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MARIFIL CLARIFIES TECHNICAL DISCLOSURE
VANCOUVER, B.C. � June 7, 2013 � Marifil Mines Limited (TSX-V: MFM) ("Marifil") or the "Company"), as a result of a review by the British Columbia Securities Commission (the "BCSC"), Marifil is issuing the following news release to clarify our disclosure. Based on the review completed by the BCSC, certain information on the Company's projects provided in the Company's annual Management Discussion and Analysis filed on April 30, 2013, its Management Discussion and Analysis for the first quarter filed on May 30, 2013 (together, the "MD&A"), the Company's brochure entitled "Precious Metals Properties" (the "Brochure"), a corporate presentation entitled "Building Value in Argentina" dated February 2013 which was posted on the Company's website (the "Presentation"), a corporate fact sheet which was posted on the Company's website (the "Fact Sheet"), and certain pages of its website relating to specific properties (the "Web Pages") was found to be in contravention of National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"). The Company has removed the Brochure, Presentation, Fact Sheet and Web Pages from its website pending the corrections noted below. The Company clarifies the disclosure as follows:
The MD&A, Brochure, Web Pages and Presentation all previously disclosed historical resource estimates on the Company's Las Aguilas, Arroyo Verde and Lago Fontana properties, but failed to also provide the necessary information required by section 2.4 of NI43-101. For clarity purposes, the Company is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources or mineral reserves and a qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves.
With respect to the Las Aguilas property, the Company previously disclosed a historic ore reserve of 2.2 million tonnes at 0.52% Ni, 0.51% Cu and 0.04% Co. The Company notes that these were presented as Proven and Probable reserves in: Sabalua Juan C. PhD, 1986 May, �El Yacimiento De Niquel-Cobre-Cobalto De Las Aguilas San Luis, Republica Argentina� (unpublished report by the Direccion General de Fabricaciones Militares ("DGFM"), Subdivision of Mining Development, Department of Geology and Mines, Argentina). DGFM subsequently completed a feasibility study concluding the deposit (located within a federal mineral reserve at the time) could be economically mined: Barda Santiago Ing. De Minas, 1988, I.M.A. Reservdo, Viabilidad del Yacimiento Las Aguilas� (unpublished report). DGFM is an agency of the Argentine government which provides mining services. For clarity purposes, the Company is not treating DGFM historical reserves as current mineral resources or mineral reserves and a qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify this historical reserve as any kind of �ore� reserve. The Company is therefore retracting this historical estimate. The Company does have a current NI 43-101 resource for Las Aguilas as explained below.
In its MD&A under the Arroyo Verde property, the Company disclosed a historical inferred resource of 39,375 tonnes averaging 6.78 grams per tonne (gpt) Au and 135.30 gpt Ag, or 9.03 gpt gold equivalents and two historical inferred resources containing approximately 163,000 ounces gold equivalent (Au Eq.). For clarity, this is sourced from Davicino Rubin, Feliu� Gabriel, Giroux Gary, Boronowski, 2008 June 11, �Technical Report, Review of the Arroyo Verde Project, Argentina� (unpublished report of Portal Resources Ltd.). The stated inferred resource estimate of 163,000 Au Eq. ounces was made by consulting geological engineer Gary Giroux utilizing geostatistical methods to outline various grade/tonnage combinations at specific cutoff gold grades. It incorporates 52 drill holes and 12 trenches with 3,401 assays into the resource calculations, uses a 3 g/t Au cut-off, a specific gravity of 2.5 and gold to silver ratio of 1:60 to arrive at Au Eq. values. The 163,000 Au Eq. inferred resource is the sum of an inferred resource of 39,375 tonnes averaging 6.78 gpt gold and 135.30 gpt silver (or 9.03 Au Eq. grade) calculated for the Hanging Wall Vein Number 1 plus a 400,000 tonnes inferred resource with an average grade of 5.675 gpt gold and 166.26 gpt silver (8.446 Au Eq. grade) calculated for the adjacent Principal Vein. Although the Company believes the Portal Resources field work and data generation was conducted under the best of Quality Assurance and Quality Control standards, it is not treating this historical inferred resource estimate as a current resource and believes a substantial amount of additional drilling will be required to verify and upgrade this resource to an indicated category. The Company has no plans to do this at this time, and is actively seeking a joint venture partner to fund and achieve this work.
On the Fact Sheet, the Presentation, the Web Pages and the MD&A the Company disclosed mineral resources (categories) contrary to sections 2.2 and 3.4 of NI 43-101, in that the Company failed to disclose each category of mineral resources separately. To clarify, in the case of Arroyo Verde the unstated category of resource is an inferred resource as defined in the above paragraph, and came from the same source as stated therein.
