Abacus Provides Review of Ajax

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 22, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Abacus Mining & Exploration Corporation (“Abacus” or the “Company”) (TSXV: AME) wishes to provide a review of the Ajax copper-gold project, located near Kamloops, British Columbia.

Abacus holds a 20% ownership interest in Ajax, which is managed by base metal major KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., who hold the remaining 80%. Ajax was mined in the late 1980’s by Teck as part of their Afton operation. Abacus acquired the Ajax project from Teck and advanced it until 2010, when KGHM was brought onboard. The old Afton Mine site just west of Ajax was put back into production in 2012 by New Gold as the New Afton Mine.

The Ajax Project contains significant remaining quantities of copper and gold, within a NI 43-101 Proven and Probable Mineral Reserve of 426 Mt at 0.29% Cu, 0.19 g/t Au and 0.39 g/t Ag. Contained metal is in the order of 2.7 Bil lbs Cu, 2.6 Moz Au and 5.3 Moz Ag *

Ajax last underwent a Feasibility Study in 2016 **, where the project at that time was designed to mine 65,000 tonnes per day over an 18-year mine life. The mine would provide significant employment during both construction and operation and substantial tax revenues would accrue to all levels of government. It should be noted that the 2016 Feasibility Study used metal prices of US$3.21/lb Cu, US$1200/oz. Au, and US$17/oz. Ag, which are significantly lower than current prices.

The Ajax Project underwent a joint provincial and federal environmental review starting in 2011, which culminated in the decision by the B.C. Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and the Minister of Energy, Mines and Petroleum Resources to decline to issue an environmental assessment certificate for the Project in December of 2017.

Since then, KGHM in consultation with Abacus has worked to evaluate possibilities for further project development, taking into account relations with all project stakeholders. KGHM opened a new Kamloops office for the Ajax project late last year following the appointment last September of a new Ajax Superintendent.

The Company also has additional copper properties of merit in Nevada that are wholly managed by Abacus. The Willow and adjacent Nev-Lorraine copper-molybdenum properties are in the Yerington copper camp, southeast of Reno. Drilling by the Company in 2018 intersected a key intrusive rock unit on Willow that hosts all known porphyry Cu-Mo deposits at Yerington. This rock unit was not previously known to exist on the Company’s property, and it represents a significant new discovery. The target is large and robust, it remains essentially untested, and further drilling appears to be warranted.