HIGHLIGHTS:
• Sampling of the first 75% of the Hassaï tailings adds 114,000 ounces of gold to La
Mancha’s M&I resource
• Grade of new M&I resource exceeds expectations, at 2.06 g Au/t
• Tailings also add an Inferred resource of 70,000 ounces at 2 g Au/t
• A minimum of 2 million tonnes of tailings still to be estimated
La Mancha Resources Inc. (TSX: LMA, hereinafter “La Mancha” or the “Company”) is
pleased to announce that the tailings that have been accumulated near the plant at its
Hassaï mine over 16 years of operation represent an additional Measured and Indicated
(“M&I”) resource of 287,000 ounces of gold (114,000 ounces attributable to La Mancha) at
an average grade of 2.06 g Au/t. An additional 2.75 million tonnes of tailings have also been
qualified, adding 175,000 ounces of gold (70,000 ounces attributable to La Mancha) grading
2.00 g Au/t to Hassaï’s Inferred resource.
The following table shows the new Hassai tailings resource estimate:
All of the Inferred resource comes from the lower portions of the tailings that are the hardest
to reach for sampling purposes. Management is confident of upgrading a significant portion
of this Inferred resource to the M&I category once the proper methodology for accessing
these portions of the tailings has been determined.
As shown on Figure 1, it is also worth noting that, to date, a further 2.1 million tonnes of
tailings remain to be sampled, including 1.7 million tonnes to be sampled in the first quarter
of 2009. The remaining 400,000 tonnes are still active and will therefore only be qualified at
a later stage. Moreover, all the tailings are located within 750m of the current plant and
have already been crushed to minus 10mm and agglomerated with lime and cyanide solution
prior to stacking for heap leaching. Gold recovery from the heap leach was typically 65% to
75% based on the historic metallurgical reconciliation. Preliminary metallurgical testwork
conducted in 2008 indicated the heap tailings are suitable for treatment via a conventional
CIP circuit to recover around 65% of the gold contained in the tailings.
“The existence of this significant pre-mined and pre-crushed resource, grading more than
2 g Au/t and within 750 meters of our processing plant, may represent the equivalent of a
new pre-mined deposit for La Mancha. We believe that this new resource could fully justify
the capital required for the construction of a new CIP plant on site, but also that it could
significantly increase future gold production while increasing the Hassaï life with the current
heap leaching circuit. Today’s initial reading of the Hassaï tailings potential represents one of
the many building blocks for the future of the mine,” said Michel Cuilhé, President and CEO
of La Mancha.
METHODOLOGY
The resource estimation is derived from the results of 343 holes completed according to a
pattern of 25 x 20 m. A cut off grade of 0.9 g Au/t was used for the calculation.
NEXT STEPS
As previously mentioned, drilling activities are scheduled to resume in the first quarter of
2009 to upgrade the tailings Inferred resource to the M&I category, and to qualify the
1.7 million tonnes of tailings that remain to be sampled as resources. The Company expects
to provide an update of resources contained into the tailings before the end of the second
quarter of 2009. The complete year-end assessment of La Mancha’s reserves and resources
is being completed for each property and should be made public in February 2009.
TECHNICAL NOTE
The updated resource review and estimation conform to the requirements of NI 43-101 and
the CIM Best Practices for Estimation of Mineral Resources. There are numerous
uncertainties inherent in estimating mineral reserves, including many factors beyond the
Company’s control. Resource estimation is a subjective process, and the accuracy of any
resource estimate is a function of the quality of available data and engineering and
geological interpretation and judgment. Results from drilling, testing and production, as well
as material changes in metal prices subsequent to the date of an estimate may justify
revision of such estimates. To the best of La Mancha's knowledge, at the time of estimation
there were no known environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic,
marketing, political or other relevant issues that would materially impact on the eventual
extraction of the mineral resources.
The technical information contained in this news release was prepared by Jean-Jacques
Kachrillo, based upon resources estimation and classification prepared by Remi Bosc. MM.
