TORONTO, ONTARIO — (Marketwire) — 04/01/13 — All amounts are in United States dollars, unless otherwise stated.
Alamos Gold Inc. (TSX: AGI) (NYSE: AGI) („Alamos“ or the „Company“) today reported mineral reserves and mineral resources for the Mulatos Mine and nearby satellite deposits in Mexico, and mineral resources for the Agi Dagi, Kirazli and Camyurt projects in Turkey, as of December 31, 2012.
Highlights
The mineral resource estimate for the Company-s Turkish projects includes the June 2012 initial Inferred mineral resource estimate at Camyurt. The Company plans to release an updated mineral resource for Camyurt separately in the second quarter of 2013 in order to incorporate all existing drill results.
Mineral Reserves
In 2012, the Company successfully replaced mined-out mineral reserves at Mulatos, with total proven and probable reserves of 2.37 million ounces of gold at year-end. The replacement of reserve ounces is attributable to the addition of new ounces at El Victor, conversion of pit-contained mineral resources to mineral reserves, and the use of a $1,400 per ounce gold price assumption compared to $1,150 in 2011. A detailed summary of Proven and Probable mineral reserves for the Mulatos Mine as of December 31, 2012 is presented in Table 1 at the end of this press release.
Based on the 2013 budgeted average throughput rate at the Mulatos Mine of 17,000 tonnes per day („tpd“) and a projected 500 tpd rate for the high grade mill, the overall expected life of the Mulatos Mine remains at approximately nine years as of December 31, 2012. The life-of-mine waste-to-ore ratios as of December 31, 2012 for the Mulatos Mine and nearby satellite deposits are summarized in Table 2 at the end of this press release.
Mineral Resources
Globally, the Company-s Measured and Indicated mineral resources, which are reported exclusive of mineral reserves, are 5.08 million ounces at a mix of cut-off grades, as of December 31, 2012. Reflecting the inclusion of the initial mineral resource estimate from the Camyurt project as reported on June 28, 2012, the Company-s Inferred mineral resources as of December 31, 2012 total 1.52 million ounces. Detailed summaries of Alamos Gold-s Global Measured and Indicated, and Inferred mineral resources as of December 31, 2012 are presented in Tables 3 and 4, respectively, at the end of this press release.
Mulatos Mine (Mexico)
Measured and Indicated mineral resources at the Mulatos Mine and its satellite deposits decreased slightly to 2.64 million ounces and Inferred mineral resources also decreased slightly to 0.50 million ounces as of December 31, 2012 compared to the prior year. The mineral resources are reported at a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off at Mulatos and San Carlos, at a 2.5 g/t Au cut-off for the San Carlos underground resources, and at a 0.3 g/t Au cut-off at El Realito and Carricito areas. The slight decrease in Measured, Indicated, and Inferred mineral resources is primarily attributable to the conversion of mineral resources into Proven and Probable mineral reserves.
Detailed summaries of Measured and Indicated mineral resources and Inferred mineral resources for Mulatos are presented in Tables 5 and 6, respectively, at the end of this press release. The reported mineral resources also benefitted from the delineation of new resources through infill drilling and extension drilling, as well as the initial reporting of mineral resources for the San Carlos underground (Tables 7 and 8), Carricito (Tables 9 and 10) and El Realito (Tables 11 and 12) project areas.
A map detailing the planned Mulatos Pit area is presented in Figure 1 at the end of this press release. The locations of the Cerro Pelon and La Yaqui mineral reserve areas, as well as other regional targets within the Mulatos District, are shown in Figure 2 at the end of this press release.
Agi Dagi and Kirazli (Turkey)
Measured and Indicated mineral resources at Agi Dagi and Kirazli, which are reported at a 0.2 g/t Au cut-off, increased 9.9% to 2.44 million ounces of gold, as compared to the mineral resources reported in December 2011. In addition, Measured and Indicated mineral resources of silver increased 16.9% to 19.72 million ounces compared to the resource update in December 2011. The increase in Measured and Indicated mineral resources is a result of a combination of infill and resource expansion drilling programs undertaken in 2012, resulting in the conversion of Inferred mineral resources to the Indicated category.
Inferred mineral resources at Agi Dagi, Kirazli and Camyurt, which are reported at a 0.2 g/t cut-off grade, contained 1.02 million ounces at year-end 2012, as compared to the 1.09 million ounces reported in the December 31, 2011 mineral resource statement (Agi Dagi and Kirazli) and June 28, 2012 press release (Camyurt). The decrease of 6.4% was attributable to the conversion of some Inferred mineral resources at Agi Dagi and Kirazli to Measured and Indicated mineral resources. The Company expects to release an update on the resource estimate for Camyurt in the second quarter of 2013 in order to include all 2012 drill results.
