Excellon Resources Inc. (TSX: EXN) ("Excellon" or "the Company") is pleased to announce that it has commenced a 5,000 metres ("m") diamond drilling program on its DeSantis Project in Timmins, Ontario. Highlights from previous drilling on the project include:
Hydrothermal Zone: 7.90 g/t gold over 5.2 m in hole DS10-02; 3.40 g/t gold over 9.9 m, including 13.70 g/t Au over 0.7 m in hole DS10-06; 3.63 g/t gold over 23.17 m, including 14.25 g/t gold over 1.17 m in hole DS10-10A; Albitite Zone: 1.74 g/t gold over 12.0 m, including 10.39 g/t Au over 1.5 m in hole DS12-004.
"We are very pleased with our technical progress at DeSantis since the completion of the last drilling campaign in April. The exploration team in Timmins has done a thorough job of compiling historical data and come up with several new target areas,"stated John Sullivan, Vice-President of Exploration.
"This regional approach has enabled the Company to see the project in a new light and we look forward to the results of this drilling program."
The DeSantis Project, which includes the past producing DeSantis Gold Mine, covers approximately five km of strike length within the highly prospective geology of the Destor-Porcupine Deformation Zone ("DPDZ"), the main structure controlling gold deposits in the Timmins gold camp.
The DeSantis Mine produced 35,800 ounces of gold from 178,650 tonnes of ore which graded 6.2 g/t Au during its intermittent production history.
The property is located approximately 11 km west of Goldcorp Inc.'s Dome Mine and 14 km east of Lake Shore Gold Corp.'s Timmins Mine.
Exploration on the DeSantis Project since 2010 includes 5,888 m in 15 holes in 2010 and 27 holes (seven abandoned due to technical issues) totalling 11,039 m in 2011/2012.
In mid-October the Company completed a comprehensive program of geotechnical compilation, relogging and sampling of recent and historic drill core and reviewing the project in a regional context.
Based on the results of this work the Company commenced the current 5,000 m diamond drilling program in late October.
Drilling will follow up on promising recent results and will test undrilled areas east of and below the known Albitite Zone.
In addition, geophysical and geological targets will be tested in a series of holes on areas of the project that have not been thoroughly explored.
Map 1 shows the location of the property in the Timmins Camp, while Map 2 is a longitudinal section showing the location of recent and planned drilling near the No. 2 shaft on both the Hydrothermal Alteration and Albitite zones.
Beschefer Drill Campaign A winter 2013 drill program is being planned for the Company's 100%-owned Beschefer property, which is located approximately 60 km northeast of the Casa Berardi Mine, 80 km east-southeast of the Detour Gold Project and 12 km east of the past-producing Selbaie Mine.
The property hosts the "B-14 Zone", which was discovered by Billiton Canada Inc. in 1995, but marginally explored prior to the Company's involvement.
In early 2012, the Company completed 8,867 m of drilling in 33 holes focussed on the B-14 Zone. Significant intersections included 13.07 g/t Au over 8.75 m including 58.5 g/t Au over 1.50 m in hole BE12-014, and 10.35 g/t Au over 1.50 m and 3.56 g/t Au over 6.06 m in hole BE12-030.
The B-14 Zone is found within a typical Archean volcanic assemblage, with gold hosted in pyritic quartz veining within a mylonitic unit.
As the Beschefer property has little or no bedrock exposure and is muskeg-covered, drilling is most effectively performed during freezing conditions.
Update on La Platosa Production Excellon is also pleased to announce that milling recommenced at the Company's mill in Miguel Auza, Zacatecas on October 29th.
In the past few days, the Company trucked 1,800 tonnes of ore from its high-grade silver/lead/zinc La Platosa Mine in Durango, Mexico.
An updated production forecast for the remainder of 2012 will be released in due course.
Qualified Persons The Company's DeSantis Project and Beschefer Property exploration programs are supervised by John Sullivan, B.Sc., PGeo., Excellon's Vice-President of Exploration and Stephen Conquer, B.Sc., PGeo., Excellon's Exploration Manager, Canada.
Mr. Sullivan is an economic geologist with over 35 years of experience in the mineral industry. Prior to joining Excellon in 2007 he was a senior geologist at a Toronto-based international geological and mining engineering consulting firm where he evaluated properties and prepared NI 43-101 reports on gold and base metal projects in Canada and internationally. In addition he has held senior positions with two large Canadian mining companies where he directed major exploration programs, managed field offices, and evaluated projects in Canada, Europe, Africa and Latin America.