With respect to the Lago Fontana property, the Company previously disclosed a historical resource at Veta Ferrocarrilera of 840,000 tonnes with 1 g/t Au, 10 g/t Ag, 0.03% Cu, 0.95% Pb and 0.78% Zn, and at Cerro Cuchi Veta of 337,500 tonnes with 0.23 g/t Au, 10.75 g/t Ag, 0.65% Pb, 0.80% Zn and 0.10% Cu. For clarity, these historical resources come from Spencer Frank, 1947 �Geology of the Fontana Mine and Surrounding Area� (unpublished report). Marifil S.A. retained an independent consulting geologist to review this and other work on the property. His analyses are in: Lencinas Andres N. PhD, 2004 December, �Mina Ferrocarrilera Base Metal Project� (unpublished internal report). Dr. Lencinas, who is not a Qualified Person, reports the irregular �ore shoots� reported by Mr. Spenser �have a high probability of existence�. Additionally, vein rock chip channel sampling by Silex Argentina S.A. (aka Apex Silver), who optioned the property from the Company, yielded assays up to 0.51 g/t Au and 7.5% Pb and 5.3% Zn across 6.3 meters of vein width, thereby also supporting the conclusions of Spenser. These results are reported in: Lasry Andr�s, Bilbao Carlos & �lvarez N�stor, 2007 February, �Proyecto Lago Fontana, Chubut Province�. They summarize: �Preliminary resources of Veta Ferrocarrilera are 840,000 tonnes with 1g/t Au, 10 g/t Ag, 332 ppm Cu, 0.95% Pb and 0.78% Zn, while Cerro Cuchi indicates 337,500 tonnes with 0.23 g/t Au, 10.75 g/t Ag, 0.65% Pb, 0.80% Zn and 0.10% Cu. Probably this potential can be increased up to 2 Mt with good Zn, Pb grades and credits for Au-Ag-Cu.� It is unknown whether or not the Silex workers were Qualified Persons. The Company believes the all the work of Spenser, Lencinas and Lasry et al is credible. Marifil has no exploration plans at this time for the Lago Fontana property and Marifil does not consider the historical resource to be a current mineral resource.
On the Fact Sheet, the Presentation, the Web Pages and the MD&A the Company disclosed mineral resources (categories) contrary to sections 2.2 and 3.4 of NI 43-101, in that the Company failed to disclose each category of mineral resource separately, the Company added inferred mineral resources to other categories contrary to section 2.2(c) and in some cases disclosed a mineral resource without providing all the necessary information required by sections 3.4(a), (c) and (d) of NI 43-101. For clarity, the disclosure for information on Slide 4 of the Presentation where resource categories were combined is the Las Aguilas property. Specifically, the estimated indicated resource of the Las Aguilas table below was combined with the estimated inferred resource of 1.3 million tonnes at similar grades that Wardrop also calculated but is not presented in the Table. As stated above, the Company has removed this Presentation for correction, and retracts this noncompliant information with regret for the error.
With respect to the previously disclosed mineral resource estimate on the Las Aguilas property, the Company clarifies that it is a current resource estimate and is as follows: Wardrop Engineering Inc., a Terra Tech Company, completed a report on the property on April 29, 2011 titled �NI 43-101 Technical Report and Resources Estimate of the Las Aguilas Project, San Luis Province, Argentina�, and it was posted on Sedar on June 20, 2011. The report was authored by two Qualified Persons, Todd McCracken, P. Geo. and Callum Grant, P. Eng. They used only the most recent drilling to calculate and estimated resource. That included 78 core holes completed during 2007 & 2008 by Castillian Resources who had an option on the property at the time. The table below summarizes Wardrop�s resource estimate.
Las Aguilas Current Resource Estimate at 0.4% Ni Eq. Cut-Off
| Class |
Zone |
Tonnes |
Ni% |
Cu% |
Co% |
Au
(ppm) |
Ag
(ppm) |
Pt
(ppm) |
Pd
(ppm) |
Ni Eq% |
| IND |
East |
1,036,800 |
0.52 |
0.35 |
0.03 |
0.09 |
0.53 |
0.19 |
0.19 |
0.77 |
| |
West |
2,227,000 |
0.36 |
0.45 |
0.03 |
0.03 |
0.29 |
0.15 |
0.19 |
0.62 |
| |
Total |
3,263,800 |
0.41 |
0.42 |
0.03 |
0.05 |
0.37 |
0.16 |
0.19 |
0.67 | The nickel equivalent (Ni Eq.%) formula = ([Ni grade x $Ni)+(Cu grade x $Cu)+(Co grade x $Co)] x 20+[(Au grade x $Au)+(Ag grade x $Ag)+(Pt grade x $Pt)+(Pd grade x $Pd)] x 0.0291667)/($Ni x 20). The metal grades used in the formula are the separate metal grades presented in the table. As no recent metallurgical work has been completed on all of the elements, the Ni Eq. formula assumes 100% recovery based on in-situ material. The estimated resource was created in April of 2011 with the following commodity prices being used to calculate the Ni Eq.: Ni = $9.02/lb, Cu = $2.66/lb, Co = $15.92/lb, Pt = $1,842/ozt (ozt = ounces per tonne), Pd = $681/ozt, Au = $1,058/ozt, Ag = $16.57/ozt.
