Mandalay Resources Corporation (TSX: MND, MND.WT) announced today that it has launched a board-approved exploration program for 2011 totaling US$11.7 million and 91,000 metres across its portfolio.
This program includes:
- 43,600 metres (US$3.6 million) for infill drilling of currently inferred resources in and around the proven and probable reserves contained in the Dagny, Fabiola, Delia NW and Delia SE veins currently being mined or scheduled for mining at the Cerro Bayo Silver-Gold mine in Patagonia, Chile;
- 17,300 metres (US$1.8 million) for step-out drilling along these same veins;
- 12,000 metres (US$1.5 million) for initial drilling of the highest-priority new vein targets on the Cerro Bayo property;
- 11,500 metres (US$2.1 million) for continuing drilling to infill and extend the Augusta ore shoot, currently being mined at the Costerfield Gold-Antimony mine in Victoria, Australia;
- 4,000 metres (US$1.5 million) for initial drilling to confirm possible additional ore shoots in the Costerfield district; and
- 2,900 metres (US$1 million) for target extensional and infill drilling at the La Quebrada Copper-Silver property near La Serena, Chile.
Brad Mills, Chief Executive Officer of Mandalay, commented, "Our principal goal is to significantly increase reserves, resources, and expected mine lives at Cerro Bayo and Costerfield by year-end 2011. We have demonstrated profitable mining at Costerfield and are about to achieve first revenue at Cerro Bayo, with the first shipment of silver-gold concentrate expected to go out on February 11, 2011. With our anticipated strong cash flows at current metal prices, we can now embark on an aggressive exploration campaign, and execute on the "self-funded portfolio of growth projects" aspect of our strategy. Our emphasis on headframe exploration around profitable mines means that we expect all of our holes to have high probabilities of intersecting attractive mineralized material, and each individual program represents a carefully planned set of holes to either enlarge measured, indicated, and inferred resources or drill test high-priority targets for entirely new resources. If the latter are successful, we anticipate having the financial capability to approve supplemental funding for rapid infill drilling later in the year."
Qualified Person:
Mark Sander, Chief Operating Officer of Mandalay Resources Corporation, who is a qualified person by being a member in good standing of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), has reviewed and approved the technical and scientific information pertaining to the 2011 Mandalay exploration program contained in this release.
Source: Mandalay Resources Corporation