Wednesday September 22, 8:32 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Apex Silver Mines Limited
Newmont Signs Agreement to Explore Apex Silver Mines' Jamgyr Property
DENVER, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Apex Silver Mines Limited (Amex: SIL - news) is pleased to announce that its Asian subsidiary, Apex Asia LDC (``Apex Asia'), has signed a memorandum of understanding on its 611 square-kilometer (approximately 151,000 acres) Jamgyr gold prospect with Newmont Overseas Exploration Limited (``Newmont'), an exploration subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM - news). Apex Asia controls a 79 percent interest in Jamgyr through its ownership interest in Kumushtak, a joint stock company held with the North Krygyz Geological Expedition.
The Jamgyr property is located in the western Tien Shan Mountains of Kyrgystan, approximately 300 kilometers west-southwest from the capital city of Bishkek. Based on surface sampling and trenching, the 11-acre Chaarat zone, located in the southern portion of Jamgyr, shows anomalous gold values ranging up to 14 ppm. Chaarat exhibits structural and stratigraphic geology similar to the Kumtor mine located 525 kilometers east of the property. Kumtor, a joint venture between Cameco Corporation (33%) and a government entity Kyrgyzaltyn (67%), produced 645,000 ounces of gold in 1998. In addition to the Chaarat zone, reconnaissance sampling of outcrops elsewhere on the Jamgyr property indicates the presence of other gold anomalies.
Under terms of the memorandum of understanding, Newmont can earn a 70 percent interest in Jamgyr by spending $5.0 million on exploration over the next 7 years. If exploration is successful, Apex Asia through Kumushtak and Newmont will form a new company with Kumushtak retaining a 30 percent interest.
In addition to Jamgyr, Apex Asia also holds a 79 percent interest, again through the Kumushtak joint stock company, in 1,247 square kilometers (approximately 308,000 acres) of exploration concessions surrounding the historic Kumushtak silver mining district.
Keith Hulley, Apex Silver Mines Corporation's President and Chief Operating Officer, stated today that, ``We are pleased to be embarking on this new relationship with Newmont, a company which is particularly well-suited to explore the Jamgyr gold district. Moreover, signing a memorandum of understanding with Newmont on the Jamgyr gold prospect reinforces our Company's primary focus on silver. This agreement represents another step towards unlocking the inherent value of our large, diversified property portfolio. With nearly 100 properties worldwide, we are strongly committed through our own exploration efforts, as well as through other exploration agreements, to maximize the value of our portfolio for the benefit of all our shareholders.'
Apex Silver Mines Limited, a mining company with its primary focus on silver, has discovered the world's largest open pit silver deposit at its wholly-owned San Cristobal Project in the Potosi Department of southern Bolivia. In addition to San Cristobal, Apex's portfolio of silver properties covers approximately three million acres primarily located in the traditional silver-producing regions of Central and South America. Exploration efforts continue to yield promising results at promising new exploration projects like Platosa in northern Mexico.
SOURCE: Apex Silver Mines Limited |
