- Indicative potential of 18 to 20 million tonnes(1) at 7.7% and 8.8% zinc
- Deposit open in two directions
- Deposit in close proximity to infrastructure and HudBay concentrator
- National Instrument 43-101 compliant resource estimate planned
for early 2008 HudBay will host an investor conference call and webcast
at 9:00 am ET on October 24, 2007 to discuss Lalor Lake. Details are
provided at the end of this news release.
WINNIPEG, MANITOBA, Oct 23, 2007 (Marketwire via COMTEX News Network) --
HudBay Minerals Inc. (TSX:HBM) (HudBay) today announced additional
results from its diamond drill program at the Lalor Lake mineral
property near Snow Lake, Manitoba, in the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt.
On
August 2, 2007, HudBay reported results on the first 10 holes which
indicated the potential for a significant high-grade zinc deposit.
Results from the next set of holes have substantially increased the
potential deposit size.
"Based on data from 16 holes,
indications are potentially 18 to 20 million tonnes at 7.7% to 8.8%
zinc, 15 kilometres from our Snow Lake concentrator and the deposit is
open in two directions", said Peter R. Jones, President & CEO. "We
are fast tracking what we believe is a significant new zinc discovery in
Canada."
The massive sulphide mineralization at Lalor Lake is
similar to the coarse grained pyrite and sphalerite at the nearby Chisel
North Mine as well as the previously mined Chisel Lake Mine and the
more copper and gold rich Photo Lake mine. These types of mineralization
have historically provided excellent concentrator recoveries. To date
these three mines have produced a total of 9.8 million tonnes of ore.
The
Lalor Lake deposit is approximately 3 km off Highway 395 and 15 km from
HudBay's Snow Lake concentrator, which has significant additional
capacity. A map showing the location of the deposit is provided as an
attachment to this news release. HudBay has committed $45 million to its
2007 exploration program and had spent $20.5 million to June 30, 2007.
Conceptual Estimate of Potential Tonnes and Grades
---------------------------------------------------------------
Tonnes millions Zinc % Copper %
---------------------------------------------------------------
Main Zone 9.5 - 10.5 9.5 - 10.5 0.6 - 0.7
---------------------------------------------------------------
Footwall Zones 8.5 - 9.5 6.5 - 7.0 0.7 - 0.8
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total 18.0 - 20.0 7.7 - 8.8 0.7 - 0.8
---------------------------------------------------------------
To date 25 drill holes have been completed or are in progress, 16 of
which contain widths and mineralization which has been used in the
conceptual estimate. Diamond drilling and geological interpretation has
identified a main zone and three stacked footwall zones of
mineralization, 550 to 1,000 vertical metres below surface. Encouraging
precious metal assays were not included in the estimate and may provide
additional exploration potential.
The Lalor Lake potential
mineral deposit has been drilled at a spacing of 100 to 200 metres by
near vertical holes. Drill hole collars were surveyed by third party
registered land surveyors and down the hole deviation measurements were
made during drilling.
Specific gravity measurements were
completed on the assayed samples using industry standard techniques. The
zones of mineralization were composited across hanging wall to footwall
contacts and specific gravity weighted composites were determined.
Three-dimensional
wireframes capturing the mineralized composites of the main and three
footwall zones were separately created using MineSight resource modeling
software. The footwall zones are located 50 to 200 metres below the
main zone.
The conceptual estimate of potential tonnes and grade
was based on an interpolation plan using nearest neighbour methodology
of the specific gravity weighted composites and wireframes with
MineSight software. The estimate used current geological interpretation
of the main and three footwall zones using the actual intersections of
the copper and zinc mineralization in 16 holes from the 25 holes
completed or in progress. The estimate excludes copper and zinc values
outside the interpreted main and footwall zones and all gold and silver
values have also been excluded. The estimate also excludes dilution and
recovery.
The Lalor Lake conceptual estimate of potential tonnes
and grade to date has insufficient exploration to define a mineral
resource compliant with National Instrument 43-101. It is uncertain if
further exploration will result in the target deposit being delineated
as a mineral resource.
The latest reported drilling results and
assayed intersections for Lalor Lake are attached to this news release.
Prior results for Lalor Lake were disclosed in news releases dated
August 2, 2007 and March 20, 2007 and are available on the HudBay
website. A graphical depiction of the Lalor Lake deposit is available on
HudBay's website or by clicking on the following link:
http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/lalorlake.pdf
NEXT STEPS
HudBay
expects to continue drilling at the Lalor Lake deposit to define its
extent and to improve confidence in the interpretation to produce an
National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant resource estimate.
Currently two drills are testing the down dip extent of the
mineralization and two are drilling in-fill holes to confirm correlation
between intersections. HudBay anticipates completing a NI 43-101
compliant resource estimate for the deposit within six months. The
company expects to provide regular updates on its exploration program.
