Asiamet Resources Limited Further Re [Preliminary Economic Assessment]

 
TIDMARS 
 
 
   BKM Copper Deposit Preliminary Economic Assessment Update 
 
   VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 02, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Asiamet 
Resources Limited ("ARS" or the "Company") is pleased to advise that a 
Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on the Beruang Kanan Main 
("BKM") deposit within the Company's 100% owned KSK Contract of Work in 
Kalimantan, Indonesia, is advancing well in line with plan and budget. 
The independent PEA is expected to be delivered at the end of the first 
quarter this year. 
 
   The PEA is a conceptual study evaluating the potential economic 
viability of developing an open pit mine and heap leach SX-EW processing 
facility to treat near surface copper resources delineated in the 2015 
BKM Resource estimate (ARS Announcement October 21, 2015). ARS estimates 
that approximately 25% of global copper supply is produced using the 
heap leach, solvent extraction and electro-winning ("SX-EW") process and 
the opportunity for ARS to assess the application of this proven 
technology to produce copper metal at the BKM site is expected to 
greatly enhance the attractiveness of the project. 
 
   Significant progress is being made across all of the PEA inputs with 
positive results reporting from each of the study areas in line with the 
Company's expectations. Progress for each of the PEA component study 
areas is summarized as follows: 
 
 
   -- Metallurgy and Resources - Recent studies have significantly advanced the 
      metallurgical understanding of the deposit. Sequential copper assaying 
      was completed on 1,918 drill samples to characterize the distribution of 
      leachable copper mineralization within the preliminary open pit design. 
      The metallurgical testing program comprises both acid only and 
      bacterially assisted acid bottle rolls, and short acid column tests. The 
      test work program is being undertaken in Core Resources laboratory in 
      Brisbane, and the extended leaching tests are providing encouraging 
      results from both the acid only and bacterial assisted methods. High 
      short term (55 day) recoveries of +70% have been obtained from the acid 
      only leaching. Bacterial leach tests are continuing with recoveries to 
      date consistent with expectations given copper head grade and leach 
      residence time. Leach tests are showing mild acid production in the 
      latter part of the leach, a factor which should help reduce the amount of 
      acid required in the heap leach process and have a positive impact on 
      operating costs. 
 
   -- Process Plan Design - An initial process plant design concept using a 
      partial valley fill and multiple lift heap leach configuration is 
      considered to be suitable for the BKM site, supported by the local 
      topography and competent nature of the mineralized rocks. This 
      configuration will enable the construction of leach pads closer to the 
      mining operation and help reduce haulage costs. Copper rich solution 
      ("PLS") will be collected at the base of the heap into process ponds. 
      Both the leach pads and the ponds will be lined to contain all solutions 
      as part of the environmental management plan. The PLS will be pumped to a 
      solvent extraction plant ("SX") for removal of the copper.  From the SX 
      plant the purified and concentrated solution is pumped to the 
      electro-winning ("EW") plant where copper is extracted from solution and 
      plated onto stainless steel sheets using electric current. Copper product 
      from the process is targeted to be London Metals Exchange ("LME") grade A 
      with a copper content of 99.999%. Target markets will include 
      manufacturers within Indonesia and/or nearby South-East Asia. 
 
   -- Mine Engineering - Two open pit mine shells are being engineered by 
      Orelogy to assess the optimum pit wall slopes, shapes and depths, mining 
      equipment type and sizing, and the sequencing of waste and ore mining to 
      meet the requirements of the site civil works development and copper 
      leach pad construction and operations. This work is critical to ensuring 
      optimum and timely development of the mining operations to maximize 
      mining of ore and minimize waste removal while retaining geotechnical 
      stability, all of which have a significant impact on the operating costs. 
      The availability of experienced local Indonesian mining contractors, 
      anticipated low waste to ore stripping ratio's and the short transport 
      distances from mine to leach pads is expected to result in low mine 
      operating costs. 
 
