Jul 4 2013
Bellhaven Copper & Gold Inc. (“Bellhaven” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the initiation of metallurgical studies at La Garrucha, La Cantera, and Middle Zones porphyry gold-(copper) prospects at La Mina, Colombia.
The metallurgical testing will be the first for La Garrucha where the Company only recently announced the 217-m intercept of 1.3 g/t Au and 0.15% Cu (1.5 g/t AuEq) contained in its discovery hole (see press release dated June 5, 2013). The testing for La Cantera and Middle Zone would build on the initial metallurgical work demonstrating that a conventional flotation process can yield high recoveries of up to 85 to 90% of gold and copper to produce a high-quality, clean, commercial-grade concentrate (see press release of November 15, 2011).
The program will be guided by Mr. Gregory Chlumsky of InterPro Development (Lakewood, Colorado). Mr. Chlumsky has been responsible for the due diligence for several copper/gold projects that are now in production. Mr. Chlumsky was the general manager of projects for the Colorado School of Mines Research Institute (CSMRI) and the principal process engineer for Pincock Allen & Holt (now RungePincockMinarco) and Chlumsky, Armbrust & Meyers (CAM). He recently has retired from CAM.
Julio Benedetti, Bellhaven’s CEO and Chairman, commented as follows:
“The commencement of metallurgical testing for La Garrucha reflects our confidence that this prospect will make a significant addition to the 2.55 Moz of gold-equivalent resource already established for the other La Mina prospects, La Cantera and Middle Zone. We want to advance aggressively each of these prospects to a preliminary economic study and today’s announcement represents a significant milestone towards that end. In addition, we are looking forward to conducting our second round of metallurgical testing for La Cantera and Middle Zone where the initial study demonstrated high levels of recovery for both gold and copper.”
“The drill continues to turn at La Garrucha where we have just completed drilling the fourth hole of our La Garrucha drilling program. We anticipate that the core from this drill hole will supplement the core already drilled in the three previous holes to form the feed for the metallurgical study.”
In accordance with National Instrument 43-101, it is noted that the potential quality and grade at La Garrucha is conceptual in nature, that there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource, and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in a target being delineated as a mineral resource.
This news release has been prepared under the supervision of Mr. Thomas J. Drown, P.Geo. Mr. Drown has more than 25 years relevant experience and is a British Colombia Professional Geoscientist. He is a senior project geologist with the Company at the La Mina Project and serves as the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.