Nov 3 2010
Trevali Resources Corp. (TSX:TV)(PINK SHEETS:TREVF)(FRANKFURT:4TI) has announced the results of its November 2010 mineral resource estimate update for the Santander zinc-lead-silver mine project in west-central Peru.
- Indicated Mineral Resource of 5.858 million tonnes with an average grade of 3.86% zinc, 1.35% lead, 44 g/t silver and 0.08% copper for an estimated in-situ metal inventory of 498 million lbs. zinc, 174 million lbs. lead, 8.25 million oz. silver and 9.7 million lbs. copper at 3% ZnEQ cut-off.
- Inferred Mineral Resource of 4.806 million tonnes grading 5.08% zinc, 0.44% lead, 21 g/t silver and 0.07% copper for an estimated in-situ metal inventory of 538 million lbs. zinc, 46 million lbs. lead, 3.19 million oz. silver and 7.8 million lbs. copper at a 3% ZnEQ cut-off.
- Mineralization remains open for expansion in all five deposits identified to date – Magistral North, Central and South, Puajanca South and the Santander Pipe.
The updated resource estimate is based on 171 diamond drill holes (with a combined length of approx. 33,240 metres). The resource estimate was conducted by and under the supervision of Kevin Palmer P.Geo., an independent qualified person and Senior Resource Geologist at Golder Associates Ltd. of Burnaby, Canada and utilized a 3% ZnEQ cut-off grade – which is the nominal base case estimated grade of material that can be mined and processed considering all applicable costs.
ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
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Significant increases in contained in-situ metal in all resource categories – Indicated: Zn (lbs) +51%; Pb (lbs) +41%; Ag (oz) +49% -- Inferred: Zn (lbs) +605%; Pb (lbs) +216%; Ag (oz) +488% at the 3% ZnEQ cut-off grade.
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Discovery costs of approximately US$0.004 per in-situ pound of base metal excluding silver.
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Identification and independent confirmation of very significant upside remaining in the historic Santander Mine – inferred resources of 3.321 million tonnes returning 5.78% Zn, 0.01% Pb, 0.08% Cu and 16 g/t Ag.
"The resource estimate greatly increases the size of Santander and highlights the growing potential of the Company's flagship project," stated Dr. Mark Cruise, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. "Given the anticipated compressed time-frame to production we are well poised to benefit from forecast base metal, and in particular zinc, price increases going forward due to increasing global demand coupled with the slated closure of several marquee mines worldwide."
ZnEQ equals ((Ag Price(g) x Ag Recovery x Ag Grade) + (Pb Price(t) x Pb Recovery x (Pb Grade(%)/100)+(Zn Price(t) x Zn Recovery x (Zn Grade(%)/100)))/Zn Price(t). Golder utilized the three year rolling average price for all three metals. Price for silver is ($14.90/oz) and that for Pb ($2,174), Zn ($2,079) and Cu ($6,504) is per tonne. A recovery of 85% was applied to Ag, 90% for Pb, 85% for Zn and 60% for Cu for calculating the ZnEQ formula. The pounds metal are in-situ and have not had any mining factors applied to them.
The mineral resources identified are based on Ordinary Kriged (OK) capped values. Capping of samples has been applied in order to reduce the effect of high grade sample outliers. The resource block model was generated using Datamine Studio 3 software and utilized a parent block-size of 10m (x) by 10m (y) by 5m (z) based primarily on drill-hole spacing.
SANTANDER PROJECT
The Santander zinc-lead-silver mine project is located approximately 215 km by road from Lima, in the western extent of Peru's Central Polymetallic Belt. Site infrastructure includes a fully refurbished 200-man camp and the Tingo hydroelectric power-station located 17 km down-valley to the west. The Company commenced exploration at Santander in November 2007 discovering four new high-grade silver-lead-zinc replacement and massive sulphide bodies to date. Mineralization remains open in all three Magistral Deposits, the Puajanca South Deposit and the past-producing Santander Pipe, and numerous high-priority targets remain to be tested.
Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance
EurGeol Dr. Mark D. Cruise, Trevali's President and CEO and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for this news release. Dr. Cruise is not independent of the Company, as he is an officer and shareholder.
The work programs at Santander were designed by, and are supervised by, Mark D. Cruise, President & CEO, Trevali, and Tim Kingsley (Senior Geologist), who together are responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality control/quality assurance program. On-site personnel at the project rigorously collect and track samples which are then security sealed and shipped to ACME Laboratories, Vancouver, for assay. ACME's quality system complies with the requirements for the International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025: 1999. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. Quality control is further assured by the use of international and in-house standards. Blind certified reference material is inserted at regular intervals into the sample sequence by Trevali personnel in order to independently assess analytical accuracy. Finally, representative blind duplicate samples are routinely forwarded to ACME and an ISO compliant third party laboratory for additional quality control.
Source: Trevali Resources Corp.