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January 20, 2011, Vancouver,
Canada. -- El Niño Ventures Inc. ("ELN" and the "Company") (TSX.V: ELN;
Frankfurt: E7Q) is pleased
to announce that it has provided notice to Votorantim Metals Canada Inc. (Votorantim)
to enter into an Option Agreement on the Murray Brook Deposit, situated in the
Bathurst Mining Camp in New Brunswick, Canada.
On November 1st, 2010
Votorantim entered into an Option and Joint Venture Agreement with Murray Brook
Minerals Inc. (MBM) and Murray Brook Resources Incorporated (MBR) concerning the
Murray Brook Mining Lease No. 252 and the Camel Back Claims Block No. 4925 (the
Properties). The properties are situated between the Caribou and Restigouche
mine sites about 60 km west-southwest of Bathurst, New Brunswick (Figure 1).
Under Votoratim's Option
and Joint Venture Agreement with MBM and MBR, Votorantim can earn a 50% interest
in the Properties, by funding $2,250,000 in exploration expenditures and making
payments totalling $300,000 over a three year priod commencing November 1, 2011.
Votorantim can earn an additional 20% interest in the Properties by funding an
additional $2,250,000 in exploration expenditures over an additional two year
period.
Under the provisions set
forth in the existing tri-party Joint Venture agreement between Xstrata Canada
Corporation -- Xstrata Zinc Canada Division (Xstrata Zinc), ELN and Votorantim,
signed on May 4 2010, (see May 4, 2010 press release), whereby Votorantim is
earning a 50% interest and has the option to earn an additional 20% interest in
the Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC) project. ELN is granted, together with Xstrata
Zinc, the option to acquire up to 50% of Votorantim's acquisitions within the
area of interest by funding 50% of the earn in commitment.
After reviewing drill
results provided by Votorantim as part of a due diligence exercise, El Nino
Ventures has provided notice to both parties to enter into an Option Agreement
on the Murray Brook Deposit. The Company is planing to release these drill
results over the next 30 days.
ELN believes that the addition of the Properties to the current portfolio of
projects under option and joint venture in the Bathurst Mining Camp will
increase the potential to add shareholder value. Votorantim continues to explore
the region and therefore, the Company has advised Votorantim that it has elected
to exercise its right to acquire 50% of Votorantim's interest in the Properties.
Votorantim is currently
earning a 50% interest in the Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC) tri-party Joint Venture
project by incurring exploration expenditures of $10 million over a period of
five years. Votorantim can increase its interest to 70% by spending another $10
million over an additional two years thereafter ELN and Xstrata Zinc interests
would be reduced to 15% from 25% respectively.
About the
Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC) Project
The BMC project
is comprised of 1805 claims owned 50% ELN, 50% Xstrata Zinc, 2907 claims owned
100% by Xstrata Zinc, together with an Area of Interest in which ELN and Xstrata
Zinc hold equal interest. Earlier drilling campaigns delineated several
historical deposits of lead, zinc and copper mineralization within the 1805
claims in which ELN currently holds 50% interest (see June 4, 2008 press
release).
Figure 2. Geology Map with outline of the Murray Brook and Camel Back Projects.
About the Murray Brook
and Camel Back Properties
The 505 hectare Murray Brook
mining lease (ML252)
contains the Murray Brook deposit, discovered in 1956 and mined by Novagold
Resources from 1989 to 1992. Total production was 1,384 kg of gold and 9,829 kg
of silver from 2.7 Mt of oxide ore (Gossan). A resource was defined below the
open pit (Gossan) prior to the implementation of NI 43-101 standards of
disclosure and historically reported by NovaGold in 1988 to be 20.2 Mt grading
1.4% Zn, 0.3% Cu, 0.6% Pb, 25 g/t Ag and 0.3 g/t Au. A copper rich zone within
this deposit contains an estimated 2.087 Mt grading 2.0% Cu, 1.1% Zn, 0.4% Pb,
46 g/t Ag and 0.3 g/t Au. Under the provisions of NI 43-101, insufficient work
has been carried out to classify any of the historic occurrences as current
mineral resources and the historical estimates should not be relied upon.
The Camel Back claim block
consists of 215 claims
covering 4100 hectares situated between the Murray Brook mining lease and the
Caribou mining lease (ML246). The Caribou, Murray Brook and Restigouche deposits
are all hosted within the California Lake Group: the Caribou deposit within
volcano-sedimentary rocks of the Spruce Lake Formation while the Murray Brook
and Restigouche deposits within sedimentary rocks of the Mount Britain
Formation. According to geological and geophysical data, the presence of
favourable stratigraphic sequence and some untested EM anomalies shows that the
Camel Back block still merits further exploration for discovering new deposits.
About Votorantim Metals Canada Inc.
Votorantim Metals Canada Inc. is a subsidiary of Votorantim Metals, a company
that is part of the Votorantim Group, which was founded in Brazil in 1918 and
now operates in twenty countries and has over sixty-five thousand employees.
Votorantim Metals is the largest electrolytic nickel producer in Latin America
and one of the world's leaders in production of zinc, aluminium and steel.
About El Niño Ventures Inc.
El Niño Ventures Inc. is an exploration company, focused on exploring for
Copper/Cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC"). In addition the
Company had entered into an Option agreement with Votorantim and Xstrata Zinc
whereby Votorantim, by incurring exploration expenditures of $10 million over a
period of 5 years. Votorantim may further elect to increase its interest to 70%
by spending another $10 million over an additional two years. The Votorantim
option is on an extensive land package in the Bathurst Mining Camp that ELN
currently shares 50/50 with Xstrata Zinc Canada.
In the DRC, the Kasala
Copper Project gives the Company a bona fide development project going forward.
Exploration results on this project are very consistent and demonstrate the
potential for a world class project over time.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors,
"Harry Barr"
Harry Barr, Chairman and Acting CEO
TSX Venture Exchange or 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.
Note: this release contains
forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These
statements may differ materially from actual future events or results and are
based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of
historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition,
forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company uses words
such as "continue", "efforts", "expect", "believe", "anticipate", "confident",
"intend", "strategy", "plan", "will", "estimate", "project", "goal", "target",
"prospects", "optimistic" or similar expressions. These statements by their
nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially
depending on a variety of important factors, including, among others, the
Company's ability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely make
available adequate current public information, additional or different
regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may be imposed, and
other factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR
(www.sedar.com),
including the most recent reports that identify important risk factors that
could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking
statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm
analysts' expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date
hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should
not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
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