Cordoba Announces Positive Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the San Matias Copper-Gold-Silver Project in Colombia Significant Tonnage and Copper and Gold Grade Increases at Alacran Deposit Preliminary Economic Assessment to be Completed in July
Cordoba Announces Positive Updated Mineral Resource
Estimate for the San Matias Copper-Gold-Silver Project in
Colombia
Significant Tonnage and Copper and Gold Grade Increases at Alacran
Deposit
Preliminary Economic Assessment to be Completed in July
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, July 3, 2019: Cordoba Minerals Corp. (TSX-V:CDB;
OTCQB:CDBMF) (“Cordoba” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce a positive updated
Mineral Resource estimate for the San Matias Project, including the Alacran replacement copper-
gold deposit, in Colombia. The updated Mineral Resource estimate, prepared in accordance with
the National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has been completed
by Nordmin Engineering Ltd. (“Nordmin”) of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Nordmin is also completing
the Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) for the San Matias Project, which is expected later
in July.
Highlights:
• Nordmin’s work on the San Matias Mineral Resource estimate included a detailed
geological re-examination of the structural controls to high-grade gold veins within the
Alacran deposit. The updated Mineral Resource estimate also includes, for the first time,
the three porphyry copper-gold-silver deposits at Montiel East, Montiel West and Costa
Azul (the “satellite deposits”; see Figure 1 below).
• Metallurgical test work improved the expected copper and gold recoveries within the
saprolite, transitional and fresh sulphide zones of each deposit and demonstrated that
silver is recoverable. Additionally, the test work indicates that up to 50% of the gold
and silver may be recoverable by a gravity circuit, which, if verified through further
metallurgical testing, would allow production of doré bars on-site.
• Total Mineral Resources for the San Matias Project include 94.9 million tonnes of
Indicated Resources grading 0.51% copper, 0.29 g/t gold and 2.70 g/t silver (0.71%
copper equivalent; “CuEq”; see footnotes to the table below for the CuEq formula),
and 3.4 million tonnes of Inferred Resources grading 0.30% copper, 0.20 g/t gold
and 1.30 g/t silver (0.45% CuEq) at a 0.3% CuEq cut-off. Resources are constrained by
conceptual open pits for each deposit, and a breakdown is shown in Table 1.
• Total Indicated Resources contain 488,100 tonnes of copper, 897,900 ounces of
gold and 8,245,300 ounces of silver. Total Inferred Resources contain 10,400 tonnes
of copper, 22,400 ounces of gold and 142,800 ounces of silver.
• Drill core assays suggest that the Alacran system contains very low contents of
deleterious elements such as arsenic and lead.
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Table 1: San Matias Mineral Resource estimate as at June 25, 2019, Nordmin Engineering Ltd.
Classification Tonnage
(Mt)
CuEq
Grade
(%)
Copper
Grade
(%)
Gold
Grade
(g/t)
Silver
Grade
(g/t)
Contained
Copper
(tonnes)
Contained
Copper
(Mlb)
Contained
Gold
(oz)
Contained
Silver
(oz)
Indicated Resources
Alacran 81.8 0.73 0.54 0.28 2.95 442,100 974.7 742,800 7,763,100
Montiel
East 3.4 0.79 0.53 0.41 1.69 18,100 39.9 45,300 186,200
Montiel
West 3.9 0.69 0.27 0.54 1.34 10,700 23.6 67,600 169,800
Costa Azul 5.8 0.46 0.30 0.23 0.68 17,200 37.9 42,100 126,400
Total Indicated 94.9 0.71 0.51 0.29 2.70 488,100 1,076.1 897,900 8,245,300
Inferred Resources
Alacran 1.7 0.49 0.39 0.13 1.67 6,600 14.6 7,100 92,700
Montiel
East 1.2 0.38 0.26 0.17 0.92 3,000 6.6 6,200 34,400
Montiel
West 0.4 0.51 0.07 0.65 1.03 300 0.7 8,400 13,200
Costa Azul 0.1 0.41 0.30 0.17 0.56 400 0.9 800 2,500
Total Inferred 3.4 0.45 0.30 0.20 1.30 10,400 22.9 22,400 142,800
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Notes on Mineral Resources
1. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic
viability; the estimate of Mineral Resources in the updated Mineral Resource statement may
be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio -political,
marketing, or other relevant issues. There is no certainty that the Indicated Mineral Resources
will be converted to the Probable Mineral Reserve category, and there is no certainty that the
updated Mineral Resource statement will be realized. I t is reasonable to expect that the
majority of Inferred Mineral Resources could be upgraded to Indicated Mineral Resources with
continued exploration.
2. The Mineral Resources in this estimate were independently prepared by Glen Kuntz, P.Geo.
of Nordmin Engin eering Ltd., following the Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and
Mineral Reserves Prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions, adopted
by CIM Council on May 10, 2014.
