Cerro Maricunga M&I Oxide Resources Increases

TORONTO, ON - Atacama Pacific Gold Corporation reported updated pit constrained oxide-associated resource estimate for its Cerro Maricunga gold deposit located in northern Chile, 117 kilometers northeast of Copiapo.

Undiluted measured and indicated (M&I) resources increased by 1.01 million ounces to 3.470 million ounces of gold in 248.8 million tones grading 0.43 grams per tone gold (g/t Au) with a further 43,000 ounces of gold in 3.1 million tonnes grading 0.43 g/t Au in the inferred category. The gain in M&I resources is largely due to the conversion of inferred resources to the M&I category as a result of the 25,457-metre Phase IV infill drilling program completed in 2013.

The current resource estimate was confined within a Whittle pit shell modeled at a gold price of US$1,200 per ounce whereas the previous resource was modeled at a US$1,400 per ounce gold price. A cut-off grade of 0.18 g/t Au was used to estimate the current resource.

"With the 1.01 million ounce increase in M&I gold resources, we surpassed our goal of converting 750,000 inferred ounces of gold from our previous estimate to the current M&I category and underlined the remarkable consistency of the oxide gold mineralization at Cerro Maricunga," said Carl Hansen, President and CEO of Atacama. "Over a period of three years, we have aggressively advanced Cerro Maricunga from a grassroots discovery to one of the largest undeveloped oxide gold deposits in the world with 3.470 million ounces of gold outlined to date. With the majority of the resources now in the M&I category, the updated estimate will form the foundation of a prefeasibility study, the next stage in the development of Cerro Maricunga, which is anticipated to be completed during the second quarter 2014."

The Cerro Maricunga resource is largely located within three gold zones, the Lynx, Phoenix and Crux zones, which outcrop on surface. A small portion of the M&I resource (8,000 ounces of gold in 1.1 million tonnes grading 0.23 g/t Au) lies outside the confines of the three zones but within the pit boundaries and is classified as Other In-Pit. While the strike extent of the three main zones has been defined by drilling, the full potential of the Cerro Maricunga volcanic complex has not been fully tested. The oxide-associated gold mineralization has been drilled to depths in excess of 600 meters and remains open to depth.