TORONTO, CANADA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/19/08 -- In June of this year, BacTech Mining Corporation ("BacTech" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: BM) entered into an agreement to acquire a 33% interest in two refractory gold deposits located on Fergusson Island, Papua New Guinea ("PNG"), from Yamana Gold Inc. ("Yamana") in exchange for 15 million shares in the Company. The agreement is subject to receipt of regulatory approval by the Company including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange"). On closing of the transaction, Yamana will hold a 19.97% undiluted interest in BacTech. The balance of ownership in the projects (67%), is held by the current operator, Gold Aura Limited ("GOA") (ASX: GOA), of Brisbane, Australia.
The Company initiated an independent review of the historical work performed on the deposits, and has now received an independent technical report prepared by Hellman & Schofield Pty Ltd, an Australian-based consulting group. William Yeo, PhD, MAusIMM, is a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. He is the author of the technical report and is responsible for its content. Mr. Yeo verified the geologic data in this news release. Summaries of the report's Conclusions and Recommendations are listed below.
It is anticipated that in order to obtain the approval of the Exchange to the completion of the acquisition, BacTech will require shareholder approval in accordance with the rules of the TSX Venture Exchange, which BacTech hopes to procure by written consents.
While the supporting database for this project lacks the QAQC procedures currently required to meet resource or reserve criteria, BacTech is sufficiently encouraged by the size and grade of the identified mineralized systems, and their suitability to treatment using BacTech's bacteriological leaching technology, to aggressively pursue various avenues to validate and confirm the existence of a minable gold reserve.
Technical Report Conclusions
- An extensive amount of geological work has been carried out on the Fergusson Island prospects.
- A total of 296 RC and air core holes (11,646m), and 97 diamond core holes (6,401m) have been drilled at Wapolu.
- A total of 195 RC holes (10,179m) and 33 diamond holes (4,181m) have been drilled at Gameta.
- The geological models of the mineralization are well advanced and documented.
- Gold analyses were obtained by a combination of aqua regia digest with AAS finish and conventional fire assay. The use of only an aqua regia sample digestion may result in incomplete gold digestion and result in lower than actual gold values. This possibility will be investigated by follow-up fire assaying of selected samples.
- No resource estimate is reported at this time as QAQC procedures at the time of the previous drilling were not compliant with current requirements.