Detailed summaries of the Measured and Indicated, and Inferred mineral resources for Agi Dagi are presented in Tables 13 and 14, respectively, at the end of this press release. The Measured and Indicated, and Inferred mineral resources for Kirazli are presented in Tables 15 and 16, respectively. Inferred mineral resources for Camyurt are presented in Table 17, also presented at the end of the press release. Figure 3 provides the location in Turkey of mineral resource areas for the Agi Dagi project and Figure 4 provides the location of the mineral resource area for the Camyurt project. Figure 5 provides the location of the mineral resource area for the Kirazli project.
San Carlos Drilling Results
Assay results from drilling at San Carlos were inadvertently omitted from a press release issued by the Company on February 21, 2013 and are appended to this press release.
Qualified Persons
The independent Qualified Person for the National Instrument 43-101 compliant mineral reserve estimate is Herb Welhener, Vice President of Independent Mining Consultants Inc. of Tucson, Arizona, working in conjunction with the Company-s exploration and operations staff. Marc Jutras, P. Eng., M.A.Sc., Director of Mineral Resources for Alamos, prepared the mineral resource estimation for the Mulatos Mine, the Agi Dagi, Kirazli, and Camyurt projects. Mark Odell, Principal, Practical Mining LLC, was responsible for the presentation of the underground reserves in the Escondida-Gap and San Carlos areas. Messieurs Welhener, Jutras, and Odell are recognized as Qualified Persons according to the requirements of National Instrument 43-101. Exploration programs at Mulatos are directed by Ken Balleweg, P.Geo., B.Sc., M.Sc. Geology, Alamos- Exploration Manager – Mexico, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
Exploration programs at Mulatos are directed by Ken Balleweg, B.Sc., M.Sc., P.Geo., Alamos- Exploration Manager – Mexico, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators.
Exploration programs at Agi Dagi and Kirazli are directed by Jason Dunning, B.Sc., M.Sc., P.Geo., Alamos- Vice President of Exploration, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities Administrators.
Drilling, sampling, QA/QC protocols and analytical methods for individual resource areas are as outlined in the respective press releases for these areas, in the Mulatos December 2012 technical report, and the July 2012 Agi Dagi and Kirazli technical report, which are available at .
About Alamos
Alamos is an established Canadian-based gold producer that owns and operates the Mulatos Mine in Mexico, and has exploration and development activities in Mexico and Turkey. The Company employs more than 600 people and is committed to the highest standards of environmental management, social responsibility, and health and safety for its employees and neighbouring communities. Alamos has approximately $480 million in cash and equity investments, is debt-free, and unhedged to the price of gold. As of March 14, 2013, Alamos had 127,455,786 common shares outstanding (132,326,086 shares fully diluted), which are traded on the TSX and NYSE under the symbol „AGI“.
Cautionary Note
No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. This News Release includes certain „forward-looking statements“. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including without limitation statements regarding forecast gold production, gold grades, recoveries, waste-to-ore ratios, total cash costs, potential mineralization and reserves, exploration results, and future plans and objectives of Alamos, are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to mining and processing of mined ore, achieving projected recovery rates, anticipated production rates and mine life, operating efficiencies, costs and expenditures, changes in mineral resources and conversion of mineral resources to proven and probable reserves, and other information that is based on forecasts of future operational or financial results, estimates of amounts not yet determinable and assumptions of management.
Exploration results that include geophysics, sampling, and drill results on wide spacings may not be indicative of the occurrence of a mineral deposit. Such results do not provide assurance that further work will establish sufficient grade, continuity, metallurgical characteristics and economic potential to be classed as a category of mineral resource. A mineral resource that is classified as „inferred“ or „indicated“ has a great amount of uncertainty as to its existence and economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that any or part of an „indicated mineral resource“ or „inferred mineral resource“ will ever be upgraded to a higher category of resource. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into proven and probable reserves.
Any statements that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as „expects“ or „does not expect“, „is expected“, „anticipates“ or „does not anticipate“, „plans“, „estimates“ or „intends“, or stating that certain actions, events or results „may“, „could“, „would“, „might“ or „will“ be taken, occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be „forward-looking statements.“ Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements.
There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Alamos- expectations include, among others, risks related to international operations, the actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as well as future prices of gold and silver, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled „Risk Factors“ in Alamos- Annual Information Form. Although Alamos has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Note to U.S. Investors
Alamos prepares its disclosure in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Terms relating to mineral resources in this presentation are defined in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects under the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the „SEC“) permits mining companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. Alamos may use certain terms, such as „measured mineral resources“, „indicated mineral resources“, „inferred mineral resources“ and „probable mineral reserves“ that the SEC does not recognize (these terms may be used in this presentation and are included in the public filings of Alamos, which have been filed with the SEC and the securities commissions or similar authorities in Canada).
The TSX and NYSE have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts: Alamos Gold Inc. Jo Mira Clodman Vice President, Investor Relations (416) 368-9932 x 401
Alamos Gold Inc. Scott K. Parsons Manager, Investor Relations (416) 368-9932 x 439
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