Kachrillo and Bosc are both Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 of the
Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). Mr. Kachrillo is Vice President Exploration
and a full-time employee of La Mancha Resources. Remi Bosc is an independent consultant
member of European Federation of Geologists and was the author of the February 2008
technical report for Hassai regarding the resources, which was filed in February 2008. Both
have sufficient experience in the style of mineralization and type of deposit to qualify as
a Qualified Person as defined in the 2005 Edition of "National Instruments 43-101, Standards
of Disclosure for Mineral Projects”. Mr. Kachrillo and Bosc have consented to the content of
this press release in the form and context in which it appears. Mr. Kachrillo and Bosc have
read NI 43-101 and have ensured that this press release is written in compliance with the
Instrument.
La Mancha has established an Analytical Quality Assurance Program to control and assure
the analytical quality of assays in its gold exploration. This program includes the systematic
addition of blank samples, pulp duplicates and internal material references (“standards”) to
each batch of samples sent for analysis. Blank samples are used to check for possible
contamination in laboratory, duplicates allow the overall precision to be quantified while
standards determine the analytical accuracy. All samples were recovered by Dump and Dune
using an hand-auger with a casing. Samples were assayed at Intertek laboratory in
Indonesia qualified ISO 17025 using fire assays on 30g sample followed by AAS. Variability
of grade within each distinct pad is relatively low, with a coefficient of variation usually below
0.6. Variograms are well structured, with a moderate nugget effect and a typical maximal
range of 50 to 65 meter. All heap-leach pads have been interpolated by ordinary kriging,
within Surpac Vision V6.1 mining software.
ABOUT LA MANCHA RESOURCES Inc.:
La Mancha Resources Inc. is an international gold producer based in Canada with
operations, development projects and exploration activities in Africa, Australia and
Argentina.
La Mancha Resources operates and owns 40% of the Hassaï mine in Sudan. The Hassai mine
started production in 1992 and has produced 2.1 M oz to date from several pits inside the
Ariab lease (24,000 km2). The ore is processed by heap leaching.
• Sampling of the first 75% of the Hassaï tailings adds 114,000 ounces of gold to La
Mancha’s M&I resource
• Grade of new M&I resource exceeds expectations, at 2.06 g Au/t
• Tailings also add an Inferred resource of 70,000 ounces at 2 g Au/t
• A minimum of 2 million tonnes of tailings still to be estimated
La Mancha Resources Inc. (TSX: LMA, hereinafter “La Mancha” or the “Company”) is
pleased to announce that the tailings that have been accumulated near the plant at its
Hassaï mine over 16 years of operation represent an additional Measured and Indicated
(“M&I”) resource of 287,000 ounces of gold (114,000 ounces attributable to La Mancha) at
an average grade of 2.06 g Au/t. An additional 2.75 million tonnes of tailings have also been
qualified, adding 175,000 ounces of gold (70,000 ounces attributable to La Mancha) grading
2.00 g Au/t to Hassaï’s Inferred resource.
The following table shows the new Hassai tailings resource estimate:
All of the Inferred resource comes from the lower portions of the tailings that are the hardest
to reach for sampling purposes. Management is confident of upgrading a significant portion
of this Inferred resource to the M&I category once the proper methodology for accessing
these portions of the tailings has been determined.
As shown on Figure 1, it is also worth noting that, to date, a further 2.1 million tonnes of
tailings remain to be sampled, including 1.7 million tonnes to be sampled in the first quarter
of 2009. The remaining 400,000 tonnes are still active and will therefore only be qualified at
a later stage. Moreover, all the tailings are located within 750m of the current plant and
have already been crushed to minus 10mm and agglomerated with lime and cyanide solution
prior to stacking for heap leaching. Gold recovery from the heap leach was typically 65% to
75% based on the historic metallurgical reconciliation. Preliminary metallurgical testwork
conducted in 2008 indicated the heap tailings are suitable for treatment via a conventional
CIP circuit to recover around 65% of the gold contained in the tailings.
