Chilean Peso/US$) 500 Fuel Price WTI ($/barrel) $90 Electricity (MWh) $115
National Instrument 43-101
Carlos Guzman, a mining engineer, Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a registered member of the Chilean Mining Commission, is the independent qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") for the Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Cerro Maricunga project. Mr. Guzman is a Principal and Project Director with NCL Ingeneiria y Construccion Ltda., Santiago, Chile and has reviewed, approved and verified the content of this press release.
Michael Easdon, a professional geologist registered with the State of Oregon, USA, is the independent qualified person for the current exploration program.
John Wells, a mining engineering with Alquimia Conceptos S.A., Chile, is the independent qualified person who prepared the information related to processing and site infrastructure.
Dr. Eduardo Magri, a mining engineer (University of Witwatersrand) and a Fellow of the Southern African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, is the independent qualified person for the Cerro Maricunga resource estimate released September 25, 2012. The Cerro Maricunga resource estimate was prepared under Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") Definition Standards (2005). NCL Ingeneiria y Construccion Ltda. undertook to prepare and is responsible for the resource estimate under the supervision of Dr. Eduardo Magri and Antonio Couble (NCL Associate). The $1,400 pit constrained resource estimate was estimated through the use of economic and mining parameters applied to the global resource.
