Castillian Announces Option/JV to Acquire Up to 65% Interest in the San Luis Nickel-Copper-PGM Properties, Argentina of Marifil Mines Ltd.
Thursday May 17, 8:00 am ET
biz.yahoo.com
TORONTO, ONTARIO--(CCNMatthews - May 17, 2007) - CASTILLIAN RESOURCES CORPORATION (TSX VENTURE:CT - News; "Castillian"), announces that, subject to regulatory approval, it has signed a second agreement with MARIFIL MINES LTD. (TSX VENTURE:MFM - News; "Marifil") whereby Castillian may earn up to a 65% interest in Marifil's "San Luis" belt located in the San Luis province of Argentina. This agreement allows Castillian to earn a controlling interest in the remainder of the prospective ground in this camp-scale belt and results in a significant increase in Castillian's land position from 3214 hectares to 57,787 hectares.
The San Luis property is a 54,573 hectare nickel-copper-PGM ("platinum group metals") property covering a belt of differentiated ultramafic and mafic rocks that are prospective for nickel-copper sulphide deposits with associated PGMs as demonstrated by the occurrence of the Las Aguilas deposit. The property is wholly-owned by Marifil, subject to an underlying 2% net smelter royalty on a portion of the property held by BHP Billiton (BHPB). (See Marifil News Release October 6, 2005.)
In 2006 Marifil signed a joint venture agreement with Maximus Resources, a private company, to develop the Las Aguilas Ni-Cu-Co-Pt deposit located near the south end of the ultramafic belt. Maximus subsequently vended its interest to Castillian Resources (see Castillian News Release March 6, 2007). This new agreement allows Castillian to earn an interest in the remainder of Marifil's holdings that were not part of the underlying Maximus agreement. With this agreement Castillian and Marifil control essentially all of the prospective mafic-ultramafic units along this 80 kilometer belt.
David Gower, P.Geo., Castillian's President and CEO said, "This agreement, coupled with the previously announced Las Aguilas agreement provides Castillian with access to a highly prospective and under-explored nickel-copper sulphide belt in an excellent mining jurisdiction with good access to infrastructure. The Project has a known resource that has potential to be expanded (see Castillian News Release March 6, 2007) and was previously not systematically evaluated for platinum group element potential, coupled with a number of additional targets that require drilling. In addition the area has not been surveyed by EM techniques that are most effective for detecting nickel sulphide deposits. Castillian expects to have completed the process of registering its Argentina subsidiary by May 22 and has already hired key personnel to operate the joint venture. We are very excited to embark on the drilling and regional exploration of this belt."
Danielle Giovenazzo (PhD, P.Geo.) has joined Castillian and will take responsibility for managing the Las Aguilas and San Luis projects. Dr. Giovenazzo is a nickel exploration specialist who brings more than 25 years of experience including most recently, 16 years with Falconbridge where she worked on nickel exploration projects and project generation mostly in Canada and was involved in discovery of new ore lenses at Raglan. She was also involved in projects located in Greenland, Australia, Namibia and Brazil. She completed her PhD on the Geochemistry and Metallogeny of the Kenty Lake Nickel-Copper sulphide deposit in 1991.
Under the terms of the Castillian agreement and following an exclusive Due Diligence period of up to 30 days (which has been completed), Castillian can earn a 50% interest in the property by spending US$3,000,000 in exploration and development over a four-year period and making certain payments to Marifil totaling US$ 600,000. Upon earning 50%, Castillian can make a further election to increase its ownership to 60% of the Property by spending an additional US$2,000,000 and providing a bankable feasibility study and making cash payments to Marifil of US$150,000 per year each year beginning on the fourth anniversary of the Agreement. Subsequent to earning a 60% interest, Castillian can increase its interest by a further 5% by arranging for the total amount of financing to bring the project to commercial production, such financing will be an obligation of the joint venture and will be subject to the parties agreeing to the terms of the financing, including all payback provisions, and by making cash payments of US$150,000 per year to Marifil for each year following Castillian having earned a 60% interest in the Property with those payments to Marifil continuing until such time as commercial production is declared on the Property and the capital costs of the project have been repaid in full.
The Agreement is subject to a number of conditions and regulatory approval.
This press release has been reviewed and approved by David Gower, P.Geo., President and CEO of Castillian Resources Corporation. Mr. Gower is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
Joel Hrominchuk, MSc, P.Geo., Exploration Manager for Castillian has reviewed the project, including an on-site review and has verified the technical information included in this release. Mr. Hrominchuk is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
About Castillian Resources
Castillian Resources Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "CT" with approximately 82.7 million shares issued and outstanding. Castillian is partnered with Xstrata Nickel to explore the approximately 155,000 ha Mangabal nickel-copper project in Brazil. The company is earning an interest in the Las Aguilas Nickel-Copper-PGM Project in Argentina and has the right to purchase a 100% interest in the Kagera Project which comprises over 1,600 square kilometers in the highly mineralized Kabanga Nickel Belt in Tanzania and rights to acquire 100% of the Pederson deposit, an advanced gold exploration project in Bolivia which is currently under force majeure.
Statements in this release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Readers are cautioned that such statements are not guarantees of future performance and that actual developments or results may vary materially from those in these "forward-looking statements".
To view a map of Location of the San Luis and Las Aguilas Properties, please click on the following link: ccnmatthews.com
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contact:
David Gower
Castillian Resources Corp.
President & CEO
(416) 861-5902
Email: info@castillian.ca
Website: www.castillian.ca
Source: Castillian Resources Corp. |
