Pre-Feasibility Study Update - Alpala Project, Cascabel Concession, Ecuador

OTTAWA, April 08, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. (“Cornerstone” or “the Company”) (TSXV:CGP) (Frankfurt:GWN1) (Berlin:GWN1) (OTC:CTNXF) is pleased to announce the following update on the status of the Pre-feasibility Study (PFS) on the Alpala Project at its Cascabel copper-gold porphyry joint venture project in northern Ecuador (the “Project”) in which Cornerstone has a 15% interest¹ financed through to completion of a feasibility study plus 7.5% of the shares of joint venture partner and Project operator SolGold Plc, for a total direct and indirect interest in Cascabel of 21.4%.

The Alpala Project Team and the Project Committee, chaired by Interim CEO Keith Marshall, are making good progress studying potential Alpala mine plans while addressing a number of mine development and metallurgical enhancements as well as potential upsides, and are continuing to target the release of the PFS in late 2021.

The Alpala deposit comprises 2,663 Mt at 0.53% CuEq in the Measured plus Indicated categories and contained metal content of 9.9 Mt Cu, 21.7 Moz Au and 92.2 Moz Ag.² The deposit measures approximately 900m in height and 500m diameter. Given the size and geometry of the deposit, the Company is quite optimistic that the PFS will demonstrate that it is amenable to underground caving mining methods.

The Company is confident that this revised approach being studied from that which was previously considered is much more beneficial for Cornerstone and SolGold and will deliver significant shareholder value. SolGold is currently expanding its team of experienced technical staff, with the first, Ms. Lisa Park, Head of Metallurgy, having officially joined in recent days.

Key considerations that suggest the superiority of the revised approach currently being studied for the development of the Project include:

• much earlier access to the resource with shortest time to potential first production;
• a more selective mining approach, without sterilizing the remaining resource, reducing dilution without compromising metal extraction;
• optimal size and orientation of an underground footprint with the potential for two extraction levels to minimize dilution and upfront development Capex; and
• mining of higher head grades in the earlier years of potential production.

The Company is optimistic that the revised mine plan currently being studied as part of the PFS process could deliver similar metal production while mining significantly less material. This could result in potentially significant cost savings. The crushing, processing and waste storage requirements are also expected to be reduced accordingly as would, in this potential scenario, the upfront capex associated with these installations.