Vancouver, British Columbia, January 26, 2009 (TSX Venture: EMX) - Eurasian Minerals Inc. (the “Company” or “EMX”) is pleased to announce the acquisition of 100% interest of the Grand Bois Property in Haiti from Societe Miniere Citadelle (hereinafter referred to as “SMC”). The acquisition is focused on the Grand Bois historic, non-NI 43-101 compliant resource of 4.3 million tonnes with average grades of 2.24 g/t gold and 14.92 g/t silver. This historic non-NI 43-101 compliant resource is based on drilling that intersected near-surface, oxide gold mineralization, including an intercept of 49 meters averaging 6.06 g/t gold. Newmont Ventures Limited (“Newmont” or “NEM”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation, has selected the Grand Bois property to be included in a “Designated Project” under the NEM-EMX Strategic Venture Agreement. Please see attached map and the Company’s web site at www.eurasianminerals.com for more information.
Grand Bois Property Overview. The Grand Bois property covers an area of 50 square kilometers of mineral rights located 28 kilometers southwest of the port city of Cap Haitien, in northern Haiti, and is entirely surrounded by exploration licenses recently acquired by the Company (see Company news release dated December 17, 2008). The property is situated in mountainous terrain adjacent to National Highway #1 that connects Cap Haitien and the capital city of Port Au Prince. Prior to EMX’s acquisition, the Grand Bois property was held by SMC, a Haitian private corporation, through a Mining Convention issued by the Bureau of Mines and Energy, Republic of Haiti. The Mining Convention essentially establishes a mining permit that is subject to terms and conditions of Haiti’s mining law.
The Grand Bois gold mineralization is hosted within a high-sulfidation epithermal gold system that was recognized by Kennecott Exploration in 1975. The gold mineralization is near-surface, oxidized, and open for extension. The property has undergone historic exploration, including four drill campaigns totaling more than 7500 meters. The historic drilling returned intercepts including 49 meters averaging 6.06 g/t gold starting at surface (0-49 m, hole GBS-D6). A summary of the historic exploration work includes:
| 1975 | Kennecott Exploration completed mapping, pitting, trenching, soil geochemistry, geophysics and 10 diamond drill holes totaling 1,680 meters. |
| 1978 | Penarroya completed mapping, trenching and 11 diamond drill holes for 1730 meters, nine of which are within the deposit area. |
| 1983 | The United Nations Development Program ("UNDP") completed mapping, pitting, trenching, metallurgical work, and 51 diamond holes for 2,003 meters. The UNDP work produced an non-NI 43-101 compliant historical resource estimate, termed a "geological reserve", of 4.3 million tonnes averaging 2.24 g/t gold and 14.92 g/t silver. (Focsa, et al., 1986, Le Gisement d’or de Grand Bois/Limbe. Project HAI/84/016-02-P01 UNDP/BME). The historical resource was based upon a polygonal estimate at a 0.5 g/t gold cutoff. The UNDP historical "geological reserve" does not use the resource and reserve categories as defined in NI 43-101. A Qualified Person has not performed sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current mineral resources, and EMX is not treating the estimate as current mineral resources. The historical estimate should not be relied upon until it can be confirmed by the Company. However, the drill-delineated Grand Bois gold mineralized deposit described by the UNDP report is considered relevant. |
| 1997 | KWG Resources ("KWG") completed a topographic survey and 16 diamond drill holes totaling 2131.6 meters. KWG’s drilling included twin and duplicate holes that generally supported and confirmed the prior drill results reported by the UNDP. |
The Grand Bois gold deposit is located on the top and flank of a hill (elevations range from 580-720 m), that would have a favorable stripping ratio for a potential open-pit operation. The base of oxidation extends to a depth of 90 meters. The deposit as currently defined is roughly circular in outline, with dimensions of 300 by 350 meters, and consists of a poorly consolidated tabular body of mineralized and oxidized volcanic rock with an average thickness of approximately 20 meters. The gold mineralization remains open for expansion. A limited number of drill holes that extended below the oxide gold zone intersected significant copper mineralization, including 0.62% copper over 53.5 meters (64.9-118.4 m, hole DDH-1). The copper mineralization may be related to a porphyry system, and provides further upside exploration potential to the property.
The Grand Bois gold deposit area is located in the northern half of a polymetallic mineral district which covers roughly 24 square kilometers, and contains 46 prospective gold-silver, copper, zinc and lead mineral occurrences. Select historic rock sample assay results from massive barite, barite-sulfide, sulfide, and quartz-sulfide mineralization collected from Grand Bois mineral prospects contain up to 27 g/t gold, 627 g/t silver, 30.2% copper, 2.25% lead, and 23.9% zinc (Louca, 1989).