In the MD&A, the Fact Sheets, the Presentation and the Web Pages, the Company disclosed the potential quantity of 100 to 200 million tonnes target on the Punta Colorada properties without including the information required by section 2.3(2) of NI 43-101. For clarity purposes the Company confirms that the potential quantity disclosed is conceptual in nature, that there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource. The Company disclosed the conceptual information as being founded on the basis of its initial exploration program on the property as reported in: Bonuccelli Renzo S., 2006 January, �Deposito De Caliza De Punta Colorada, Rio Negro, Argentina � Aspectos, Gelogicos, Tecnicos y Economicos� (unpublished internal report). In December 2005, Marifil completed a small drill test consisting of 12 reconnaissance rotary drill holes for 131 meters. Drill cuttings as well as 28 rock chip channel samples from several small quarries, outcrops along the coastline and in the Seco Creek valley which crosses the property provided enough data to establish the presence of prospective cement grade limestone. In all, 117 samples were obtained for a cumulative total of limestone section sampling of 159 meters. Marifil believes the evidence gathered by the 2005 drilling and outcrops channel sampling indicates that prospective limestone beds underlie the entire 854 hectare (8,540,000 square meters) property and are a minimum of 10 meters thick. The surface area times the depth thickness (volume) times a specific gravity of 2.5 yields 213,500,000 tonnes. The Company believes this supports its conceptual target statement of 100 to 200 million tonnes, and that the Punta Colorada property therefore warrants the more extensive drilling program, which is in progress.
On the Las Aguilas & San Luis page of the Company's website, the Company disclosed gross in-situ metal value for its Las Aguilas resource estimate, which was potentially misleading as it failed to take into consideration operating and capital costs, recoveries, smelter costs and other factors relating to the potential mining, extraction and recovery of metals. This disclosure is being retracted by the Company and has been removed from the Company's website.
In the MD&A, Fact Sheet, the Presentation and the Web Pages the Company disclosed metal equivalent grades for drill intercepts and resource estimates that do not include the individual grade of each metal used to establish the metal equivalent grade, contrary to section 2.3(1)(d) of NI 43-101. Additionally, in its MD&A under the San Roque property, the Company disclosed that drill intercepts above cut-off grade and consolidating 961 meters yield a weighted average of 1.94 g/t equivalent gold as mineralization of gold, silver, indium and lead and zinc. The Company corrects this information as follows: In all cases, cut-off is defined as a minimum 10 meter interval or a 10 gram meters Au Eq. interval grading a minimum of 1 gpt Au Eq. with internal dilution limited to 4 continuous meters of <0.5gpt Au Eq. For clarity, the gold is based on the following metal value ratios and individual grades:
| Metals |
Ratios |
Grade |
| Au:Au |
1:1 |
0.611 g/t Au |
| Au:Ag |
50:1 |
13.22 g/t Ag |
| Au:In |
87.5 |
17.38 g/t In |
| Au:Pb |
19,845:1 |
0.53% Pb |
| Au:Zn |
19,845:1 |
1.29% Zn | Long term metal ratios in the above table based on value relations of $1,200/oz Au, $24/oz Ag, $400/kg In, $0.80/lb Pb and Zn. The stated grades do not allow for mining dilution nor consider metallurgical recoveries, and net smelter returns are assumed to be 100%.
Finally, the MD&A, Brochure, Presentation, Fact Sheet and Web Pages will be amended to include Richard Walters and John Hite as the Company's Qualified Persons responsible for preparing and approving all technical information disclosed, as required by NI43-101.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors,
John Hite
President
Head Office:
John Hite, President
Phone: 702.562.4880
Email: info@marifilmines.com
Website: www.marifilmines.com |
Investor Relations:
Hugh Oswald
Phone: 604.838.2855
Email: hoswald@marifilmines.com | For further information regarding Marifil Mines Limited, please refer to the Company's filings available on SEDAR (http://www.sedar.com) or at Marifil's Website (http://www.marifilmines.com.)
This press release has been reviewed and approved by John Hite, President of Marifil Mines Limited and by Richard Walters, Vice President under whose directions the exploration program is being carried out. Mr. Hite and Mr. Walters are Qualified Persons as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
General Disclaimer
Marifil Mines Limited "Marifil" has taken all reasonable care in producing and publishing information contained in this news release, and will endeavor to do so on a periodic basis. Material in this news release may still contain technical or other inaccuracies, omissions, or typographical errors, for which Marifil assumes no responsibility. Marifil does not warrant or make any representations regarding the use, validity, accuracy, completeness or reliability of any claims, statements or information on this site. Under no circumstances, including, but not limited to, negligence, shall Marifil be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, or other damages, including but not limited to, loss of programs, loss of data, loss of use of computer of other systems, or loss of profits, whether or not advised of the possibility of damage, arising from your use, or inability to use, the material from this news release. The information is not a substitute for independent professional advice before making any investment decisions. Furthermore, you may not modify or reproduce in any form, electronic or otherwise, any information on this site, except for personal use unless you have obtained our express written permission.
Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements, including but not limited to comments regarding predictions and projections. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
WE SEEK SAFE HARBOUR.
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