Aureus Mining Inc. UPDATE ON NEW LIBERTY OPERATIONS (7771C)

TIDMAUE

RNS Number : 7771C

Aureus Mining Inc.

20 October 2015

20 October 2015

Aureus Mining Inc.

TSX : AUE

AIM : AUE

UPDATE ON NEW LIBERTY OPERATIONS

Aureus Mining Inc., ("Aureus" or the "Company"), the TSX and AIM listed West African Gold Producer, reports that gold production at the New Liberty Gold Mine has temporarily stopped due to a mechanical failure within the secondary crusher.

Key Highlights

-- A mechanical failure has occurred within the secondary crusher, resulting in a temporary shutdown of the New Liberty process plant.

-- A mobile crusher has been sourced in country and it is currently being transported by road to New Liberty. It will be on site by 23 October allowing crushing and processing operations to re-commence as quickly as possible.

-- DRA Mineral Projects ("DRA") the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management contractor ("EPCM") and specialist technicians from the Original Equipment Manufacturer ("OEM"), have mobilized to site to assess the damage and repair the secondary crusher .

-- Following an initial assessment by the OEM, all key tools, spares and ancillary equipment are currently being expedited to site to allow the completion of the repair work. It is anticipated that all necessary repair work can be completed on site by the OEM by 31 October.

-- Mining operations are continuing as planned throughout the plant stoppage to increase ore stockpiles. The Company is also undertaking other additional preventative maintenance programmes across the process plant.

-- Since first gold sales began, the Company has made eight shipments of gold doré from New Liberty, resulting in sales of approximately 10,000 ounces of gold.

-- Following the repair of the secondary crusher the Company will continue to work towards declaring Commercial Production, and management expect that this will be achieved by year end.

Commenting on the mechanical failure David Reading, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aureus Mining, said:

"The team at Aureus has reacted quickly to the mechanical failure of the secondary crusher, which happened last week. Though this is a challenging development during what are the early stages of the ramp up of the New Liberty Gold Mine to Commercial Production, we believe that the installation of a temporary solution whilst the secondary crusher is being repaired will result in only a few days of lost gold production. I look forward to updating shareholders on the progress of this solution over the coming days."

Background to the Technical Issue

Early last week a mechanical failure occurred within the secondary crusher resulting in the temporary suspension of processing activities at the New Liberty process plant. The Company's operational team are working with DRA, the EPCM contractor, and specialist technicians from the secondary crusher's OEM, who have mobilized to site to assess the damage and repair the secondary crusher.

Following an initial assessment by the specialist OEM technician, all required key tools, spares and ancillary equipment have been sourced and are currently being expedited to New Liberty to allow the OEM to undertake the repair work. The OEM expects to complete this repair work and have the secondary crusher fully operational by 31 October.

To recommence production as quickly as possible, a mobile crusher, with a capacity of 200 tonnes per hour, has been sourced in country and is currently being transported by road from Yekepa to New Liberty to cover the intervening downtime period, and allow for crushing and stockpiling operations to continue whilst the secondary crusher is undergoing repair. It is anticipated that this temporary crusher will arrive at New Liberty by 23 October and be operational shortly afterwards. Following the repair of the secondary crusher, the mobile crusher will be retained for a period of time to provide additional flexibility during the continued ramp up of operations.

The Company believes that this temporary shutdown in processing activities will not severely impact production levels but may halt gold production for up to two weeks. During this time, the Company plans to continue with mining operations to increase its ore stockpiles. The Company is also taking the opportunity to undertake other additional preventative maintenance activities across the process plant that were scheduled to be undertaken later in 2015.

During the process of commissioning and ramping up the New Liberty process plant the Company has made eight shipments of gold doré from New Liberty, resulting in sales of approximately 10,000 ounces of gold. Following the repair of the secondary crusher, the Company will continue to work towards the achievement of Commercial Production, and although now delayed, management expects this will be achieved by year end.

The first repayment under the Company's debt facilities is not due until January 2016, and providing the plant now moves smoothly through the remaining commissioning phase to steady state design capacity, cash flow from operations in Q4 will be sufficient to meet this obligation.

A further update will be provided to shareholders in due course.