“The existence of this significant pre-mined and pre-crushed resource, grading more than
2 g Au/t and within 750 meters of our processing plant, may represent the equivalent of a
new pre-mined deposit for La Mancha. We believe that this new resource could fully justify
the capital required for the construction of a new CIP plant on site, but also that it could
significantly increase future gold production while increasing the Hassaï life with the current
heap leaching circuit. Today’s initial reading of the Hassaï tailings potential represents one of
the many building blocks for the future of the mine,” said Michel Cuilhé, President and CEO
of La Mancha.
METHODOLOGY
The resource estimation is derived from the results of 343 holes completed according to a
pattern of 25 x 20 m. A cut off grade of 0.9 g Au/t was used for the calculation.
NEXT STEPS
As previously mentioned, drilling activities are scheduled to resume in the first quarter of
2009 to upgrade the tailings Inferred resource to the M&I category, and to qualify the
1.7 million tonnes of tailings that remain to be sampled as resources. The Company expects
to provide an update of resources contained into the tailings before the end of the second
quarter of 2009. The complete year-end assessment of La Mancha’s reserves and resources
is being completed for each property and should be made public in February 2009.
TECHNICAL NOTE
The updated resource review and estimation conform to the requirements of NI 43-101 and
the CIM Best Practices for Estimation of Mineral Resources. There are numerous
uncertainties inherent in estimating mineral reserves, including many factors beyond the
Company’s control. Resource estimation is a subjective process, and the accuracy of any
resource estimate is a function of the quality of available data and engineering and
geological interpretation and judgment. Results from drilling, testing and production, as well
as material changes in metal prices subsequent to the date of an estimate may justify
revision of such estimates. To the best of La Mancha's knowledge, at the time of estimation
there were no known environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-economic,
marketing, political or other relevant issues that would materially impact on the eventual
extraction of the mineral resources.
The technical information contained in this news release was prepared by Jean-Jacques
Kachrillo, based upon resources estimation and classification prepared by Remi Bosc. MM.
Kachrillo and Bosc are both Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 of the
Canadian Securities Administrators ("NI 43-101"). Mr. Kachrillo is Vice President Exploration
and a full-time employee of La Mancha Resources. Remi Bosc is an independent consultant
member of European Federation of Geologists and was the author of the February 2008
technical report for Hassai regarding the resources, which was filed in February 2008. Both
have sufficient experience in the style of mineralization and type of deposit to qualify as
a Qualified Person as defined in the 2005 Edition of "National Instruments 43-101, Standards
of Disclosure for Mineral Projects”. Mr. Kachrillo and Bosc have consented to the content of
this press release in the form and context in which it appears. Mr. Kachrillo and Bosc have
read NI 43-101 and have ensured that this press release is written in compliance with the
Instrument.
La Mancha has established an Analytical Quality Assurance Program to control and assure
the analytical quality of assays in its gold exploration. This program includes the systematic
addition of blank samples, pulp duplicates and internal material references (“standards”) to
each batch of samples sent for analysis. Blank samples are used to check for possible
contamination in laboratory, duplicates allow the overall precision to be quantified while
standards determine the analytical accuracy. All samples were recovered by Dump and Dune
using an hand-auger with a casing. Samples were assayed at Intertek laboratory in
Indonesia qualified ISO 17025 using fire assays on 30g sample followed by AAS. Variability
of grade within each distinct pad is relatively low, with a coefficient of variation usually below
0.6. Variograms are well structured, with a moderate nugget effect and a typical maximal
range of 50 to 65 meter. All heap-leach pads have been interpolated by ordinary kriging,
within Surpac Vision V6.1 mining software.
ABOUT LA MANCHA RESOURCES Inc.:
La Mancha Resources Inc. is an international gold producer based in Canada with
operations, development projects and exploration activities in Africa, Australia and
Argentina.
La Mancha Resources operates and owns 40% of the Hassaï mine in Sudan. The Hassai mine
started production in 1992 and has produced 2.1 M oz to date from several pits inside the
Ariab lease (24,000 km2). The ore is processed by heap leaching.
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