Sterling Mining 43-101 technical report on the Sunshine mine
Monday
,
24 Sep 2007
Wallace, Idaho --
September 24, 2007 -- (Marketwire) -- Sterling Mining Company (OTCBB: SRLM)
(Frankfurt Stock Exchange: SMX) (the "Company") is pleased to release
a summary of the final results of a report entitled "Technical Report on
the Sunshine Mine, Big Creek, Idaho, U.S.A." as prepared for the Company
by Behre Dolbear & Company, Inc. (the "43-101 Report"). The
43-101 Report reported on the Company's re-opening of the Sunshine Mine to
return the mine to production.
The full text of the 43-101 Report may be found on the Company's website at
www.sterlingmining.com,
or at
www.sedar.com by
following the link to the filings of the Company in Canada.
Raymond De Motte, President stated "The 43-101 Report was part of our
regulatory process in becoming conditionally approved for listing on the TSX;
it validates our work and the merits of our property, and our return to
production plan at the Sunshine Mine."
Background to the 43-101 Report
The 43-101 Report was prepared in compliance with National Instrument 43-101
("NI 43-101") of the Canadian Securities Administrators entitled
"Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects". This report is in
conjunction with the Company's application to list its common shares on the
Toronto Stock Exchange. The Company has received conditional approval (see
press release dated August 2, 2007), and the finalization of a non-offering
prospectus with the Ontario Securities Commission, which was required as a part
of the Company's January, 2007 private placement financing so as to allow the
Company to become a reporting issuer in Ontario (see press release dated
January 19, 2007). A receipt for that final prospectus was issued by the
Ontario Securities Commission on August 10, 2007.
Mineral Resource/Reserve Estimation
The Sunshine Mine resource estimates, as set out in the table below, are mainly
based on historical drilling and from data compiled by the Company. The
historical resource estimates were used by Behre Dolbear in an October 2006
feasibility study to estimate the mineral reserves; subsequent to that
estimation a further resource estimation based on historical data was made on
February 2007 by Dr. Warren Geiger P.Eng. The historical data, on which the
current estimates have been made, is well documented but has not been
completely verified, so readers are duly cautioned that these historical data
based estimates cannot be fully relied on.
The estimated Sunshine Mine resources are stated in the table below.
Sunshine Mine Mineral Resources
Source Block Count Tons Ag. Grade(opt) Ag. Ounces
Measured 43 276,975 24.1 6,664,217
Indicated 297 1,151,438 21.3 24,490,138
Total 340 1,428,413 21.8 31,154,355
Based on the above, Behre Dolbear reported, based on their feasibility
analysis, that there are Proven and Probable reserves present at the property.
The contained ounces in these reserves include a 15% mine recovery loss
deduction and are stated in the table below.
Sunshine Mine Reserves
Reserve Category Short Tons Grade oz/t Ag Ounces
Proven 1,049,396 22.1 23,237,689
Probable 11,577 21.5 249,009
Total 1,060,973 22.1 23,486,698
Inferred Resources
Sterling has also identified locations within the mine plan that have resource
potential from drilling or mining data to support estimates of tons and grade,
but have less geologic confidence than the measured and indicated mineral
resources. This material is identified as an inferred mineral resource, moving
from greater to lower reliability.
Sterling has evaluated the data in the mine's veins and has defined mineralized
blocks with estimated tons and potential ounces of silver. The volume is
calculated for these projections and tonnage is calculated using a vein tonnage
factor of 8.3. Ounces are derived by using an estimated mean vein grade of the
log normal distribution for a given vein.
These inferred resources are shown in the table below. These figures include
only the estimated tonnage and grade of the vein material, unlike the measured
and indicated resources above, which include in their estimation the dilution
and mining loss that will be produced from the appropriate stoping method. As
the vein material estimates do not include dilution or mining loss, the result is
the apparently high resource grade.
Sunshine Mine Inferred Resources
Vein Tons Grade oz/t Ounces
Sunshine 216,729.3 75.0 16,254,699
Syndicate 489,347.5 110.1 53,879,768
Chester 512,277.4 98.1 50,238,073
Yankee Girl 893,072.1 105.7 94,403,708
Copper 167,520.7 100.0 16,752,065
Totals 2,278,947.1 101.6 231,528,312
Project Economics
The 43-101 Report also details economics of the Sunshine Mine, based only a 7
year mine plan that fully mines all of the Proven and Probable reserve as
stated above. NI 43-101 prohibits disclosing an economic analysis that includes
Inferred Resources, which may be accessed s noted above.
Cautionary Notes
(1) Cautionary note to US investors concerning estimates of Measured, Indicated
and Inferred Resources. US investors are advised that use of the terms
"Measured Resource", "Indicated Resource. and "Inferred
Resource" are recognized and required by Canadian Securities regulations.
These terms are not recognized by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of mineral
deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves.
(2) Resources, unlike reserves, do not have demonstrated economic viability.
Mineral resources are subject to infill drilling, permitting, mine planning,
mining dilution, metallurgy and recovery environmental, economic and other
relevant factors in order to be converted into mineral reserves. Due to the
uncertainty which may attach to mineral resources, it cannot be assumed that all
or part of a Resource will be upgraded to a Reserve when subject to a
Feasibility Study.
(3) Inferred Resources are based on limited sampling and unverified geological
and grade continuity and unlike reserves, do not have demonstrated economic
viability. Due to the uncertainty which may attach to Inferred mineral
resources, it cannot be assumed that all or part of an Inferred Resource will
be upgraded to Indicated or Measured Resources with continued exploration.
About Sterling Mining Company
Sterling Mining controls the Sunshine Mine, currently forecasted to begin
production in December 2007, and related exploration lands in the prolific
Silver Valley of northern Idaho. The Company also holds several silver
properties in Mexico, including the Barones Tailings Project in the Zacatecas
Silver District. Shares of Sterling Mining Company trade on the OTC Bulletin
Board under the symbol "SRLM" and also on the Frankfurt Stock
Exchange under the trading symbol "SMX".
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, visit the Company's website at
www.SterlingMining.com
or contact:
Sterling Mining Company
www.SterlingMining.com
Raymond De Motte, President
or
Monique Hayes, Marketing/Communications
Tel: (208) 699-6097
CHF Investor Relations
www.chfir.com
Cathy Hume, CEO
Tel: (416) 868-1079 x231
cathy@chfir.com
To receive Sterling news via email, please email
julia@chfir.com and
specify "SRLM news" in the subject line.
Cautionary Language and Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain "forward-looking statements",
which are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied
by such statements. Investors are cautioned that such statements are not
guarantees of future performance and results. Risks and uncertainties about the
Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure
documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities authorities
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation
to buy securities, and contains forward-looking statements regarding the
Company within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E
of the Exchange Act. These statements are based on assumptions that the Company
believes are reasonable but that are subject to uncertainties and business
risks. Actual results relating to any and all of these subjects may differ
materially from expected results. Along with additional underground
rehabilitation and restoration of site facilities, the timetable for the
continuing work program anticipates production beginning in December 2007. If
we are able to stay on schedule with the mine work and obtain the funding,
equipment, and qualified operations personnel as needed for the work program,
we believe production by December is doable. Factors that could cause results
to differ materially include economic and political events, the ability to
raise capital in the financial markets, and other factors discussed in the
Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006
and subsequent 10-Q and 8-K filings.
http://www.sterlingmining.com