SPOKANE, Wash., Feb. 16, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Minera Andes Inc. (TSX Venture Exchange:MAI) (OTCBB:MNEAF) is pleased to announce the high-grade Huevos Verdes/San Jose resource base is being expanded by the addition of the nearby Huevos Verdes East (HVE) high-grade trend. HVE is presently part of an extensive exploration program with four drilling rigs now on the San Jose property. At HVE, at least 11,000 meters (about 35,000 feet) in 38 drill holes are designed to expand the San Jose project's reserve/resource base for inclusion in the feasibility study.
Huevos Verdes East, a blind discovery made using geophysics, is a parallel silver/gold vein trend about 2 kilometers northeast of the high-grade Huevos Verdes vein trend where advanced exploration and construction is in progress for a mid 2005 feasibility study completion. Minera Andes' joint venture partner, Mauricio Hochschild & Cia. Ltda., of Lima, Peru, is the operating partner and owns 51 percent of the project.
Allen V. Ambrose, president of Minera Andes said, "The addition of Huevos Verdes East to the current project represents a potentially significant expansion to Minera Andes' co-owned San Jose project of southern Argentina. If the current drilling program at HVE is successful, the project's size will expand with the potential for a second mine."
The decision to include reserve definition within the HVE trend in the current project schedule means the potential exists for development of two mines within the current feasibility study rather than just one as originally envisioned. The feasibility study is now scheduled for completion in mid 2005.
Huevos Verdes East Geology
Huevos Verdes East and Huevos Verdes vein trends both host high-grade silver/gold mineralization in low sulfidation, epithermal, quartz veins. Outlined mineralization in both vein trends is still open to expansion both to depth and along trend. As currently known, the HVE target is longer (6-kilometers or about 4 miles) than Huevos Verdes, (5-kilometers or about 3 miles), and has yielded higher-grade silver/gold mineralization in its two previous drill programs. Only about 5% of Huevos Verdes East's target length has been drill-tested to date.
Drill Progress to Date
Drill programs in 2003 and 2004 confirmed that Huevos Verdes East has the potential to expand the project's overall reserve base. In previous drilling at HVE, 90% of the holes intersected silver/gold mineralization, compared to 60% for Huevos Verdes.
In 2003, the best intercept of three holes averages 1.57 ounces-per-ton (opt) or 53.75 grams-per-ton (g/t) gold and 50 opt silver (1,711.6 g/t) over 1.04 meters. This intercept is part of a larger 12.5 meter (41 feet) interval with multiple zones of high-grade silver/gold mineralization.
In the 2004 seven-hole program, in-fill and step-out drilling from the 2003 discovery holes located multiple zones of high-grade silver/gold. The highest grade intersection was a 0.5 meter interval of 63 g/t gold (2.05 opt) and 1,690 g/t silver (54 opt). Five of six holes that reached target depth in 2004 encountered silver/gold mineralization. Silver/gold mineralization has been identified over 300 meters laterally and 130 meters vertically to date in the tested section of the HVE trend.
All results have been reviewed by Brian Gavin, Minera Andes' vice president of exploration and an appropriately qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
Minera Andes is a gold, silver and copper exploration company working in Argentina. The corporation is funded with working capital of about US$1.5 million and a pending credit facility of up to US$2 million for feasibility study completion and underground construction at its advanced-stage silver/gold project in Santa Cruz province. Minera Andes holds about 500,000 acres of mineral exploration land in Argentina, including the co-owned Huevos Verdes/San Jose silver/gold project now under construction and feasibility consideration for possible mine production. Minera Andes has also discovered an enriched copper zone at its Los Azules property and is acquiring other exploration targets in southern Argentina. The Corporation presently has 71,674,306 issued and outstanding shares.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT -- Although Minera Andes believes many of its properties have promising potential, its properties are in the early stages of exploration. None have yet been shown to contain proven or probable mineral reserves. There can be no assurance that such reserves will be identified on any property, or that, if identified, mineralization may be economically extracted. There can be no assurance that the San Jose/Huevos Verdes gold/silver project will be found to be economically feasible or that a mine will be successfully constructed. In addition, Minera Andes' joint venture partner, Mauricio Hochschild & Cia. Ltda., does not accept responsibility for the use of project data or the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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