Farellon Mine New Production Area Has Been Established

EDMONTON - Altiplano Metals Inc. reported that a new production area has been established at the 326 m mining level at the Farellon copper-gold mine located near La Serena, Chile. Access to the 326 m level is part of the ongoing underground development of the Hugo Decline, used to access and extract copper-gold and iron material from Farellon.

Intersection of the 326 m mining level has been achieved through the advance of the Hugo Tunnel. This new level will provide opportunity to develop two new mining areas in the NE and SW directions where mining on the iron oxide copper gold vein structure has begun in these sub drift areas. This new access point will also provide opportunity mine the floors and roofs above on the 336 m and 344 m levels as part of the ongoing mining plan.

Production on the 336 m level to date has produced copper grades on average of approximately 1.86% and 2.44% specifically in the NE direction. Previous drill hole intercepts and observation of the geology in the 326 m level suggests similar high-grade copper mineralization could persist on this level. The high-grade material produced on the 326 m level will be used to blend with lower Cu grade/high iron grade to the southwest using existing underground infrastructure to increase production amounts to 5,000 tonnes per month to supply the processing facility at El Peñón over the next months. This will provide the optimum processing grades for recovery of copper/gold and iron in concentrates from the plant.

CEO, Alastair McIntyre said, "Access to the new 326 m production level provides the opportunity to mine additional mineralized zones and continues with our on-going development at Farellon. We are also very encouraged to observe increased copper grades as we develop lower levels of the mine. These increased grades combined with additional working faces improve our productivity and grade control."