VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Sep. 30, 2009 (Marketwire) --
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/30/09 -- Aura Minerals Inc. ("Aura Minerals" or the "Company") (TSX: ORA) is very pleased to announce the completion of the preliminary economic assessment study (the "Study") on the advanced-stage Serrote da Laje deposit ("Serrote Deposit") at its wholly-owned Arapiraca Copper-Gold-Iron Ore Project in Alagoas State, Brazil.
The Study was compiled by PEG Mining Consultants Inc., with the collaboration of Geosim Services Inc., Brian Kennedy, P.Eng, and the Aura Minerals Technical Group. The Study is based on the Measured, Indicated and Inferred resources as stated in the National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") compliant technical report dated April 9, 2009 and entitled "Mineral Resource Update, Serrote da Laje and Caboclo Deposits of the Arapiraca Copper-Gold-Iron Ore Project, State of Alagoas, Brazil", prepared by Ronald G. Simpson, P.Geo. of Geosim Services Inc. (the "April 2009 Technical Report").
The Study supports an open pit and concentrator processing 41,000 tonnes per day ("tpd") of ore feed producing a copper/gold concentrate and an iron rich (67% Fe) magnetite concentrate. Average annual copper production is expected to be 137 million pounds with the average in the first three years being 155 million pounds. Average annual magnetite production is expected to be approximately 1.3 million tonnes of concentrate. The average life of mine cash cost for copper is estimated at $0.82 per pound including by-product credits for iron and gold sales. The expected after tax net present value ("NPV") is $325 million at a 10% discount rate and the after tax internal rate of return ("IRR") is 25.4%. The expected payback period is 2.8 years. Commodity prices assumed for the financial analysis are $2.00 per pound of copper, $800 per ounce of gold, and 85 cents per dry metric tonne unit of iron ore fines. Current market prices for all supplies materials and consumables were applied. All dollar amounts presented in this news release are expressed in US dollars. An exchange rate of 2.20 was used with respect to Brazilian Real-based expenditures.
Based on the results of the Study, the Serrote Deposit contains 157.4 million tonnes of mineable sulphide material in the Measured and Indicated categories (64.8 million tonnes in the Measured and 92.6 million tonnes in the Indicated category), with an additional 12.2 million tonnes in the Inferred category, which only represents approximately 7% of the total tonnes.
