Lara Exploration Ltd. has been advised by Vertical Mineração Ltda. ("Vertical") that it has filed a Final Exploration Report with the Brazilian Department of Mines ("DNPM") for the Curionópolis Iron Project in northern Brazil. The report details the exploration work, resource calculations and preliminary economic studies and is the first step in the process for Vertical to apply for a full Mining License for the project.
Lara understands that Vertical's consultants used a total of 96 diamond drill holes (8,727 metres) and 257 excavated pits (up to approximately 2 metres in depth) to estimate mineable resources. The drill holes were located on sections spaced at between 100 and 200 metres for the full approximately 8.5 kilometre strike-length of the iron formations, with at least one, and up to four drill holes per section. The resource estimate has been filed with the Brazilian Department of Mines ("DNPM") as part of Vertical's permitting process and does not comply with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and, therefore, is not reproduced here.
Lara understands there are a number of zones of near-surface higher-grade lump ore that Vertical plans to target in the shorter term. A Pilot Mining license has already been granted for this work (see Lara's news release of June 18, 2012 for details), but as yet Vertical has not provided a timetable for the start-up of this operation.
Under the terms of the agreement with Vertical, an area of 1,348 hectares of the Curionópolis Property was ceded in exchange for cash payments to Lara of US$868,256 (US$589,816 paid), production royalties of US$1.50/ton on sales of granular iron ore and US$0.75/ton on sales of fine-grained iron ore from the Project.
Quality Control
Michael Bennell, Lara's Vice President Exploration and a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM), is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and is responsible for the preparation and verification of the technical information in this release.