Silver Bear Expands Inferred Silver Resource by 13.5 Million Ounces of Silver on Its Mangazeisky Property. Only 5,500 Meters of Drilling Delineates This New Inferred Resource
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 09/20/12 -- Silver Bear Resources Inc. ("Silver Bear" or the "Company") (TSX: SBR) is pleased to announce that it has received a National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant Inferred mineral resource estimate on its Nizhny Endybal prospect area. It is located roughly three kilometers from the current NI 43-101 resource area at Vertikalny on the Mangazeisky property (see figure 1). Silver Bear has delineated a new and additional Inferred resource of 13.5 million ounces of Silver at a grade of 133g/t Ag there. Now, the Company's total NI 43-101 compliant resources on its Mangazeisky property are 1.1 million tonnes containing 17.9 million ounces silver at 518 Ag/t of Indicated mineralization and 4.3 million tonnes containing 43.5 million ounces silver at 282 g/t Ag of Inferred mineralization (see table 2). This represents a 44% increase in Inferred resources over previous resource statements (see September 28, 2011 press release).
Table 1 highlights the details of the new Inferred Resource at Nizhny Endybal at various cut off grades. Table 2 the total resource on the Mangazeisky property and Table 3 the final drill results from the summer drilling program (see August 8, 2012 press release for earlier results).
Commenting on this latest achievement, Mark Trevisiol, President and CEO said, "We have only drilled about 5,500 meters on this prospect and have identified a substantial near surface resource, which is open along strike to the north and south (see figure 2). Also, we believe there is a high potential that most of the silver from this prospect can be mined using open pit methods. This new resource represents an addition to the resources used to calculate the project economics in our Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") released last year in which the mine life was 8.4 years."
Key economic parameters taken from the 2011 PEA are set out in Table 4 (see September 28, 2011 press release). The PEA used a silver production rate of approximately 4 million ounces per year over a 8.4 year mine life. The Company anticipates that this updated mineral resource estimate will be filed on its SEDAR profile by November 4, 2012.
Table 1 - Nizhny Endybal Inferred Resource
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Cut off Grade Ag (g/t) Tonnes Ag (g/t) Ag (Total Ounces)
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greater than 50 3,530,000 126 14,290,000
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greater than 75 (i) 3,170,000 133 13,490,000
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greater than 100 1,870,000 163 9,800,000
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greater than 125 850,000 225 6,130,000
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greater than 150 460,000 301 4,470,000
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greater than 175 370,000 335 4,000,000
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greater than 200 350,000 345 3,870,000
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(i) 75 g/t Selected Cut off grade based on $US 22/ounce Silver price and
assumed total operating cost of $US 50/tonne ore.
Table 2 - Total Resources
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Prospect Area Indicated Resource Inferred Resource
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Tonnes (M) Ag (g/t) Oz (M) Tonnes (M) Ag (g/t) Oz (M)
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Vertikalny Central
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Zone 1.1 518.2 17.9 1.1 649.3 23.8
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Vertikalny North
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West Zone Nil 0.5 379.4 6.6
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Nizhny Endybal
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Nil 3.2 133 13.5
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Total Total Indicated Total Inferred
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Tonnes (M) Ag (g/t) Oz (M) Tonnes (M) Ag (g/t) Oz (M)
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1.1 518 17.9 4.9 282 43.9
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Table 3 - Drill Assays - 2012 Drilling
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(i)Intercept
Zone Drill Hole Depth From Depth To Width (m) Silver g/t
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Nizhny Endybal END-31A 110 112 2 442
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incl. 110 111 1 821
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END-32 nsv
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Vertikalny North V12-193 171.9 176 4.1 257
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West incl. 171.9 173 1.1 254
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incl. 174 176 2 364
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V12-194 55 57 2 49
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V12-194 61 63.3 2.3 176
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incl. 61 62.3 1.3 277
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V12-195 nsv
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V12-196 nsv
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V12-197 nsv
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(i) True width is approximately 60% of the quoted intercept width
nsv = no significant values
Table 4 - 2011 Preliminary Economic Analysis - Key Financial Parameters
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Base Case Alternate (Hydro Pwr)
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Initial Capital $ 111 Million $ 129 Million
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Sust Capital $ 19 Million $ 19 Million
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Cost (US$/oz) $ 9.34 / Ag oz $ 7.90 / Ag Oz
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Production (oz/yr) 4.1 Million 4.1 Million
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Mine Life 8.4 yrs 8.4 yrs
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NPV (8% & $22.74/oz) $ 122 Million $ 136 Million
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IRR ($22.74/oz) 25.70% 25.90%
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NPV (8% & $30/oz) $ 264 Million $ 278 Million
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IRR ($30/oz) 42.20% 41%
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NPV (8% & $40/oz) $ 461 Million $ 475 Million
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IRR ($40/oz) 61% 59%
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Note: Silver mineral resources used for the calculations above were those
of September, 2011. Inferred silver resources released today remain
outside of the above table calculations.
Geological Sampling Procedures
A Quality Assurance/Quality Control program is part of the drilling program on the Mangazeisky deposits. This program includes chain of custody protocols as well as systematic submittals of standards, duplicates and blank samples into the flow of samples produced by the drilling. Prior to 2011, analysis was carried out at Russian certified laboratories in Yakutsk and Aldan, Russia. Analysis for 2012 was completed by ALS Chemex in Chita, Russia.
Mr. P. Gribble, FIMMM C.Eng, of Tetra Tech Wardrop (formerly Wardrop Engineering), is the independent qualified person who prepared the mineral resource estimates disclosed herein, and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release.
Tetra Tech completed a NI 43-101 Technical Report supporting the mineral resource estimate. Tetra Tech also completed the PEA discussed in this news release (see September 28, 2011 news release).
Mark Trevisiol P.Eng, President and CEO of Silver Bear is the Company's designated qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical content of this press release.
Forward-Looking Information
The PEA is preliminary in nature and is based on a number of assumptions that may be changed in the future as additional information becomes available. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The PEA includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized.
This release and subsequent oral statements made by and on behalf of the Company may contain forward-looking statements, which reflect management's expectations. Wherever possible, words such as "intends", "expects", "scheduled", "estimates", "anticipates", "believes" and similar expressions or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved, have been used to identify these forward-looking statements. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this release reflect management's current beliefs based upon information currently available to management and based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, Silver Bear cannot be certain that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. A number of factors could cause events and achievements to differ materially from the results expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such risks factors include but are not limited to risks factors identified by Silver Bear in its continuous disclosure filings filed from time to time on SEDAR. These factors should be considered carefully and prospective investors should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve significant known and unknown risks, assumptions and uncertainties that may cause Silver Bear's actual results, events, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although Silver Bear has attempted to identify important risks and factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors and risks that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, prospective investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release, and Silver Bear assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, unless otherwise required by law.
To view the figures associated with this release, please visit the following links:
Figure 1, "Mangazeisky Property": http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/SBRFig1919.pdf
Figure 2, "Nizhny Endybal Inferred Resource Location": http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/SBRFig2919.pdf
Contacts:
Silver Bear Resources Inc.
Dominique Vaillancourt
Manager, Investor Relations
65 Queen Street West, Suite 825
Toronto, ON
dvaillancourt@silverbearresources.com
Silver Bear Resources Inc.
Mark Trevisiol
President and Chief Executive Officer
65 Queen Street West, Suite 825
Toronto, ON
www.silverbearresources.com