Mr. Sullivan is not independent of Excellon as he is an officer of the Company.
Mr. Conquer is an economic geologist with over 30 years of experience in the mineral industry. Prior to joining Excellon he was Senior Project Geologist and Chief Mine Geologist for a company with gold exploration and mining operations in Timmins where he directed surface and underground exploration programs and the geological component of underground mining operations. Previously Mr. Conquer also held Chief Mine Geologist positions at operations near Sudbury and Marathon and senior exploration positions in the Abitibi and Red Lake Greenstone Belts.
About Excellon
Excellon's high-grade silver production drives transformative exploration potential.
The Company's 100%-owned La Platosa Mine in Durango is Mexico's highest grade silver mine, with lead and zinc by-products making it one of the lowest cash cost silver mines in the country.
With 41,000 hectares of exploration ground surrounding the mine, Excellon is focused on discovering the large-tonnage Source of the high-grade silver mantos currently in production.
Such a discovery has the potential to transform La Platosa into the next major project in Mexico's prolific CRD/silver belt.
On behalf of EXCELLON RESOURCES INC. Peter A. Crossgrove Executive Chairman
Excellon Resources Inc. (TSX: EXN) ("Excellon" or "the Company"), Mexico's highest grade silver producer, is pleased to announce financial results for the third quarter of 2012 and provide an updated outlook on fourth quarter production.
"While the third quarter of 2012 was difficult due to the illegal blockade at La Platosa, we remain on course for a successful year and have had a profitable first nine months. We have now returned to full production at La Platosa, the highest grade and one of the lowest cost silver mines in Mexico," stated Peter Crossgrove, Executive Chairman. "We are looking forward to a successful fourth quarter on both the production and exploration fronts. Our 2012 production to date versus the same period in 2011 has realized significantly higher silver and zinc grades, as well as higher metal recoveries across the board, both of which should lessen the impact of production lost during the third quarter."
Mr. Crossgrove continued, "Our third quarter discovery of Source-style mineralization at the Rincon del Caido area is currently being followed-up on aggressively with four diamond drills.
We have also recently commenced a 5,000-metre drill program at the DeSantis Project near Timmins on new and promising targets and we are preparing to resume drilling at our Beschefer Project in Quebec early in 2013."
Highlights of the Nine-Month Period Ended September 30, 2012
High-grade production of 830,100 ounces grading 876 g/t Ag (25.55 oz/T Ag) at net cash costs of $5.31;
Discovery of new Source-style mineralization at Rincon del Caido, with results including:
132 g/t (3.8 oz/T) Ag, 3.13% Pb and 1.74% Zn over 55.5 m, including 336 g/t (10 oz/T) Ag, 3.27% Pb, 1.96% Zn over 4.10 m in LP1019; 146 g/t (4.3 oz/T) Ag, 2.8% Pb, 1.9% Zn and 0.216 g/t Au over 43.4 m, including 381 g/t (11.1 oz/T) Ag, 10.6% Pb, 11.5% Zn, 0.354 g/t Au over 5.8 m in LP1023A;
Expenditures, fully funded from cash flow, include:
$2.4 million on drilling at La Platosa for both mantos and Source mineralization;
$1.3 million on drilling at the DeSantis and Beschefer properties in Canada;
$1.9 million in capital expenditures at the La Platosa Mine and Miguel Auza Mill;
$2.4 million to repurchase a 1% net smelter return royalty on the La Platosa Mine, immediately accretive to cash flow - no further royalties payable on La Platosa;
$2.9 million to repurchase 5.1 million common shares of the Company;
$5 million invested in the Sprott Physical Silver Trust representing an underlying investment of 134,732 ounces of silver;
Four drills currently turning at La Platosa to follow up on Source-style discovery, one rig turning at DeSantis on new and promising targets;
Financial position remains strong, with cash, marketable securities and trade receivables totaling $11.8 million as at September 30, 2012.
Financial and Operating Highlights: Production at the La Platosa Mine was halted from July 8, 2012 to October 16, 2012 due to an illegal blockade of the mine site.
Financial results for the three and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2012 and 2011 are as follows:
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