EMX Due Diligence Results. EMX due diligence work on the Grand Bois property included metallurgical test assays, as well as soil and rock sampling over the known mineralization and surrounding target areas. The preliminary metallurgical test assays were conducted on historic drill core pulps from 21 intervals, and yielded an average of 91% gold recovery using traditional oxide leach recovery technology. EMX’s results are consistent with metallurgical test data outlined in historic reports from the UNDP and KWG. EMX conducted a soil geochemical survey over the known mineralization and Rivage Ridge areas totaling 585 samples. The gold-in-soil anomalies (i.e., > 0.1 g/t Au) define a 1000 by 530 meter north to northwest trending zone over the known deposit footprint, with a higher grade zone (i.e., > 0.3 g/t Au) measuring 690 by 320 meters. There are two additional northwest trending gold-in-soil anomalies over Rivage Ridge, measuring 620 by 200 and 920 by 200 meters. EMX also collected 104 rock-chip samples from a three square kilometer area covering the Grand Bois deposit and surrounding areas. The results include 21 samples (20%) assaying greater than 1.0 g/t gold. Significant gold and trace element anomalies were also confirmed in the Trompette-Fondbele area, the Rivage Ridge area, and the southern Grand Bois polymetallic area. The five rock samples from Trompette-Fondbele all report anomalous gold, with values up to 19.85 g/t gold. Rivage Ridge extends 800 meters to the southwest of the deposit area, and EMX rock samples returned up to 0.94 g/t gold. The combination of the historic non-NI 43-101 compliant gold resource, the underlying intercepts of copper mineralization, and the gold and polymetallic occurrences to the south of the deposit further indicate the potential to expand the size of the gold, silver and copper mineralized system at Grand Bois.
Terms of Agreement. EMX, through its Haitian subsidiary Ayiti Gold Company S. A., purchased 100% interest in the Grand Bois property from SMC, subject to making the payments as outlined below under the Purchase Agreement (the “Agreement”) (all amounts are US dollars unless noted otherwise):
- EMX paid SMC $1,000,000 subject to certain deductions required to maintain the property in good standing.
- On the first anniversary of the Agreement, EMX has the option to pay SMC the equivalent of $1,000,000 as follows: $750,000 in cash or EMX stock and $250,000 in cash.
- Upon completion of a feasibility study, EMX has the option to pay SMC the equivalent of $3,000,000 in either EMX stock or cash, or any combination thereof.
- SMC retains a 20% net profits interest. EMX has the option at any time to purchase SMC’s net profits interest for $15,000,000.
Newmont Designated Project. The Agreement to acquire the Grand Bois property from SMC is subject to EMX’s Strategic Venture Agreement with Newmont (see Company news release dated April 28, 2008). Newmont has elected to include the Grand Bois property in a “Designated Project” venture, and work on the property will be governed by a Designated Projects Joint Venture Agreement. Newmont is responsible for all expenditures on the project until such time as it earns its interest.
Newmont can earn 65% interest in the Property by choosing to either (all amounts are US dollars unless noted otherwise):
- Fund 100% of the initial $10 million expenditures on the project within 6 years, or
- Complete a positive feasibility study on the property within the first six years.
Newmont has reimbursed EMX for the initial $1,000,000 payment to SMC (subject to deductions). EMX will be responsible to make the second $1,000,000 payment on the first anniversary of the Agreement. If Newmont continues to work towards its earn-in after the second anniversary of the Agreement, then Newmont will reimburse EMX for this second $1,000,000 payment. After Newmont earns 65% interest in the project, EMX has 120 days to elect one of three options: a) fund its proportionate share of expenditures for the program; b) let Newmont fund EMX’s share of expenditures to production in exchange for receiving an additional 5% interest in the project up to 70%; or c) convert its 35% interest to a 3.5% NSR royalty and receive annual $1,000,000 advance minimum royalty payments.
2009 Program. The Grand Bois property hosts a historic non-NI 43-101 compliant gold resource with potential for expansion and a possible copper-gold porphyry system at depth. EMX and Newmont plan an aggressive program of surface exploration and drilling to evaluate the district scale potential of the system and to test additional targets. The 2009 EMX / Newmont programs in Haiti, including the Regional Exploration program and the two Designated Projects, Grand Bois and La Miel, have a proposed combined budget in excess of $5,000,000 USD.
Comments on Sampling, Assaying, and QA/QC. EMX’s geochemical samples were collected in accordance with accepted industry standards and procedures. The samples were submitted to the ALS Chemex laboratories in Reno, Nevada (ISO 9001:2000 accredited) and Vancouver, Canada (ISO 17025 and ISO 9001:2000 accredited) for analysis: gold was analyzed by fire assay with an AAS finish, and multi-element analyses were determined by ICP MS/AAS techniques. EMX conducts routine QA/QC analysis on all assay results, including the systematic utilization of certified reference materials, blanks, field duplicates, and umpire laboratory check assays.
The Company’s Exploration Manager, Haiti, Keith A. Laskowski, MSc. is a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators, and has reviewed and verified the technical information contained in this news release.
EMX is exploring and investing in a first class mineral property and royalty portfolio in some of the most prospective, but under-explored mineral belts of the world.
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For further information contact:
David M. Cole President and Chief Executive Officer
Phone: (303) 979-6666
Email: dave@eurasianminerals.com
Website: www.eurasianminerals.com
Kim C. Casswell
Corporate Secretary
Phone: (604) 688-6390
Email: kcasswell@eurasianminerals.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statement:
Some of the statements in this news release contain forward-looking information that involves inherent risk and uncertainty affecting the business of Eurasian Minerals Inc. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.
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