Abacus signs option agreement to earn up to 75% interest in Nevada Cu-Au porphyry
Abacus signs option agreement to earn up to 75% interest in Nevada Cu-Au porphyry
Vancouver, BC – February 15, 2017. Abacus Mining & Exploration Corporation (“Abacus”
or the “Company”) (TSXV:AME) announces that it has signed an option agreement (“Option
Agreement”) with Almadex Minerals Limited and its wholly -owned Nevada subsidiary
Almadex America Inc. (“Almadex”), to acquire the exclusive right and option to earn, in the
aggregate, up to a 75% undivided ownership interest in the Willow Property located in
Douglas County of Nevada, USA (“Property”). The Option Agreement provides for Abacus
to earn an initial 60% ownership interest (“60% Option Interest”) in the Property, whereupon
an additional 15% interest (“Additional Interest”) may be acquired, following which a joint
venture agreement between Abacus and Almadex will be established to jointly develop the
Property.
The 10,252-hectare Willow property is located approximately 65 km southeast of Reno,
Nevada and 13 km due west of Yerington, Nevada, in the Buckskin Mountain Range. It has
year-round access via a series of four -wheel drive tracks linking secondary gravel roads
skirting the claims, which lead to nearby paved roads. The Property was explored in the
1960s to the early 1980s to identify a porphyry copper deposit analogous to the nearby
Yerington Mine which produced approximately 1.6 billion pounds of copper from 1952 to
1978. Past operators used the same model at Willow to drill a series of shallow vertical drill
holes, many of which intersected intense argillic alteration, and short intervals of economic
copper and Cu-Mo mineralization. Very limited historical assaying was done for gold.
Abacus’ Chairman, President & CEO, Mike McInnis commented, “This option agreement is
an important step in our strategy to diversify the Company’s copper and gold portfolio which
currently consists of the 20% ownership interest in the Ajax copper -gold project, currently
undergoing the environmental permitting process in B.C. The Willow property, located in a
region known for past copper-gold production in Nevada, would give Abacus the opportunity
to advance the asset aggressively and become its majority owner-operator through the joint
venture.”
Mineralization
The Property is underlain by a series of intensely argillic -phyllic altered volcanic rocks that
have been protected from erosion by an overlying siliceous cap roc k. The siliceous unit
represents a classic lithocap marking an ancient water table, and is formed above a major
hydrothermal centre. Stratigraphically above the lithocap are a succession of thin andesitic
flows, rhyolites and intermediate volcanic flows.
The Property was explored in the 1960s to early 1980s by Anaconda Mining, Bear Creek
Mining and Conoco, in search of a porphyry copper deposit analogous to the nearby
Yerington Mine, which produced approximately 1.6 billion pounds of copper (1952 -1978).
The Yerington deposit is hosted within a Jurassic age porphyry that is flat lying, due to post
ore tilting of the rocks.
Suite 615-800 West Pender Street
Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2V6 Canada
Tel: 604.682.0301 Fax: 604.682.0307
email: [email protected]
website: www.amemining.com
TSX Venture Exchange Symbol: AME
Almadex completed mapping and sampling, soil geochemistry, ground IP and a deep
penetrating IP survey from 2008 to 2011 which identified a very large anomaly that continues
to at least 1 km in depth, coincident with a surficial Cu-Mo± Au soil anomaly. Dating of the
siliceous lithocap shows these rocks to be approximately 22 Ma in age, not Jurassic (201 to
145 Ma). The lithocap is preserved sporadically throughout the Property, but it appears to
form a planar, near horizontal unit. This implies that the Willow porphyry system is upright,
not inclined as previously believed, the entire system has been preserved, and it is much
younger in age than the Yerington and other nearby deposits. Past drilling was not oriented
to test an upright model, but instead appears to have just grazed a core zone of porphyry
Cu-Mo mineralization.
Abacus is currently compiling and digitizing past work and plans to conduct a field program
starting this spring, which is designed to augment and enhance the recent work by Almadex.
It will include a program of in -fill soil geochemistry and IP geophysics, a ground magnetic
survey, detailed mapping and a short program of diamond drilling. The target is a shallow,
upright, preserved copper (± Mo) porphyry deposit. A secondary target is epithermal gold,
which has not been systematically explored for in the past.
Agreement
Under the terms of the Option Agreement, which is subject to TSX Venture Exchange (“TSX-
V”) approval, Abacus may acquire up to a 75% interest in the Willow property in two stages:
Initial 60% Option Interest - To acquire the initial 60% Option Interest in the Property,
the Company is required, over a period of five years, to issue in stages a total of
2,500,000 common shares in the capital of the Company, and to incur in stages
minimum explorat ion expenditures tot aling US$3,0 00,000 on the Property. Upon
having earned the 60% Option Interest in the Property and until the 10 th anniversary
date of the date of TSX -V approval, Abacus will be required to incur minimum
exploration expenditures on an exploration program o n the Property of US$500,000
per year. Abacus will act as the Property’s operator during the initial five-year term
and following the earning of the 60% Option Interest, until such time as a joint venture
is established, as described below.
Additional 15% Interest and forming of Joint Venture - In order to earn the Additional
Interest, such that Abacus would have an aggregate interest of 75% in the Property,
Abacus will be required to deliver a Feasibility Study on the Property to Almadex on
or before the 10th anniversary date of the date of TSX-V approval. Upon having earned
the Additional Interest, Abacus will continue to act as the Property’s operator until such
time as a 75:25 joint venture is established for the further management, exploration
and development of the Property.
Technical Information
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul G.
Anderson, M.Sc. P.Geo., a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-
101.
On Behalf of the Board,
ABACUS MINING & EXPLORATION CORPORATION
Michael McInnis
Chairman, President & CEO
About Abacus
Abacus is a mineral exploration and mine development company with a 20% interest in the
Ajax copper-gold project located at the historic Ajax-Afton site southwest of Kamloops, B.C.
and an option to acquire up to a 75% interest in the Willow copper-gold property located in
Nevada. The Ajax project is a proposed copper-gold open-pit mine currently undergoing a
provincial and federal environmental assessment process. Through KGHM Ajax Mining Inc.,
a joint venture company between Abacus (20%) and KGHM Polska Miedz S.A. (KGHM)
(80%), the Ajax Mine is being funded in large part by KGHM and operated by its wholly -
owned subsidiary, KGHM International Ltd. For the latest reports and information on
Abacus’ projects, please refer to the Company’s website at www.amemining.com.
Forward-Looking Information
This release includes certain statements that are deemed “forward -looking statements”. All
statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or
developments that Abacus expects to occur, are forward -looking statemen ts. Forward - looking
statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified
by the words “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “projects”, “potential”
and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will”, “would”, “may”, “could” or “should” occur.
Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward -looking statements are
based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future pe rformance and
actual results may differ materially from those in the forward -looking statements. Factors that could
cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include changes
to commodity prices, mine and metallurgical recovery, operating and capital costs, foreign exchange
rates, ability to obtain required permits on a timely basis, exploitation and exploration successes,
continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions.
Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and
actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward -looking
statements. Forward -looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the
Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable
securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward -looking statements
in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
Neither 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 accurac y of this
release.