Mar 1 2011
Liberty Silver Corp. (OTCBB:LBSV) today announced that an independently verified mineral resource estimate has been completed on the Trinity mine project in Nevada. The 43-101 compliant technical report was prepared by Mine Development Associates of Reno, Nevada.
"We are very pleased with the initial 43-101 estimates for the Trinity project," stated Geoff Browne, Chairman and CEO of Liberty. "Liberty Silver believes that the report, which was tightly focused on the known resource, confirms that this is a viable, commercial project. Our confidence is substantiated by the wealth of data from previous mining operations, exploration drilling and geophysics programs, which also indicate substantial potential for expanding the resource outside the identified deposit area."
The oxide resources are listed using a cutoff grade of 0.65 oz Ag/t. This cutoff grade was chosen to capture mineralization potentially available to open pit extraction and heap leach processing, and it was derived using a $17 per ounce silver price (three-year average) and a 75% heap leach recovery factor. For the sulphide mineralization, a 1.3 oz/ton Ag-equivalent cutoff grade, chosen to reflect potential open-pit mining, milling, and production of concentrates by flotation. The cutoff assumes 90% recovery by flotation of the silver, lead, and zinc, and metal prices of $17 per ounce for silver and $0.80 per pound for both lead and zinc.
The resource is based upon assay results from a historic database of 306 drill holes as well as processing and recovery data from the historic operation and metallurgical testing. A total of 40 cross sections spaced at 100ft intervals across the deposit were used for the modeling of the Trinity mineral domains.
Silver mineralization at Trinity occurs as oxidized and unoxidized sulfides in veinlets, as fracture controlled mineralization, and as disseminated zones of tabular mineralization primarily within Tertiary rhyolite porphyry, aphanitic rhyolite, and volcaniclastic rocks.
"Although this is our initial resource report, we view Trinity as an advanced project in an established mining jurisdiction with existing infrastructure, which we can and intend to bring into production quickly with minimal CAPEX expenditures. Trinity compares very favorably to other projects in the region which are on stream with lower grades than those confirmed in this report," commented William Tafuri, President and COO of Liberty.
Further Resource Development Potential
In addition to the resource defined in the 43-101 compliant technical report, the Trinity project has extensions to the north, southwest and at depth below the current pit, that have been drilled previously. These extensions are outside the defined 43-101 resource area but have the potential to significantly expand the size and scope of the project. The next phase of the project will include a drilling program to bring these extensions into 43-101 compliance.
Exploration Potential
Work is being completed to identify the exploration targets on the property using the previous geophysical work combined with the new geophysical survey completed in 2010 as well as the previous drilling results.