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 |   Wed Feb 7, 2007
Mediterranean Reports Its First Resource Estimation For Tac - Significant Increase Over Historical Estimate And Favourable Metallurgical Test Results -
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| | Vancouver, B.C., February 7, 2007 - Mediterranean Resources Ltd. (TSX-V: MNR) (the "Company") announced today that it has received positive results of a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the Company's Tac gold property in northeastern Turkey as undertaken by Wardrop Engineering Inc. in Vancouver. This is the first NI 43-101 compliant resource at Tac and the first estimate since the outlining of a historical resource of approximately 500,000 ozs of gold during the early 1990's.
Highlights of the Study:
- Indicated Resource of 683,785 ozs of gold and 33,788,867 lbs of copper on a capped basis with average grades of 1.80 g/t Au and 0.13% Cu at a 1.0 g/t Au cut-off.
- Indicated Resource of 773,313 ozs of gold and 34,220,429 lbs of copper on an uncapped basis with average grades of 2.01 g/t Au and 0.13% Cu at a cut-off of 1.0 g/t Au.
- Indicated Resource of 744,566 ozs of gold on a capped and gold-equivalent basis of 1.96 g/t and 1.0 g/t Au cut-off.
- Indicated Resource of 823,328 ozs of gold on an uncapped and gold equivalent basis of 2.14 g/t and 1.0 g/t Au cut-off.
- Significant amount of contained copper.
Peter Guest, Mediterranean President and CEO, said "This new resource calculation validates our high expectations for Tac. Although we were confident that earlier historical work in the 90's would be amply confirmed, we realize that it is important to have a NI 43-101 compliant resource that establishes the property by contemporary standards. Our work at Tac has consistently revealed new options for progress such as the growing extension of the mineralized zones and the welcome introduction of potentially economic concentrations of copper. We have a systematic plan for both Tac and Corak that will maximize our options. We will quickly initiate a scoping study at Tac accompanied by further in-fill drilling that will be incorporated into a new expanded resource calculation. A drilling campaign on the Corak property will lead to an additional resource calculation for that property. We believe that the Company has now taken a very large step toward its goal of becoming a producer".
The resource estimate was performed on two mineralized zones within the Tac property which exhibit the essential characteristics of high sulphidization epithermal gold and base-metal mineralization. These zones, the Copper Creek -- Ugur Thrust Zone (CCUTZ) and Karsibayir (KB) have been determined to contain potentially economic concentrations of both gold and copper.
The resource estimate, summarized below, is calculated for both zones at various threshold (cut-off) gold grades using Inverse Distance² (ID²) interpolation uncapped and with gold grades capped at 100 g/t for drill core samples and 40 g/t for reverse circulation. The base case capped combined Indicated Resource estimation, at a threshold (cut-off) grade of 1.0 g/t Au, is estimated to be approximately 11,814,289 tonnes grading 1.80 g/t Au and 0.13% Cu. This equates to approximately 683,785 ozs of gold and 33,788,867 lbs of copper and, on a gold-equivalent basis of 1.96 g/t, approximately 744,566 ozs of gold. Similarly, the combined Inferred Resource using the same criteria is estimated to be approximately 390,555 tonnes grading 3.01 g/t Au and 0.16% copper. This equates to approximately 37,800 ozs of gold and 1,374,754 lbs of copper and, on a gold-equivalent basis of 3.12 g/t, approximately 39,181 ozs of gold. If the gold grades are not capped, the combined Indicated Resource is approximately 773,313 ozs of gold and 34,220,429 lbs of copper which, on a gold-equivalent basis of 2.14 g/t, equates to approximately 823,328 ozs of gold. Further, the combined Inferred Resource using the same criteria are approximately 37,549 ozs of gold and 1,202,909 lbs of copper which, on a gold equivalent basis of 3.06 g/t, equates to approximately 38,428 ozs of gold.
Table 1: Tac Property ID 2 Summary Resource Estimate
Exploration:
Significant exploration potential exists in both the CCUZ and KB mineralized zones, both within the area of the existing resource, and also along strike and down dip of the area that has been tested to date. A 5,000 metre drill program for 2007 will be focused on these two areas, including an area to the northeast of the T-6 Valley (forming part of the CCUZ zone) where the greatest concentration of high-grade mineralization has been encountered to date. This mineralization has been shown to extend to the northeast where drilling in 2006 was too widely spaced to permit a confident interpretation of its extent and limits. Drilling will also be concentrated on the area beneath the T-6 Valley where the CCUZ thrust is considered to have the greatest potential and where lower topographic elevations compensate for any increase in the depth of the mineralized thrust. The Company will use funds raised under its recent private placement to complete this year's drilling program.
Metallurgy:
Favourable results have been obtained from bench-scale metallurgical tests of mineralized material from both the Tac and Corak properties. A 30 kg composite sample was tested by direct cyanide leach, gravity separation and flotation using three standard grind sizes (80% passing 149, 105 and 74 microns). Direct cyanidation achieved up to 88% Au recovery using the finest grind, -74 microns. Three stages of gravity separation of the -74 micron grind size achieved a recovery of approximately 82% Au indicating gold recoveries attainable of over 90% with an over 50% gangue rejection. Rougher stage flotation achieved a gold recovery of over 90%. Copper recovery was also excellent at greater than 92%. Overall, the sample proved the mineralization amenable to all single processes with excellent gold and copper recoveries. Further testing leading to a basic flow sheet design for mineral processing will be completed in the coming weeks for use in developing an economic scoping study.
Other Activities:
A preliminary assessment (economic scoping study) will be initiated in the first quarter this year based on the resource estimate updated by the results of continued drilling, metallurgical testing and mining method optimization. The preliminary assessment will determine the initial economics of placing Tac into production. This assessment will be completed by the third quarter, 2007.
A 10,000 metre drilling program planned for this year on the Corak property will lead to the development of a NI 43-101 compliant resources estimate by December, 2007. The Corak resource estimate together with the updated Tac resource estimate will indicate the total resource available for development by the end of 2007.
The Company has filed the "Technical Report on the Tac Property, Artvin Province, Turkey" prepared by Wardrop Engineering Inc. dated February 2007 on SEDAR under the Company's profile. The report describes the procedures and parameters involved in providing a National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate for a portion of the Tac property, located in Artvin province, northeastern Turkey.
Mediterranean Resources is focused on an emerging mineral region in northeastern Turkey where it is developing two advanced exploration stage gold properties. These properties are held by the Company as announced January 4, 2007.
Dr. Peter Guest is the qualified person who has reviewed the data in this news release.
For further information please contact:
Peter J. Guest
President & CEO
604-669-3397
www.medresources.ca
OR
Jag S. Sandhu
VP Corporate Development
604-306-1950
Andreas Curkovic
The Equicom Group
1-416-815-0700 x262
1-800-385-5451 x262
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. |
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