   -- Project infrastructure options covering roads, power, water, mine and 
      process plant infrastructure, accommodation, site utilities and services 
      are all being evaluated and costed with various service providers for 
      feeding into the capital and operating cost estimates. Power is a 
      material cost item for mining operations, and opportunities for low cost 
      small scale hydropower near the BKM site are being evaluated by SMEC, a 
      leading provider of hydropower solutions globally. 
 
   -- Transport and logistics options for the delivery of plant and equipment 
      to the site, ongoing servicing of the mine operations and the 
      distribution of the copper end product are being evaluated and costed by 
      Resindo, an Indonesian company with expertise in bulk materials handling. 
      Options being assessed include road and river barge, both of which are in 
      place and extensively used by the forestry and coal industries for 
      product and supplies movement. Large truck fleets currently utilize the 
      all-weather access roads into the BKM area for logging and a number of 
      river barge ports are currently operational within easy access of the 
      site. 
 
   -- Cost estimates and timelines for the mine and plant development together 
      with the operating cost data are progressively being delivered and fed 
      into the financial model for the project as they become available. This 
      financial analysis will assess the potential economic viability of the 
      project based on the BKM Mineral Resource and provide a range of 
      financial outputs based on standard industry practice for PEA level 
      studies. Assuming a positive outcome from this work a conceptual 
      development plan and scope of work for a feasibility study will be 
      developed. 
 
 
   Asiamet Resources CEO Tony Manini commented 
 
   "This initial phase of project design, engineering and 
economic-financial evaluation of the BKM project represents the most 
important milestone in the life of the company to date and the highly 
experienced Asiamet team together with its expert consultants are 
completing a range of detailed studies aimed at delivering a high 
quality PEA to time and budget. The combination of a good grade, heap 
leachable, low stripping ratio copper deposit in a low cost operating 
environment like Indonesia is highly compelling, and while we still have 
studies to complete, results to date indicate that the Company has good 
reason to be optimistic on the PEA outcomes. Success in developing BKM 
to its full capacity will provide the platform for Asiamet to continue 
growing its copper and gold production base via the large Beutong 
copper-gold project and further exploration of its highly prospective 
land holdings, the key foundation assets upon we are striving to build a 
leading Asian copper and gold company." 
 
   Qualified Person 
 
   Data disclosed in this press release have been reviewed and verified by 
ARS's qualified person, Stephen Hughes, P. Geo, Vice President 
Exploration of the Company and a Qualified Person within the meaning of 
NI 43-101 and for the purposes of the AIM Rules. 
 
   ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS 
 
   Tony Manini, Deputy Chairman and CEO 
 
   For further information please contact: 
 
   Tony Manini 
 
   Deputy Chairman and CEO, Asiamet Resources Limited 
 
   Telephone: [phone] 
 
   Email: [e-mail] 
 
   FlowComms Limited 
 
   Sasha Sethi/ Mehrdad Yousefi 
 
   Telephone: [phone] 
 
   Email: [e-mail] / [e-mail] 
 
 
 
   Asiamet Resources Nominated Adviser 
 
   RFC Ambrian Limited 
 
   Andrew Thomson / Oliver Morse 
 
   Telephone: [phone] 
 
   Email: [e-mail] / [e-mail] 
 
   VSA Capital Limited 
 
   Andrew Raca / Justin McKeegan 
 
   Telephone: [phone] 
 
   Email: [e-mail] 
 
   Optiva Securities Limited 
 
   Christian Dennis 
 
   Telephone: [phone] 
 
   Email: [e-mail] 
 
   Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider 
(as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) 
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. 
 
   This news release contains forward-looking statements that are based on 
the Company's current expectations and estimates. Forward-looking 
statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", 
"expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", 
"suggest", "indicate" and other similar words or statements that certain 
events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Such forward-looking 
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other 
factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially 
from estimated or anticipated events or results implied or expressed in 
such forward-looking statements.   Such factors include, among others: 
the actual results of current exploration activities; conclusions of 
economic evaluations; changes in project parameters as plans continue to 
be refined; possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates; 
accidents, labour disputes and other risks of the mining industry; 
delays in obtaining governmental approvals or financing; and 
fluctuations in metal prices.  There may be other factors that cause 

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March 02, 2016 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)

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