VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 15, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Panoro Minerals Ltd. (TSXV:PML) (Lima:PML) (Frankfurt:PZM) ("Panoro", the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Augusto Baertl to the Board of Directors. Augusto is a very well known and highly experienced mining executive with over 50 years’ experience in the Peruvian and International Mining sectors.
Mr. Baertl’s career in the mining sector began with the San Cristobal Mining unit of the Cerro de Pasco Corporation followed by a long tenure at Compania Minera Milpo where he rose to the role of President & CEO. Augusto was also President & CEO of Compania Minera Antamina where he led the $2.25 billion development of one of the worlds largest copper/zinc mines from exploration to start-up.
He is a past member of the Board of Directors of many mining companies including Milpo, Atacocha, Huaron, Chungar, Corporacion Minera Castrovirreyna and Norsemont Mining in addition to serving on the boards of banking, engineering, construction and contract mining companies in Peru.
In addition to his roles within the mining industry, Augusto has played an important role in many other industry and state level entities. He is a former Chairman of the SNMPE, IIMP, Petroperu, the Canada Peru Chamber of Commerce and the Peru Chapter of the Latin American Business Council.
Augusto has recently been appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Grana y Montero, a New York Stock Exchange listed and Peru’s largest Engineering and Infrastructure company. He is also currently a member of the Board of Directors of Chinalco International, Alturas Minerals, Fima and Stevia One.
The Company has granted options to purchase 600,000 shares exercisable at a price of $0.20 per share to Mr. Baertl pursuant to the Company's stock option plan.
“We are excited that Augusto has joined our Board. Augusto’s extensive experience including recent experience with the Toromocho Copper Project, acquired and built by Chinalco, and the Constancia Copper Project, acquired and built by Hudbay Minerals, will provide valuable insight into the advancement of Panoro’s Antilla and Cotabambas Projects towards feasibility,” stated William Boden, Chairman of the Company.
About Panoro
Panoro Minerals is a uniquely positioned Peru focused copper exploration and development company. The company is advancing its flagship project, Cotabambas Copper-Gold-Silver Project and its Antilla Copper-Molybdenum Projects located in the strategically important area of southern Peru. The company is well financed to expand, enhance and advance its projects in the region where infrastructure such as railway, roads, ports, water supply, power generation and transmission are readily available and expanding quickly. The region boasts the recent investment of over $US 15 billion into the construction or expansion of four large open pit copper mines.
Since 2007, the company has completed over 70,000 m of exploration drilling at these two key projects leading to substantial increases in the mineral resource base for each, as summarized in the table below.
Summary of Cotabambas and Antilla Project Resources
| Project | Resource Classification |
Million tonnes |
Cu (%) | Au (g/t) | Ag (g/t) | Mo (%) |
| Cotabambas Cu/Au/Ag | Indicated | 117.1 | 0.42 | 0.23 | 2.74 | 0.001 |
| Inferred | 605.3 | 0.31 | 0.17 | 2.33 | 0.002 | |
| @ 0.20% CuEq cutoff, effective October 2013, Tetratech | ||||||
| Antilla Cu/Mo | Indicated | 291.8 | 0.34 | - | - | 0.01 |
| Inferred | 90.5 | 0.26 | - | - | 0.007 | |
| @ 0.175% CuEq cutoff, effective May 2016, Tetratech | ||||||
Preliminary Economic Assessments (PEA) have been completed for both the Cotabambas and Antilla Projects. The key results are summarized below.
Summary of Cotabambas and Antilla Project PEA Results
| Key Project Parameters
|
Cotabambas Cu/Au/Ag Project |
Antilla Cu/Mo Project
|
||
| Mill Feed, life of mine | million tonnes | 483.1 | 350.4 | |
| Mill Feed, daily | tonnes | 80,000 | 40,000 | |
| Strip Ratio, life of mine | 1.25 : 1 | 0.85 : 1 | ||
| Before Tax1
|
NPV7.5% | million USD | 1,053 | 491 |
| IRR | % | 20.4 | 22.2 | |
| Payback | years | 3.2 | 3.3 | |
| After Tax1
|
NPV7.5% | million USD | 684 | 225 |
| IRR | % | 16.7 | 15.1 | |
| Payback | years | 3.6 | 4.1 | |
| Annual Average Payable Metals |
Cu | thousand tonnes | 70.5 | 36.8 |
| Au | thousand ounces | 95.1 | - | |
| Ag | thousand ounces | 1,018.4 | - | |
| Mo | thousand tonnes | - | 0.9 | |
| Initial Capital Cost | million USD | 1,530 | 603 | |
| Project economics estimated at commodity prices of; Cu = US$3.00/lb, Au = US$1,250/oz, Ag = US$18.50/oz, Mo = US$12/lb | ||||
The PEAs are considered preliminary in nature and include Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative to have the economic considerations applied that would enable classification as Mineral Reserves. There is no certainty that the conclusions within the updated PEA will be realized. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Luis Vela, a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this press release.
