VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Mar 28, 2013 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Chesapeake Gold Corp. (“Chesapeake”) /quotes/zigman/308689 CA:CKG -1.90% wishes to announce the filing of a National Instrument 43-101 compliant independent Technical Report (“Technical Report”) relating to a Preliminary Feasibility Study (“PFS”) on its 100%-owned Metates Gold Silver Project located in Durango State, Mexico. The PFS incorporates significant scope changes and updated engineering work as well as updated capital and operating cost estimates since the completion of the Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) dated April 25, 2011. The Technical Report supports Chesapeake’s February 1, 2013 news release which discussed the results of the PFS.
The Report titled “Metates Gold-Silver Project NI 43-101 Technical Report Preliminary Feasibility Study Durango, Mexico” and dated March 18, 2013, has been filed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com and can also be found on the Chesapeake website at www.chesapeakegold.com.
During the completion of the PFS certain discrepancies were noted that impacted three of the tables that were included in the January 31, 2013 news release. The revised tables are shown below. No changes were noted to the other tables or text that was included in the news release and hence all of the other information presented in the release is deemed to be accurate and reliable.
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Operating Metrics
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Years 1-19 Years 1-25
Active Years 20-25 Life of
Operating Period Years 2-7 Mining Stockpile Mine
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Material Mined
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Total Ore Mined From Pit
(Mtonnes) 454 1,149 0 1,149
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Ore To Process (Mtonnes) 259 845 304 1,149
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Low Grade Ore To
Stockpile (Mtonnes) 195 304 0 304
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Waste Rock (Mtonnes) 371 1,158 0 1,158
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Strip Ratio (1) 0.82 1.00 0.00 1.00
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Average Milling Rate
(Ktonnes/year) 43,204 45,181 48,404 45,954
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Average Milled Grades
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Gold (g/t) 0.68 0.58 0.28 0.50
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Silver (g/t) 23.8 15.5 10.8 14.2
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Gold Equivalent (g/t) 1.12 0.87 0.48 0.74
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Zinc % 0.25 0.16 0.19 0.17
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Cumulative Metal
Production (2)
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Gold (oz.) (000) (Dore) 5,068 14,080 2,395 16,475
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Silver (oz.) (000) (Dore) 150,539 317,384 80,319 397,703
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Gold Equivalent (oz.)
(000) (3) 7,856 19,958 3,882 23,840
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Zinc (million lbs.) 1,051 2,275 1,075 3,350
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Average Annual Production
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Gold (oz.) (000) 845 741 399 659
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Silver (oz.) (000) 25,090 16,695 13,387 15,908
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Gold Equivalent (oz.)
(000) 1,309 1,050 645 954
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Zinc (million lbs.) 175.1 131.9 179.2 143.3
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Cash Cost ($/Au Eq Oz).
Net of Zn/Cu 355 482 524 493
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(1) Strip Ratio based on total ore tonnes mined to waste tonnes mined
(2) Overall metal recoveries are 89% Gold, 76% Silver and 85% Zinc
(3) Gold Equivalent based on Base Case metal price assumptions
(Gold=$1,350/oz. Silver=$25/oz.) Gold Eq-Gold + Silver/54
In the table titled Operating Metrics, the cash cost per gold equivalent ounce net of zinc and copper credits for the years 2-7 operating period was lowered from $421 per ounce as reported in the January 31, 2013 news release to the correct $355 per ounce, reflecting an error in the earlier calculation.
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Summary of Operating Costs
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LOM Average LOM $/AuEq Oz.
Cost/Ore Tonne Production
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Metates Site
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Mining (per Tonne Material = $1.33
includ. rehandle) $3.04 $146.44
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Crushing, Grinding, Flotation $2.78 $134.09
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Concentrate Thickening &
Transportation $0.25 $11.88
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Tailings Dewatering & Stacking $0.54 $26.01
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Other $0.03 $1.27
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Subtotal $6.62 $319.69
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Ranchito Site
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Pressure Oxidation & Acid
Neutralization $0.74 $35.69
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Oxygen Supply $3.13 $151.01
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Limestone Mining, Crushing & Lime
Production $1.20 $58.07
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Precious Metal Recovery & Refining $0.63 $30.67
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Zinc & Copper Recovery $0.47 $22.77
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Tailings & Residue Disposal $0.17 $8.32
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Subtotal $6.34 $306.53
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Support
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General & Adminstrative $0.27 $13.17
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Water Supply $0.31 $15.15
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Other $0.05 $2.19
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Subtotal $0.63 $30.51
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Total Operating Cost $13.59 $656.73
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Net Zinc and Copper Credit $3.40 $163.73
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Cash Cost ($/AuEq Oz.) Net of Zn/Cu
Credit (1) $10.19 $493.00
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(1) Based on mine site costs excluding transport, refining etc.
In the table titled Summary of Operating Costs, the cost for the Metates site tailings dewatering and stacking was adjusted up by 9 cents, the mining cost per tonne up by 2 cents and the overall life of mine operating cost per tonne increased by 10 cents (when adjusted for rounding) to total $13.59 per tonne. The overall gold equivalent cash cost per ounce net of byproduct zinc and copper production increased from $489 per ounce to the adjusted $493 per ounce.
