SPOKANE, Wash., Aug. 17, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- A planned exploration program is scheduled to begin at the San Jose gold/silver project in Santa Cruz province, southern Argentina. San Jose is jointly owned by Minera Andes (TSX Venture Exchange:MAI) (OTCBB:MNEAF) (49%) and Mauricio Hochschild & Cia. Ltda., ("MHC") of Lima, Peru (51%).
This exploration program is scheduled to start in September 2003 and end in November of 2004. The program consists of geophysical surveys, surface sampling and drilling on targets at the San Jose project, other than the Huevos Verdes development area. This program is budgeted to cost approximately US$2.0 million and is part of a larger US$12.2 million program underway that includes underground construction/development and a pilot plant.
Exploration on the targets outside of Huevos Verdes at San Jose will begin with research and reinterpretation of existing data. In addition to a large 220-line kilometer geophysical program, a surveying and sampling program with at least 4,000 rock samples is also planned. At least four additional employees, including two geologists, will be hired. Other work will include at least 20 kilometers (about 12.4 miles) of road construction to the Aguas Vivas target area. Further work includes about 10 km (about 6.2 miles) of road and drill pad construction at other targets within San Jose followed by a 7,000 meter drilling program planned to start in March 2004.
The planned geophysical surveys will provide continuous coverage over all the major target areas at San Jose and builds on the blind drill discovery at Huevos Verdes East (where the best intercept contained 1.57 opt (53.75 g/t) gold and 50 opt (1,711.6 g/t) silver over 1.04 meters), which was drilled on a previously identified geophysical target. These surveys will give the joint venture a more complete geophysical understanding of anomalies beneath the cover of post mineral basalt that largely covers the San Jose area.
Allen Ambrose, President of Minera Andes said: "We are most excited by this program. It demonstrates MHC's confidence in building on the recent additional discovery at Aguas Vivas and we anticipate it will provide further information to determine how best to bring the project to production. The production decision is presently anticipated in late 2004 and we remain optimistic that the recent buoyant precious metal prices, combined with Argentina's improving economic situation, will enable the project to be financed through conventional commercial bank debt financing. This will minimize the need for recourse to the equity markets and maximize the return to our loyal shareholders."
The exploration program was reviewed by Brian Gavin, Minera Andes' vice president, exploration, who is an appropriately qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
Minera Andes is a mining exploration corporation that is involved with approximately 10 projects on about 198,000 hectares (489,000 acres) of mineral exploration land in Argentina. The properties primarily contain gold, silver and copper mineralization targets. The Corporation is presently pursuing the further development of its co-owned gold/silver discovery property in Santa Cruz province, and is prospecting in other Argentine provinces. The Corporation presently has 37,475,864 issued and outstanding shares.
For further information, please contact: Art Johnson at the Spokane office, or Krister A. Kottmeier, investor relations -- Canada, at the Vancouver office. Visit our Web site: www.minandes.com.
Spokane Office 3303 N. Sullivan Road Spokane, WA 99216 USA Phone: (509) 921-7322 E-mail: mineraandes@minandes.com
Vancouver Office 1000-355 Burrard Street Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2G8 Phone: (604) 689-7017; 877-689-7018 E-mail: ircanada@minandes.com
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. In addition, Minera Andes' joint venture partner, Mauricio Hochschild & Cia. Ltda., does not accept responsibility for the use of project data or in the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
CAUTIONARY NOTE TO U.S. INVESTORS CONCERNING ESTIMATES OF INFERRED RESOURCES:
This news release uses the term "Inferred Resources." We advise U.S. investors that while this term is recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the SEC does not recognize it. "Inferred Resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an "Inferred Resource" will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules estimates of "Inferred Resources" may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. U.S. INVESTORS ARE CAUTIONED NOT TO ASSUME THAT PART OR ALL OF AN "INFERRED RESOURCE" EXISTS, OR IS ECONOMICALLY OR LEGALLY MINABLE.
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