Bur Deposit
HudBay
is continuing to evaluate its Bur Deposit project. In view of the
positive results from Lalor Lake, the company will consider deferring
the Bur project. A decision on whether or not to proceed with the Bur
project is expected by the end of 2007.
NOTICE OF INVESTOR CONFERENCE CALL and WEBCAST
Peter
Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer, together with Kelly
Gilmore, Chief Exploration Geologist, will be hosting an investor
conference call to discuss the results from HudBay's drilling program at
Lalor Lake on October 24, 2007 at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Time. A live audio
webcast including slides will be available on the HudBay website.
Details are as follows:
Date: October 24, 2007
Time: 9:00 am (Eastern Time)
Webcast: www.hudbayminerals.com
Dial in: 416-644-3420 or 800-731-6941
Replay: 416-640-1917 or 877-289-8525
Replay Passcode: 21250778#
The conference call replay will be available until midnight (Eastern
Time) on October 31, 2007. An archived audio webcast of the call will
also be available on HudBay's website.
2007 Exploration Procedures
Exploration
core drilling was a combination of BQ or NQ sizes. The core was logged
by HudBay's subsidiary Hudson Bay Exploration and Development Company
Limited (HBED) employed geologists. Mineralized intersections were
marked for sampling and assaying. The marked intersections or intervals
were sawn in half by a diamond saw and one half of the core was placed
in plastic bags and tagged with unique sample numbers, while the second
half was returned to the core box and stored. Each bagged core sample
was transported to HudBay's subsidiary Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting
Co., Limited's assay laboratory in Flin Flon, Manitoba where it was
dried, crushed and pulverized and a 250-gram sample was prepared for
assaying. From each 250 gram sample 0.25 grams was removed and leached
in aqua regia and analyzed by ICP-AES for Ag, Cu, Zn, As, Pb, Ni and Fe.
Also from the 250-gram sample, 15 grams was
removed for gold determination by fire assaying with Atomic Absorption
finish.
Assaying integrity is monitored internally with a
quality control program, which includes the use of assay sample
standards, blanks, duplicates and repeats and externally through
national and international programs. In addition, within each group of
20 core samples, one core sample has a second 250 gram split collected
for check assaying at Acme Analytical Laboratories Ltd. in Vancouver,
B.C. This news release provides core lengths and additionally where
indicated, horizontal or vertical lengths of mineralization intersected.
True widths are not provided. Where metal assays are provided for
intersections they are either a single assay of a sample of the entire
intersection length or a composite of assays calculated from interval
weighted assays over the intersection length. The data herein and the
contents of this news release have been reviewed by Kelly Gilmore, B.Sc.
P. Geo., Chief
Exploration Geologist with HBED, who is a Qualified Person within the
meaning of National Instrument 43-101, with the ability and authority to
verify the authenticity and validity of the data.
About HudBay Minerals Inc.
HudBay
is an integrated mining company operating mines, concentrators and a
metal production facility in northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. HudBay
also owns a zinc oxide production facility in Ontario, the White Pine
copper refinery in Michigan and the Balmat zinc mine operations in New
York state. HudBay is a member of the S&P/TSX Composite Index and a
member of the S&P/TSX Global Mining Index.
(HBM-G)
Forward-Looking Information
This
news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning
of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking
information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to
future exploration plans and possible results with respect to the Lalor
Lake mineral property as well as future plans with respect to the Bur
Deposit project. Generally, forward-looking information can be
identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans",
"expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled",
"estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "does not
anticipate", or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or
state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would",
"might", or "will be taken", "occur", or "be achieved". Forward-looking
information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity,
performance or achievements of HudBay to be materially different from
those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information,
including risks associated with the mining industry such as economic
factors as they effect exploration, future commodity prices, actual
results of current exploration activities, government regulation,
environmental risks, permitting timelines, capital expenditures, changes
in project parameters as plans continue to be refined as well as those
factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in HudBay's
Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2006, available
on www.sedar.com. Although HudBay has attempted to identify important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
contained in forward-looking information, there may be other
factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to
be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially
from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should
not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. HudBay does
not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in
accordance with applicable securities laws.
(1)The estimate of
potential tonnes and grade of the Lalor Lake potential mineral deposit
are conceptual in nature. The basis upon which the disclosed potential
tonnes and grade has been determined is provided in this news release.
There has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and
it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the Lalor Lake
deposit being delineated as a mineral resource.
To view the Snow Lake Area Location Map please click on the following link:
http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/snow.pdf
To view the Lalor Lake Drill Hole Locations please click on the following link:
http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/mining.pdf
To view a table of Lalor Lake Assay Results please click on the following link:
http://www.ccnmatthews.com/docs/lalor.pdf
SOURCE: HudBay Minerals Inc.
HudBay Minerals Inc.
Brad Woods
Director, Investor Relations
(204) 949-4272
Email: brad.woods@hbms.ca
Website: www.hudbayminerals.com
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