coeur and palmarejo silver and gold file preli

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070905005470&newsLang=en

September 05, 2007 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
Coeur and Palmarejo Silver and Gold File Preliminary Assessment for Palmarejo Silver & Gold Project

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho & LONGUEUIL, Quebec--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation (NYSE:CDE) (TSX:CDM) (“Coeur”) and Palmarejo Silver and Gold Corporation (TSX-V:PJO) (“Palmarejo”) announced today that a preliminary assessment report has been filed on the Palmarejo Project located in Northern Mexico. The purpose of this report is to provide details of the scoping study completed by Coeur that assumes mining at the Palmarejo Project takes place by both open pit and underground mining methods.

Under this scenario, annual production at the Palmarejo Project is anticipated to begin initially by open pit mining methods in late 2008. During the initial five years of operations, production is expected to average approximately 10.4 million ounces of recovered silver and 115,000 ounces of recovered gold with average cash operating costs of negative $0.41 per ounce of silver after gold by-product credits.

The production and cost profiles highlighted above are based on the mining of the following mineral resources within the Palmarejo deposit area only:

Open Pit Contained Ounces
Tonnes Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Gold Silver
Measured + Indicated 4,503,000 1.63 213 236,607 30,782,587
Inferred 238,000 1.95 254 14,923 1,943,779

Underground

Measured + Indicated 5,360,000 3.06 239 527,524 41,255,251
Inferred 151,000 3.03 283 14,711 1,374,041


Assumed metals prices were $550 per ounce for gold and $10 per ounce for silver. Cut-off grades were 50 g/t Ag equivalent for open pit mineral resources and 106 g/t Ag equivalent for underground.

Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.


For comparison, the total current mineral resources at the Palmarejo Project, including the nearby Guadalupe and La Patria deposits, are as follows:

Contained Ounces
Tonnes Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) Gold Silver
Palmarejo (1)
Measured 5,400,000 2.22 200 384,000 34,600,000
Indicated 9,100,000 2.00 186 587,000 54,660,000
Subtotal 14,500,000 971,000 89,260,000

Inferred 4,000,000 1.31 138 169,000 17,930,000

Guadalupe (2)
Inferred 5,700,000 0.83 106 155,000 19,570,000

La Patria (3)
Inferred 3,600,000 1.49 35 171,000 4,030,000
(1) 0.8 g/t Au equivalent cut-off Source: Palmarejo Updated Resource Statement dated October 24, 2006.

(2) 0.8 g/t Au equivalent cut-off applied above 1,300 meter elevation and a 3 g/t Au equivalent cut-off applied below 1,300 meter elevation. Source: Palmarejo Initial Resource Statement for Guadalupe dated October 24, 2006.

(3) 0.8 g/t Au equivalent cut-off. Source: Palmarejo Initial Mineral Resource Statement for the La Patria Project dated January 16, 2007.


The study also confirms the earlier reported construction cost estimates of approximately $200 million to achieve commercial production at the Palmarejo Project, including pre-stripping, underground development, mining fleet, power line, ongoing permitting, owner’s costs and contingency.

A technical report describing the preliminary assessment is available under the Palmarejo profile on the Canadian Securities Administration website at www.sedar.com.

On May 3, 2007, Coeur, Bolnisi Gold NL, and Palmarejo announced that they entered into agreements, which were approved unanimously by their respective boards of directors, as well as a special committee of independent directors of the Palmarejo board of directors, to merge. Pursuant to the agreements, Coeur will acquire all of the shares of Bolnisi, and all the shares of Palmarejo not owned by Bolnisi, in a transaction valued at approximately US$1.1 billion. As previously reported, the companies expect the transaction to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year.

About Coeur d’Alene Mines

Coeur d’Alene Mines Corporation is one of the world’s leading primary silver producers and a growing gold producer. The company has mining interests in Alaska, Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Chile, Nevada, and Tanzania. In 2006, Coeur produced 12.8 million ounces of silver and 116,000 ounces of gold. Cash costs in 2006 were $3.33 per ounce of silver for 2006.

About Bolnisi

Bolnisi Gold NL is an Australia-based company engaged in mining and exploration for gold and minerals. The Company’s activities are all Mexican precious metals operations with an existing portfolio of projects, which include the Palmarejo Silver-Gold project (including Trogan), Chihuahua; the Yecora Gold-Silver project, Sonora, and the El Realito Gold-Silver project, Chihuahua.

About Palmarejo

Palmarejo Silver And Gold Corporation is a silver/gold exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "PJO". Palmarejo’s principal activity is to explore and develop gold and silver properties located in the Temoris District of Chihuahua, Mexico within the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range.