April 3, 2012, Vancouver, Canada
- El Niño Ventures Inc. ("ELN" and the "Company") (TSX.V: ELN;
OTCQX:ELNOF Frankfurt: E7Q) is pleased to announce that it has
closed the second tranche of its non-brokered flow-through and non
flow-through private placement for gross proceeds of $921,190.
The Company issued 4,445,692 non flow-through units (NFT Units) at a
price of $0.13 per NFT Unit. Each NFT Unit consists of one common
share and one-half of one non-transferable share purchase warrant
("Warrant"). Each whole Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase
one common share of the Company at a price of $0.23 per share for a
period of 18 months from closing subject to an accelerated expiry,
such expiry being accelerated to 30 days in the event the Company's
shares have closed at or above a price of $0.40 per share for 10
consecutive trading days on the TSX Venture Exchange.
In addition, the Company issued 2,288,334 flow-through units ("FT
Unit") at $0.15 per FT Unit. Each FT Unit consists of one common
flow-through share and one-half of one non-transferable, non
flow-through, share purchase warrant. Each whole Warrant will
entitle the holder to purchase one non flow-through common share of
the Company at a price of $0.25 per share for a period of 18 months
from closing subject to an accelerated expiry, such expiry being
accelerated to 30 days in the event the Company's shares have closed
at or above a price of $0.40 per share for 10 consecutive trading
days on the TSX Venture Exchange.
The Company has paid $26,656 and 192,500 warrants in finder's fees
in connection with this second tranche closing of the private
placement. All of the securities to be issued by the Company in
connection with this private placement will be subject to a hold
period, which expires July 31, 2012, four months and one day after
the closing date.
Drilling commenced on February 9, 2012 and to date, 30 holes have
been successfully completed for a total of 5,000 metres. The entire
drill program is planned to be 18,000 metres, but could be expanded
depending on results.
The Company currently has three drill rigs operating on the property
with the objective of upgrading the inferred and indicated resources
to measured resources, defining additional near-surface resources as
well as completing preliminary metallurgical testing on selected
portions of the deposit.
A minimum $3 million budget has been proposed for the 2012-2013
exploration program. The budget includes $2.5 million for diamond
drilling work on the Murray Brook deposit and a $500,000 exploration
geophysical program on Murray Brook property and the adjacent Camel
Back property (Figure 1). The objective of this exploration program
is to explore for VMS deposits at depths of up to 200 metres below
surface. The Camel Back property is located in the area between the
Murray Brook deposit to the west, which is the fifth largest in the
Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC), and the Caribou deposit to the east
(Figure 1).
The Exploration Agreement
Votorantim is the Operator of the Murray Brook Project. In
January 2011, ELN announced that it provided notice to Votorantim
Metals Canada Inc. (Votorantim) to enter into a Participation
Agreement on the Murray Brook polymetallic massive sulfide deposit
situated in the Bathurst Mining Camp in New Brunswick, Canada. (See
news release dated January 20, 2011).
Under Votorantimʹs Option and Joint Venture Agreement with Murray
Brook Minerals and Murray Brook Resources, both
privately held companies, 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 period that
commenced November 1, 2010. 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. ELN has
elected to enter into a participation agreement wherein it can earn
50% of Votorantim's interest by paying 50% of the costs incurred by
Votorantim in the Option and Joint Venture Agreement.
Figure 1- Land tenure map showing the
location of the
Murray Brook Project in the Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick
About El Niño Ventures Inc. Bathurst Projects
1. Bathurst Mining Camp Project: (Tri-Party Agreement)
Consists of an initial 4,712 claims in the Tri-Party Agreement with
Xstrata & VM Canada whereby VM Canada may incur exploration
expenditures of $10 million over a period of 5 years to earn a 50%
interest. VM Canada may further increase its interest to 70% by
spending an additional $10 million over 2 years.
2. Murray Brook Project:
The Murray Brook project, which has an excellent infrastructure, is
the fifth largest massive sulfide deposit in the Bathurst Mining
Camp. Votorantim can earn up to a 50% interest in the Murray Brook
Project by funding $2,250,000 of exploration expenditures over a
period of 3 years. Votorantim may acquire a further 20% by incurring
an additional $2,250,000 in exploration costs over an additional two
year period. ELN has elected to participate by paying 50% of
Votorantim's exploration costs during the earn-in period.
In 2011, ELN and Votorantim spent $2.1 million on exploration; and
completed 10,327 metres of drilling. With excellent drill results to
date, a +$3.0 million exploration/drill program is now underway with
30 drill holes for 5,000 metres completed with assays pending.
The first NI43-101 Mineral Resource Estimate for the Murray Brook
Zn-Cu-Pb-Ag-Au deposit, which includes explanatory footnotes, is
presented in the table below (see ELN press release dated February
28, 2012). The resource estimate is based on various assumptions
regarding mining methods, processing and metal recoveries, payable
metal NSR credits and metal prices. This estimate makes no provision
for capital costs to mine the deposit, nor mill the material mined,
as resources are not reserves and the reader should not presume
economic viability.
Murray
Brook Mineral Resource Estimate Summary
Mineral resources which are not
mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.
The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by
environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political,
marketing, or other relevant issues.
(1) The quantity and grade of reported Inferred resources in this
estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient
exploration to define these Inferred resources as an Indicated or
Measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration
will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured mineral
resource category.
(2) The mineral resources in this news release were estimated using
the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM),
CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and
Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standard Committee on Reserve
Definitions and adopted by CIM Council
(3) The Dec 31, 2011 two year trailing average US metal prices used
in this estimate were $3.71/lb Cu, $1.03/lb Pb, $0.98/lb Zn,
$1,397/oz Au, $27.63/oz Ag. The C$/US$ Exchange rate was 0.99.
(4) Overall payable metal in the NSR calculation were 81% Cu, 72% Pb,
64% Zn, 71% Au and 56% Ag.
(5) Mineral resources were determined within a Whittle pit shell
with 45 degree slopes utilizing mining costs of C$2.50/tonne for
mineralized material and waste rock, and C$1.75/tonne for
overburden.
(6) Costs used to determine the C$20/tonne NSR resource cut-off
value were processing at C$15/tonne and G&A C$5/tonne.
(7) The Murray Brook Mineral Resource Estimate was undertaken by
Eugene Puritch, P.Eng. of P&E Mining Consultants Inc.
Votorantim Metals Canada Statement:
Technical details in this news release were provided by VM Canada
whose professional geologists conduct operations consistent with
mineral industry best practices. VM Canada accepts no responsibility
for this news release or any inferences made from the technical
details provided herein.
About VM Canada (Votorantim Metals Canada Inc.)
Votorantim Metals Canada Inc. is a subsidiary of Votorantim Metais;
a company that is part of the Votorantim Group that was founded in
Brazil in 1918 operates in twenty countries and has over forty
thousand employees. Votorantim Metais is the largest
electrolytic-nickel producer in Latin America and one of the world's
leaders in the production of zinc, aluminum and nickel.
About El Niño Ventures Inc.
El Niño Ventures Inc. is an international exploration company,
focused on exploring for lead, zinc, copper, gold and silver in New
Brunswick, Canada and copper in the Democratic Republic of Congo
("DRC").
On Behalf of the Board of
Directors
Harry Barr
Chairman & CEO
El Nino Ventures Inc.
Further Information: Tel: +1 604 685
1870 Fax: +1 604 685 8045
Email: info@elninoventures.com or visit www.elninoventures.com
650-555 West 12th Avenue, City Square, West Tower, Vancouver, B.C.,
Canada, V5Z 3X7
Neither the 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 accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements. 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. |
