Aquiline awards feasibility contract to Ausenco
2005-05-17 14:44 ET - News Release
Mr. Marc Henderson reports
AQUILINE AWARDS FEASIBILITY TO AUSENCO AND APPOINTS NEW EXPLORATION MANAGER; DRILLING PROGRAM UNDERWAY
Aquiline Resources Inc. has released an update with respect to its development-stage Calcatreu gold and silver project in Rio Negro province, Argentina. Aquiline purchased 100 per cent of Calcatreu from Newmont Mining Corp. in July, 2003, and since then has been aggressively advancing with a view to achieving commercial production as quickly as possible. This fast-track approach to development is part of a broader corporate strategy that includes a significant emphasis on continuing exploration, both within the Calcatreu tenements themselves to expand the current resource as well as regionally in what appears to be a newly emerging epithermal district.
Since the completion of a mine scoping study and revised mineral resource report in the fourth quarter of 2004, work at Calcatreu has progressed steadily and there are a number of developments to report.
Calcatreu development
On the strength of the positive mine scoping study prepared by Toronto-based engineering consultants Micon International Ltd., Aquiline in January, 2005, initiated a tendering process for the award of a bankable feasibility contract for Calcatreu. This contract, which will include final metallurgical testwork and process design, has been awarded to Ausenco Ltd. of Brisbane, Australia, an engineering and construction firm that specializes in the design, construction and commissioning of mineral extraction plants. The Calcatreu feasibility study, expected to cost in the range of $1-million (U.S.), will encompass final process metallurgical flow sheets, detailed engineering and initial CIP process plant design parameters. Kevin Bullock, Aquiline's consultant mining engineer, will be responsible for the overall project direction. Micon International Ltd. will remain with the project as the company's independent project review engineers. Results from the feasibility study are expected to be tabled in the fourth quarter.
Included in the feasibility study is an additional 1,500 metres of metallurgical and 1,200 metres of core orientation drilling required to determine final slope stability angles for open-pit mine design. Metallurgical drilling commenced this week with results expected some time in July.
In a separate but equally important project milestone, Aquiline is pleased to announce that the company's social and environmental impact assessment (SEIA) for the Calcatreu gold project has been finalized and will be submitted to the provincial government authorities in Rio Negro this month. The filing of this document is the culmination of a process that was initiated with the implementation of baseline studies in September, 2003, and will start the process of obtaining the appropriate mining approvals needed for Calcatreu. A number of prominent local and international consultants were involved in the preparation and authorship of the SEIA including Environmental Resources Management (ERM), Water Management Consultants (WMC) and Buenos Aries-based Estudios y Servicios Ambiental SA. The SEIA has been prepared in accordance with international best practices.
Overseeing the company's development effort in Argentina is Jorge Valvano, who has recently joined the company as general manager, Aquiline Argentina. Mr. Valvano is a former chief geologist and exploration manager for Anglo American Argentina and was with Anglo during the discovery, development and successful commissioning of the Cerro Vanguardia mine, Argentina's largest and most profitable gold operation producing 211,000 ounces at a cash cost of $156 (U.S.) per ounce in 2004.
Calcatreu exploration
Aquiline is also pleased to announce the appointment of John Chulick as exploration manager for the Calcatreu project effective May 1. Mr. Chulick is a seasoned exploration geologist who has extensive Latin American exploration field experience specifically with low-sulphidation epithermal precious metals deposits in Chile and Argentina. Mr. Chulick was exploration manager between 1997 and 2002 at Meridian Gold's El Penon deposit in Chile. Here he led the team of geoscientists that discovered the Quebrada Colorada orebody, a discovery that catapulted El Penon into the top tier of low-cost, global gold mines. Mr. Chulick will have overall management and responsibility of the company's exploration efforts around Calcatreu and extended landholdings, including the company's 100-per-cent-owned Flamingo project, located in the adjacent province of Chubut.
Aquiline is the largest landholder within what it has termed the Gastre fault district -- a newly emerging mineralized belt that straddles Chubut and Rio Negro provinces and incorporates the Navidad silver-lead-zinc deposit and the company's Calcatreu gold project. Aquiline now holds 158,000 hectares in Chubut and 170,300 hectares in Rio Negro province and is committed to a systematic, long-term exploration plan within this newly emerging belt. This regional focus has resulted in some early success (see news as reported in Stockwatch on April 13, 2005) which is now being followed up.
The company has recently signed a major drilling contract with Connors Drilling SA, Argentina, and a Boyles Brothers 37A drill rig capable of completing all aspects of the planned metallurgical, core orientation and exploration drilling arrived on site this week. Drilling has recommenced and it is expected that approximately 3,000 metres of engineering-based drilling will be completed. Following this, the rig will begin to drill test surrounding exploration targets, including follow-up drilling on a number of exposed veins systems and geophysical targets within close proximity of the vein 49 and Nelson deposits, which host all of the current mineral resource. Details of the exploration drilling will be announced on commencement of this phase of the program.
Aquiline has implemented a quality control program at Calcatreu to ensure best practices. Under the guidelines of National Instrument 43-101, the required qualified person for the Calcatreu gold project is Peter Mullens, a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
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