Emerita Provides a Further Update ON the Aznalcóllar Appeal
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EMERITA PROVIDES A FURTHER UPDATE ON THE AZNALCÓLLAR APPEAL
Toronto, Ontario, March 28, 2017 – Emerita Resources Corp. (the “Company” or “Emerita”) (TSX-V:
EMO) has received a written resolution from the Seventh Provincial Court of Seville (the “Court”)
pursuant to which the Court has ruled against the request by Minorbis SL (“Minorbis”), a competitor
bidder in the Aznalcóllar project tender process, the Andalucia n government panel (the “Panel”)
responsible for awarding the Aznalcóllar project, and the former Director of Mines of the Government of
Andalucía (collectively, the “Accused”), to dismiss the ongoing criminal case against them.
The criminal case in connec tion with the Aznalcóllar project tender was re -opened in October 2016
following a successful appeal by Emerita of the lower court’s decision that there was not sufficient
evidence of a criminal act in such tender process (see the Company’s press release i ssued on October
28, 2016).
In denying the Accused’s request to dismiss the case, the Court described the Accused’s arguments as
unfounded and reiterated that there is sufficient evidence of gross negligence and misconduct by the
Accused that it is necessa ry to continue investigating whether criminal acts were committed by the
Accused. The Court, in its resolution, stated: “It is necessary to investigate the case as there are
indications of the crime of prevarication thereby we reject all the appeals presented by the accused.”
The Court also emphasized that the role of the appellate courts is to review the findings and evidence
from the lower courts to determine if the lower court has correctly applied the law. The Court’s
resolution also strongly criticiz ed the lower court’s ruling that there was not sufficient evidence of a
potential crime by the Accused. The Court has also ruled that the Accused must pay for the costs
associated with the Accused’s unfounded appeal to dismiss the ongoing proceedings as we ll as barring
the Accused from bringing similar appeals in respect of this case going forward.
The Aznalcóllar project appears to have been awarded to Minera Los Frailes SL (“Los Frailes”), a
company that did not participate in the public tender process. The Court has indicated that this result is
highly irregular, inconsistent with the laws and regulations governing public tenders in Spain and further
investigations need to be made to determine if there were any criminal acts committed in connection
therewith. The Court has requested that the Junta de Andalucía (the “Junta”) confirm whether it has
formally granted the rights to the Aznalcóllar project to Los Frailes. This specific request has been made
several times by the Court and to date the Junt a has not provided the Court with the relevant
documentation. The Andalusian Government website indicates that L os Frailes is the company that
accepted the Aznalcóllar project although documentation supporting such result has not been made
public or disclosed to the Court.
The Court has ordered the Spanish federal police to continue investigating the Accused’s actions in
connection with the Aznalcóllar project tender including reviewing the Accused’s email correspondence,
invoices and payments made and received during the applicable period of time.
Joaquin Merino, CEO of Emerita, commented: “This resolution of the Seventh Provincial Court of Seville
is a further positi ve step in properly resolving the Aznalcóllar public tender and brings an end to
frivolous appeals that have slowed down the legal process. Emerita’s Spanish legal counsel has advised
Emerita that under Spanish law , should the commission of a crime occur in the awarding of a public
tender, such bid will be disqualified and the tender is required to be awarded to the next qualified
bidder. Emerita strongly believes that it is the only qualified bidder in the Aznalcóllar tender process.
Emerita remains com mitted to working with the community of Aznalcóllar to develop the Aznalcóllar
project in an environmentally responsible manner to benefit all stakeholders."
About the Aznalcóllar Project
The key focus of the Aznalcóllar project, if the project is awarded to Emerita, would be the development
of the Los Frailes deposit as an underground mining operation. The deposit thickness ranges between 30
and 90 metres. The thickest section of the ore body lies below 150 metres depth from surface. The Los
Frailes and the previously mined Aznalcóllar deposits are both open for further expansion by drilling at
depth, as historical drilling was primarily constrained to depths accessible by open pit mining.
The historical Los Frailes open pit mineral resource , as calculated by the previous operator of the mine,
was estimated to be 71 million tonnes grading 3.86% zinc, 2.18% lead, 0.34% copper and 60 ppm silver.
A review of the historical drilling data indicates the potential existence of a higher grade portion of the
resource that is estimated to contain 20 million tonnes grading 6.65% zinc, 3.87% lead, 0.29% copper
and 84 ppm silver. This higher grade resource has been modeled by Emerita and would be the focus for
the underground mining operation (see Figure 1).
A qualified person, as defined in National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”), has not done sufficient work
on behalf of Emerita to classify the historical estimate as a current mineral resource and Emerita is not
treating the historical estimate as a curre nt mineral resource or mineral reserve . The resource estimate
is a historical estimate and should not be relied upon. A summary of the historical resource estimate is
available on the Government of Andalucia’s web site in a report prepared by the prior op erator of the
Aznalcóllar Project entitled “Proyecto de Explotacion Yacimiento Los Frailes, Memoria Andaluza de
Piritas, Boliden- Apirsa, Octubre 1994” (Los Frailes Development project Report, Boliden-Apirsa, October
1994) along with subsequent resource estimate updates, the latest being from 2000.
Figure 1: 3D model showing the Los Frailes (center) and Aznalcóllar (right) deposits at
depth. Historical drill intercepts indicate potential for a third deposit on the property
(left) that would require additional delineation drilling. The historical resources noted
above are entirely within the Los Frailes deposit.
Qualified Person
Joaquin Merino is a “qualified person” as such term is defined in NI 43 -101 and has reviewed and
approved the scientific and technical information included in this press release and has approved its
dissemination.
About Emerita Resources Corp.
Emerita is a natural resource company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of
mineral properties with a primary focus on exploring in Spain and Brazil. The Company’s corporate office
and technical team are based in Sevilla, Spain with an administrative office in Toronto, Canada.
For further information, contact:
Joaquin Merino
+34 (628) 1754 66 (Spain)
Helia Bento
+1 416 309 4293 (Toronto)
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-looking Information
This press release contains “forward -looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian
securities legislation. Forward -looking information includes, without limitation, statements regarding
the Aznalcóllar project, the significance of the Court’s rulings, the significance of the Court’s actions, the
results of any appeals or judicial or administrative proceedings in connection with the Aznalcóllar
project, participation in any public tenders, the ability of the Company to be granted any mining rights
pursuant to a public tender process, the potential of the Aznalcóllar project , historical mineral resource
estimates for the Aznalcóllar project , the mineralization of the Aznalcóllar project and the Company’s
future plans. 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”, “schedule d”,
“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 ach ieved”. 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 Emerita, as the case may be, to be materially different from tho se
expressed or implied by such forward -looking information, including but not limited to: general
business, economic, competitive, geopolitical and social uncertainties; the actual results of current
exploration activities; risks associated with operation in foreign jurisdictions; ability to successfully
integrate purchased properties or mining rights awarded; foreign operations risks; and other risks
inherent in the mining industry. Although Emerita 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 ac curate, as actual results and future events could
differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue
reliance on forward -looking information. Emerita does not undertake to update any forward -looking
information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.
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