3. The Mineral Resources in this estimate used Datamine Studio 3 Software to create the block
models and used Datamine NPV Scheduler to constrain the resources and create conceptual
open pit shells for the deposits. Assumptions used to prepare the conceptual pits include:
• Metal prices of US$3.25/lb copper, US$1,400/oz gold and US$17.75/oz silver;
• Mining cost of US$2.00/t mined, processing cost of US$12/t milled and G&A costs of
US$1.25/t milled;
• 100% mining recovery, 0% dilution and 45° pit slope in fresh and transitional rock and
32.5°in weathered saprolite;
• Variable process recoveries of 50.0% to 90.0% for copper, 72.0% to 77.5% for gold and
40.0% to 70.0% for silver depending on the domain (saprolite, transition or fresh sulphide)
and copper grade.
• Freight and treatment costs of US$162/t concentrate, payable metal factors of 96% for
copper and 95% for gold and silver , and refining charges of US$0.085/lb copper ,
US$5.50/oz gold and US $1.15/oz silver.
4. Copper equivalent has been calculated using: CuEq % = Cu % + (Au Factor x Au Grade g/t +
Ag Factor x Ag Grade g/t) x 100.
• Au Factor = (Au Recovery % x Au Price $/oz / 31.1035 g/oz) / (Cu Recovery % x Cu Price
$/lb x 2204.62 lb/t).
• Ag Factor = (Ag Recovery % x Ag Price $/oz / 31.1035 g/oz) / (Cu Recovery % x Cu Price
$/lb x 2204.62 lb/t).
• Variable process recoveries of 50.0% to 90.0% for copper, 72.0% to 77.5% for gold and
40.0% to 70.0% for silver depending on the domain (saprolite, transition or fresh sulphide)
and copper grade.
5. A cut-off grade of 0.30% CuEq has been applied.
6. The cut-off date of the drill hole information was November 24, 2017.
7. All references to the 2018 Mineral Resource estimate are reported in the Technical Report
titled “NI 43 -101 Technical Report on the El Alacran Project Department of C órdoba,
Colombia”. The Technical Report has an effective date of April 10, 2018. The 2018 estimate
is no longer considered to be current and is not to be relied upon.
8. Due to rounding, totals may not sum.
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Figure 1: San Matias Project area showing the location of the Alacran deposit and the satellite deposits (Montiel East, Montiel West
and Costa Azul).
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“We are very pleased with the work completed by Nordmin in updating the Mineral Resource
estimate for San Matias.” stated Eric Finlayson, President and CEO of Cordoba. “By
understanding key structural controls to mineralization, such as the high-grade vertical structures,
Nordmin have been able to unlock additional value in Alacran and in the satellite deposits. We
look forward to the results of the San Matias PEA, which we anticipate will demonstrate a very
robust copper, gold and silver mining project.”
Nordmin Update Increases Gold Grades and Adds Silver Resources at Alacran
Nordmin has updated the Mineral Resource estimate for the Alacran deposit with an improved
geological understanding of structural controls on the high-grade gold veins within the deposit
following recent re-mapping of the artisanal workings and re-logging of both historical and
Cordoba drill core (see drill hole locations below in Figure 2). This work has led to the identification
of gold-rich domains controlled by vertical or near-vertical structures that are traceable along the
north-south axis of the deposit, as displayed in Figures 3 and 4 below. These domains were
unrecognised in previous iterations of the Resource model. Definition of these structural domains
has allowed for a robust geostatistical model to support the inclusion of higher gold grades into
the Resource model.
Metallurgical test work completed by SGS Canada Inc. (“SGS”) has improved the confidence of
the expected copper, gold and silver recoveries within the saprolite, transitional and fresh sulphide
zones for each deposit, as previous assumptions were based on limited historical test work. SGS
has confirmed that silver is recoverable, providing for the inclusion of silver in the updated
Resource model. The recent test work has further demonstrated that up to 50% of the gold and
silver may be recoverable by a gravity circuit, which, if verified through further metallurgical
testing, would allow production of doré bars on-site.
An updated structural model, in conjunction with a geotechnical review of the Alacran and satellite
deposits, has enabled an improved definition of the expected pit-wall angles within the conceptual
open pit shells. All four of the pits were run using a maximum 45° pit slope in fresh and transition
rock and 32.5° in the weathered saprolite rock. The resulting strip ratios are shown below in Table
2. The application of these pit slopes at the Alacran deposit has enabled access to mineralized
material up to 50 metres deeper than in previous Alacran Resource estimates, as shown in Figure
5.
Table 2: Modelled strip ratios for the conceptual open pits.
Conceptual Open Pit Strip Ratio
Alacran 1.46
Montiel East 0.41
Montiel West 0.49
Costa Azul 0.43
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Figure 2: Plan map of Alacran deposit with drill holes plotted. Note that historical drill holes (blue)
were added into the updated Mineral Resource estimate after completing twin drill hole analysis
and QA/QC.
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Figure 3: Alacran deposit Section “B” showing CuEq grades with high-grade vertical structures.
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Figure 4: Plan View of Alacran deposit showing CuEq grades with high-grade vertical structures.