MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwire - March 4, 2013) - Maya Gold & Silver Inc. ("Maya" or the "Corporation) (TSX VENTURE:MYA) is extremely pleased to announce that the Corporation has entered into a joint venture with L'Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines, referred to hereafter as ONHYM, to acquire 85% of the Boumadine polymetallic deposit located in the Anti-Atlas mountains of eastern Morocco. ONHYM has awarded Boumadine to Maya after evaluating international tenders. The Boumadine polymetallic deposit has historical resources (1992) of 4,096,000t grading 3.8% Zn, 1.5% Pb, 200 g/t Ag (23.9M oz) and 3.50 g/t Au (418,000 oz) and has great potential for resources expansion within the 32 square kilometers property.
"By acquiring this property of merit, MAYA positions itself among the future leading mining groups in Morocco", said Noureddine Mokaddem, president of Maya.
Boumadine Highlights
- Historical Production (1964 to 1989)*: 261,485 t @ 3.8 % Zn, 1.5 % Pb, 200 g/t Ag and 3.50 g/t Au. A selective flotation process produced Pb-Zn concentrates and only 18-23% Ag and 10-14% Au were recovered.
- Historical Resources (1992)*: 4,096,000 t grading 3.8 % Zn, 1.5 % Pb, 200 g/t Ag (23.9M oz) and 3.50 g/t Au (418,000 oz).
- From 1964 to 1992, 32,800 m of drilling were conducted at Boumadine and 6,036 m of adits/raises and 638 m of shaft were excavated.
- Surface tailings*: ~240,000t @ 224 g/t Ag (1.6 M oz), 2.73 g/t Au (19,000 oz), 0.20 % Pb, 0.62 % Zn and 21.50 % S
- The Boumadine polymetallic deposit is interpreted as low-intermediate sulphidation epithermal silver-gold base metal deposit, with the potential of discovering Cu±Au pophyry-type mineralization at depth.
* Cautionary Statement:
- These assumptions were provided by ONHYM in the «request for proposal».
- This estimate is treated as historic information and has not been verified or relied upon for economic evaluation by Maya. These Historical Mineral Resources do not refer to any category of sections 1.2 and 1.3 of the NI-43-101 Instrument such as Mineral Resources or Mineral Reserves as stated in the CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (2010). The explanation lies in the inability by Maya to verify the data acquired by the various historical drilling campaigns and underground works. Maya has not done sufficient work to classify the Historical Mineral Resource estimate as current Mineral Resources or Mineral Reserves. Finally, Maya is not aware of more recent estimates or data available to the issuer.
"The accumulation of all data recovered so far is suggestive of a low-intermediate sulfidation epithermal/porphyry Cu+Au system. No such other porphyry style system is known in the Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco but from experts point of view, the preliminary visual data to date is reasonably permissive of such a possibility", said Guy Goulet, CEO of Maya.
ONHYM
ONHYM is a state-owned company responsible for the promotion of the mining and oil activities of the Kingdom of Morocco.
Based on previous works at Boumadine, ONHYM has estimated in 1992 historical resources* of 3,837,970 t.
- Measured resources : 1,043,010 t at 0.77% Pb, 3.65 % Zn, 186 g/t Ag and 3.66 g/t Au
- Indicated resources: 869,960 t at 0.65 % Pb, 3.12 % Zn, 171 g/t Ag and 1.56 g/t Au
- Possible reserves: 1,926,000 t
*A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves; and Maya is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves.
The Transaction
The Corporation has agreed under the Joint Venture Agreement to invest an overall budget of CAD 16 million which includes cash payments, exploration and development expenditures within 60 months of the approval of the Joint Venture Agreement. ONHYM will receive a 3% royalty on sales from the Boumadine project.
To operate the mine, the Corporation will create a Moroccan subsidiary, of which ONHYM would hold a 15% working interest in the on resources as presented in the «request for proposal».
The Corporation is planning to commission an independent NI 43-101 technical report.
The closing of the acquisition is also subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
Development stages
As part of its offer to ONHYM, MAYA has established a work schedule to be conducted at Boumadine consisting of three development stages.
1 - Q4 2012 to Q2 2013. Valorization of tailings (approximately 240,000 t) by extracting gold, silver and subsequently, S2O3 to produce sulfuric acid and recover the energy of the oxidation reaction.
New geochemical analyses of a 90 kg sample of the southern Boumadine tailings collected from the top meter reveal high concentrations of Au, Ag and S (2.73 g/t and 224 g/t; 21.5 % respectively). Samples of the tailings have been sent to Nichromet Laboratories of Thetford Mines, Quebec to be processed in a hydrometallurgical circuit to assess the recovery of precious metals, S2O3and quantify the recoverable energy.
2- Q2 2012 to Q1 2016. Exploitation of tailings and validation of Historical Mineral Resources of the Boumadine mine.
During this phase, an extensive exploration and development program will be undertaken to validate the Historical Mineral Resources. The program will also lead to the construction of a treatment plant with a capacity of 500 t/day to process the 4M t of underground sulphide-rich material and the historical tailings.
3- Q1 2013 to Q4 2018. Exploration and development of Greater Boumadine
An extensive program of geological mapping, rock and soil sampling and targeted geophysical surveys will be implemented followed by a systematic drilling of new potential mineralized zones and their feasibility study.
Geology
The Boumadine polymetallic deposit (Zn, Pb, Cu, Ag, Au) is located within the Ougnat Proterozoic window ("boutonnière"). The polymetallic mineralization at Boumadine extends at least for 4 km on the surface and consists of 1 to 4 m-wide sub vertical lenses/veins intersected by drilling to depths 250 to 350 m. The veins contain massive pyrite, sphalerite, arsenopyrite, and galena with subordinate amounts of chalcopyrite, cassiterite, stannite, enargite and native copper. Gold and silver content average 3.50 g/t and 200 g/t respectively. Mineralized veins are surrounded by extensive quartz-sericite-pyritic haloes (up to 40 m) overprinted by intense argillic alteration and silicification. This alteration may offset a stockwork-style, disseminated oxide Cu mineralization associated with silicified rhyolitic plugs located south of the main deposit. In addition, pyrophyllite alteration zones are present 1 km south of the polymetallic-rich veins. These preliminary geological observations suggest a nearby low-intermediate sulfidation epithermal/porphyry Cu±Au system.
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed by Michel Boily, PhD. P.Geo from Geon Ltd, and François Goulet, Msc., P.Geo from Goulex Inc., both independent Qualified Persons under NI-43-101 standards.
ABOUT MAYA
Maya Gold & Silver Inc. is a Canadian listed mining corporation focused on the exploration and development of gold and silver deposits in Morocco. The Corporation's shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "MYA".
Forward-looking statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements including management's assessments of future plans and operations, and expectations of future production. These statements are based on current expectations that involve a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to, the risks associated with the mining and exploration industry (e.g. operational risks in development, exploration and production; delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration or development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve estimates; the uncertainty of estimates and projections relating to production and the uncertainty of the availability of capital). The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.
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Contact Information:
Guy Goulet
Chief Executive Officer
450-435-0700 ext. 204
ggoulet@mayagoldsilver.com
www.mayagoldsilver.com