Contact Information

 
Aureus Mining Inc.             Buchanan 
 David Reading / Paul Thomson   Bobby Morse / Anna Michniewicz 
 Tel: [phone]       Tel: [phone] 
-----------------------------  ------------------------------- 
Numis Securities Limited       GMP Securities Europe 
 (Nominated Adviser and         LLP 
 Joint Broker)                  (Joint Broker) 
 John Prior / James Black       Richard Greenfield / 
 / Paul Gillam                  Alexandra Carse 
 Tel: [phone]       Tel: [phone] 
-----------------------------  ------------------------------- 
 

About Aureus Mining Inc.

The Company's assets include the New Liberty Gold Mine in Liberia (the "New Liberty Gold Mine," "New Liberty" or the "mine") which has an estimated proven and probable mineral reserve of 8.5 Mt with 924,000 ounces of gold grading 3.4 g/t and an estimated measured and indicated mineral resource of 9,796 Kt with 1,143,000 ounces of gold grading 3.63 g/t and an estimated inferred mineral resource of 5,730 Kt with 593,000 ounces of gold grading 3.2 g/t. A Definitive Feasibility Study ("DFS") has been completed, the first gold pour has taken place and work continues on commissioning the plant for full scale commercial production. The mine is expected to have an 8 year life and annual production of 119,000 ounces for the first 6 years of production. The foregoing mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates and additional information in connection therewith are set out in the Company's technical report dated March 25, 2015 and entitled "New Liberty Gold Project, Bea Mountain Mining Licence Southern Block, Liberia, West Africa, Definitive Project Plan."

The New Liberty Gold Mine is located within the Southern Block of the 100% owned Bea Mountain mining licence. This licence covers 478 km(2) and has a 25 year, renewable, mineral development agreement. The Bea Mountain mining license also hosts additional gold projects of Ndablama, Gondoja, Weaju and Leopard Rock which are the focus of exploration programs during 2015. Ndablama has an indicated mineral resource of 386,000 ounces of gold grading 1.6 g/t and inferred mineral resource of 515,000 ounces of gold grading 1.7g/t and Weaju has an inferred mineral resource of 178,000 ounces of gold grading 2.1 g/t. The Yambesei (759 km(2) ), Archaen West (112.6 km(2) ), Mabong (36.6 km(2) ) and Mafa West (15.6 km(2) ) licences will also be subject to preliminary reconnaissance geological work. The foregoing mineral resource estimates and additional information in connection therewith are set out in the Company's technical report dated December 1, 2014 and entitled "Ndablama and Weaju Gold Projects, Bea Mountain Mining Licence, Northern Block, Technical Report on Mineral Resources" ("Ndablama and Weaju Technical Report 2014").

The Company also has a gold exploration permit in Cameroon.

Qualified Persons

The Company's Qualified Person is David Reading, who holds a MSc in Economic Geology from University of Waterloo, Canada and is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. David Reading is the President and CEO of Aureus Mining Inc. and has reviewed and approves this press release.

Forward Looking Statements

Certain information in this news release relating to Aureus is forward-looking and related to anticipated events and strategies. When used in this context, words such as "will", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "intend", "target" and "expect" or similar words suggest future outcomes. Forward-looking information contained in this press release includes, but may not be limited to, statements or information relating to: the New Liberty Gold Project (including the quantity and quality of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates), the potential to upgrade inferred mineral resources, opportunities to optimize the New Liberty Gold Project, the ability of the Company to develop the New Liberty Gold Project into a mine and the proposed new plans relating thereto regarding operations and mine design, future gold production, and future cash flows, the expected mine life of the New Liberty Gold Project, progress in the fight against Ebola and the anticipated exploration and development activities of Aureus. By their nature, such statements are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations, including: risks normally incidental to exploration and development of mineral properties; the inability of the Company to obtain required financing when needed and/or on acceptable terms or at all; risks that the cost of implementing the new mine plan at the New Liberty Gold Project and the operating cash costs of the New liberty Gold Project exceed those estimated in the new mine plan; uncertainties in the interpretation of results from drilling and

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October 20, 2015 02:00 ET (06:00 GMT)