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Financial Results Summary
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Metal Price Assumptions Base Case SEC NI 43-101
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Gold ($/oz.) $1,350.00 $1,487.85 $1,657.50
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Silver ($/oz.) $25.00 $28.80 $29.45
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Zinc ($/lb.) $1.00 $0.95 $0.97
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Copper ($/lb.) $3.00 $3.67 $3.67
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Pre-Tax Economic Indicators
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NPV @ 5% ($000) $6,716,899 $8,654,560 $9,487,072
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NPV @ 8% ($000) $4,097,701 $5,487,800 $6,077,166
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IRR % 21.1 24.8 26.2
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Payback (yrs) 4.1 3.5 3.4
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After-Tax Economic Indicators
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NPV @ 5% ($000) $4,482,466 $5,930,595 $6,528,164
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NPV @ 8% ($000) $2,515,629 $3,561,879 $3,984,188
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IRR % 16.6 19.8 20.9
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Payback (yrs) 4.9 4.3 4.1
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Pre-Tax Cumulative Net
Operating Income
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Total – All Metals Years 2-7
($000) $7,731,313 $8,969,710 $9,491,471
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Total – All Metals Life of
Mine ($000) $20,290,557 $24,015,407 $25,644,107
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In the table titled Financial Results Summary, changes were made to the Pre-Tax and After-Tax Economic Indicators for NPV @ 5%, NPV @ 8%, IRR% and Payback (years) and Pre-Tax Cumulative Net Operating Income. In all cases these economic indicators improved over those shown in the January 31, 2013 news release. Using the base case metal prices the After-Tax NPV @ 5% (in thousands) increased from $4,269,995 to $4,482,466, the IRR increased from 16.2% to 16.6% and the payback decreased from 5.1 years to 4.9 years, respectively, when comparing the results shown in the January 31, 2013 news release to the correct values shown in the following revised table. At the request of M3 Engineering & Technology, the Spot metal prices were replaced with the “NI 43-101” metal price assumptions, effective December 31, 2012.
Both the PEA and the PFS were prepared by M3 Engineering & Technology of Tucson, Arizona (“M3”) and other prominent consultants who have recent project development experience in Mexico. The PFS was prepared the direction of Mr. Doug Austin, P.E., P.Eng, Senior Vice President of M3 and Dr. Art Ibrado, QP Member, MMSA, Project Manager with M3, who are qualified persons. Mr. Michael Hester, FAusIMM, Vice President of IMC, is the qualified person responsible for the reserve estimate and mine planning in the Technical Report.
Mr. Gary Parkison, CPG, Vice President Development of Chesapeake, is the qualified person who supervised the preparation of the technical information in this release.
For more information on Chesapeake and its Metates Project, please visit our website at www.chesapeakegold.com.
CHESAPEAKE GOLD CORP
P. Randy Reifel, President
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements concern the Company’s anticipated results and developments in the Company’s operations in future periods, planned exploration and development of the Metates Project and related matters that may occur in the future. These statements relate to analyses and other information contained in the PFS that are based on expectations of future performance, including silver and gold production and the economic viability of the Metates Project.
Statements concerning reserves and resource estimates may also constitute forward-looking statements to the extent that they involve estimates of the mineralization that will be encountered if the property is developed and, in the case of mineral reserves, such statements reflect the conclusion based on certain assumptions that the mineral deposit can be economically exploited.
Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual events or results to differ from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the following with respect to the results of the Metates Project PFS:
— the technical and financial viability of mining, flotation, pipeline
operations, oxidation facilities, acid neutralization processing, and
processing operations at Metates;
— the economic potential of the Metates mineral deposit including the
existence and size of the mineral deposit at Metates;
— the productive mine life of the Metates project including timing and
amount of estimated future production;
— access to surface land and water rights;
— environmental approvals, permit applications for road and mine
construction and the development schedule for the project;
— ability to secure financing for mine construction and development on
acceptable terms;
— potential increases in costs, timing and complexities of permitting,
mine construction and development and ability to secure necessary
infrastructure as a result of the remote location of the Metates Project
and local landholder Ejido consultation requirements;
— planned mining operations and ore processing; assumptions regarding the
anticipated construction of access roads, third party power supply and
distribution network, gas pipeline and access to natural gas supplies,
oxygen plant outsourcing;
— communications infrastructure and tailing dewatering and stacking
facilities;
— annual mine production of ore and waste and waste/ore stripping ratios;
— estimated initial and ongoing mill throughput; the process and
expectations for metal recovery over the life of the mine;
— estimated capital and operating costs;
— projected future metal prices and precious and base metal price
fluctuations;
— risks related to fluctuations in the currency markets (particularly the
Mexican peso, Canadian dollar and United States dollar);
— risks related to the inherently dangerous activity of mining, including
conditions or events beyond our control, and operating or technical
difficulties in mineral exploration, development and mining activities;
— risks related to reserves and mineral resource figures being estimates
based on interpretations and assumptions which may result in less
mineral production under actual conditions than is currently estimated
and to diminishing quantities or grades of mineral reserves as
properties are mined; and
— risks related to all of the Company’s properties being located in
Mexico, including political, economic, social and regulatory risks.
This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect our forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. The Company’s forward-looking statements are based on beliefs, expectations and opinions of management on the date the statements are made. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Chesapeake Gold Corp.
Investor Relations
604-731-1094
www.chesapeakegold.com
SOURCE: Chesapeake Gold Corp.
http://www.chesapeakegold.com
