Apogee Diversifies Into Chile With Acquisition of the Cachinal Silver Property

Apogee Minerals Ltd. has reached an agreement with Valencia Ventures Ltd. whereby Apogee will have the option to purchase up to 100 per cent of Valencia’s interest in the Cachinal silver property located in northern Chile. Under the terms of the agreement, Apogee will initially purchase 75 per cent of Valencia’s interest in the Cachinal property by paying Valencia $200,000 in cash and issuing to Valencia three million units. Each unit will consist of one common share of Apogee and one common share purchase warrant entitling the holder thereof to acquire one common share at an exercise price of 25 cents for a period of 12 months from the date of issue. Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, Apogee will have the option to purchase the remaining 25-per-cent interest by paying Valencia $1-million at any time prior to Oct. 5, 2012. During the option period, Apogee will be responsible for all exploration costs with respect to the Cachinal property up to $2-million.

The Cachinal property is located in Region II, Chile, and is an advanced silver property with a National Instrument 43-101 resource estimate dated March 4, 2008, prepared for Valencia, comprising 18.41 million ounces of silver in the indicated resource category and an additional 3.02 million ounces of silver in the inferred resource category. The Cachinal deposit is a low-sulfidation epithermal system which has had past production of 32 million ounces of silver. Apogee believes there is good potential to expand the estimated resource.

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(i) Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. All figures are rounded to reflect the accuracy of the estimates. The cut-off grades are based on metal price assumptions of $12.50 (U.S.) per ounce of silver, $650 (U.S.) per ounce of gold and metallurgical recoveries of 85 per cent for silver and gold. Zinc does not contribute to revenues.

(1) Reported at a cut-off of 40 grams per tonne AgEq to a vertical depth of 150 metres below surface assuming an open-pit mining scenario.

(2) Reported at a cut-off grade of 150g/t AgEq below a vertical depth of 150m assuming an underground mining scenario

Chris Collins, PGeo, president of Apogee, stated: “The acquisition of the Cachinal property provides an increase in Apogee’s silver resource base and also provides a second advanced project from which Apogee hopes to expand its South American silver resources. Development of Apogee’s Pulacayo silver project in Bolivia remains a top priority for the company. However, the Cachinal property provides an exciting new property in an area where Apogee can leverage its strong South American team’s expertise.”

The Cachinal property comprises 59 contiguous Chilean mining claims which cover a total area of 16,800 hectares. The claims extend for approximately 21 kilometres north-south along the Paleocene gold belt of northern Chile, which is host to several significant gold and silver deposits. The property includes 9,200 hectares in mining claims in which Valencia has earned or is earning an equity interest subject to various farm-in and joint venture option agreements as summarized below. The property also includes 7,600 hectares in mining claims which are 100-per-cent owned by Valencia.

• Silver Standard Resources Inc. joint venture — Valcencia has earned an 80-per-cent equity interest (3,300 hectares)
• Atna Resources Ltd. joint venture — Valencia is earning a 70-per-cent interest (1,800 hectares)
• Minera Aurex (Chile) Ltd. jJoint venture — Valencia is earning a 100-per-cent interest (4,100 hectares)

David Gower, PGeo, chief executive officer of Apogee, a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this release.