THUNDER BAY, ON,
May 8, 2013 /CNW/ - Benton Capital
Corp. (TSXV: BTC) ("Benton") is pleased to provide the
following press release received from Coro Mining Corp. ("Coro").
Benton currently holds 41.84% of the issued and outstanding shares
of Coro. Benton's net asset value including its approximate
$1.1 million in cash and the value of
the Coro investment equates to approximately $0.127 per issued and outstanding common share of
Benton versus its current trading
price of $0.04 per share (all figures
based on May 7, 2013 closing market
prices). Coro's news release is reproduced below:
May 8th 2013,
Coro Mining Corp. ("Coro" or the "Company") (TSX Symbol: COP)
is pleased to announce that it has signed a Letter of Intent
("LOI") with ProPipe SA, ("ProPipe") an engineering firm based in
Santiago, Chile which gives
ProPipe the right to earn up to a 50% interest in the Berta
property, located approximately 20km west of the village of Inca de
Oro, in the III Region of
Chile. Coro also announces that it
has renegotiated the terms of its underlying option agreement to
acquire Berta, by reducing the payment due on 10th June 2013 from US$1,500,000 to US$500,000 and the final payment
due on 10th June 2014 from
US$3,500,000 to US$2,500,000. A 1.5%
NSR will now apply to all production from the property.
Alan Stephens,
President and CEO of Coro commented, "We are delighted that ProPipe
have agreed to become our partner on the Berta project, and are
confident that their extensive Chilean engineering experience will
result in the expeditious development of an operation capable of
producing approximately 5,000 tpy copper cathode, on a highly cost
effective basis. ProPipe carried out the Company's recent NI43-101
resource estimate technical report and as a result are fully
familiar with the project. We hope that Berta will form the basis
of a new business partnership which will combine Coro's
demonstrated ability to identify new projects, and ProPipe's
capacity to develop them efficiently and will be the first step in
building a sustainable cash flow generating business for the
Company."
Victor Araya,
Director of ProPipe commented, "We are very pleased to have the
opportunity to participate in the development of Berta, and wish to
advance it to a production decision as soon as possible. ProPipe
look forward to establishing a relationship with Coro, and hope
that it will lead to new opportunities to build a high technology,
performance mining business in Chile in the future."
The principal terms of the LOI are;
Within 10 days of signing the LOI, Coro will
form a new company, NewSCM and transfer its rights to the Berta
property.
ProPipe may earn up to 50% of the shares in
NewSCM by completing a series of payments, work commitments and
project financing, thereby earning percentages of that company as
follows;
- Making the US$500,000 option
payment due on 10th June 2013: 10%
earned
- Completing and filing an Environmental Impact Declaration by
30th July 2013: 3% earned
- Completing a NI43-101 compliant PEA by September 30th 2013: 5% earned
- Obtaining and structuring project financing on non-recourse
basis, at market conditions, with funds available within 6 months
of completion of the PEA, for a minimum of 70% of the project cost,
including a cost overrun facility, as determined in the PEA. In the
event that this financing is for 100% of the project cost, ProPipe
will earn 32% of New SCM, for a total shareholding of 50%. If the
financing is between 70% and 100% of the required funding, ProPipe
will earn a pro-rata shareholding in NewSCM. At the minimum 70%
level, they would earn 22.4% of NewSCM, for a total shareholding of
40.4%. In the event that less than 100% funding is received,
ProPipe have the right to earn the corresponding shareholding for
the percentage difference in funding, or to assign their right to
do so to a third party on the same terms. In the event that they do
neither, they must complete such additional work and reports as
required by Coro by March 31st 2014,
for Coro to obtain the financing required and thus earn the
corresponding shareholding.
- In the event that ProPipe do not arrange a minimum of 70%
project financing, they must complete a NI43-101 compliant DFS for
the project by 31st March 2014, and
by so doing, will earn an additional 7% shareholding, for a total
shareholding of 25% in NewSCM. Coro and ProPipe will then seek
project financing on a pro-rata basis
- In the event that the financing does not include the
US$2,500,000 option payment due on
June 10th 2014, ProPipe and Coro will
fund this pro-rata.
- ProPipe will be Operator during the development and
construction of the project, thereafter the Operatorship will
alternate every 2 years.
- There will be a 30 day due diligence period to confirm title to
the property, followed by the expeditious drawing up and signature
of a definitive shareholders agreement.
About ProPipe SA
ProPipe is a Chilean supplier of consultancy,
engineering and project management services to its customers in the
mining process, infrastructure and environment markets. ProPipe
have relevant experience in conceptual and basic design,
preliminary feasibility and feasibilities studies, and detailed
engineering for mining companies in Chile. Some of its principal clients are BHP
Billiton (Minera Escondida), Antofagasta Minerals (Minera Los
Pelambres, Minera El Tesoro, and
Minera Esperanza), Minera Las
Cenizas and Algorta Norte. ProPipe's recent projects include the
Camarones 7,000 tonne per year copper cathode plant, the Algorta
Norte 78 km sea water pipeline, and Minera Escondida's Coloso
filter plant expansion project.
About Berta
Berta is a modest sized, near surface, copper
oxide deposit, with mineralization, as defined by drilling, mapping
and geochemistry, occurring in three principal areas; Berta Sur,
Central and Norte. It is associated with sub-vertical, elongate,
potassically altered porphyry intrusive bodies and related
hydrothermal and intrusive breccias, emplaced into a tonalite
stock. At Berta Sur, this mineralization is present within a
roughly horseshoe shape area with oxidation extending from surface
to depths of 50m to 100m. Berta Central comprises several smaller
bodies, located immediately north of Berta Sur, which were the
focus for previous small scale copper oxide production.
Berta Norte comprises several,
discreet, NW oriented zones of mineralization, individually 25-85m
in width, 100-250m in strike length and partially gravel
covered.
Coro announced a NI43-101 compliant resource
estimate for the Berta Sur area, in its news release NR12-19, dated
December 6th 2012 and the results of
preliminary metallurgical test work in its news release NR12-17,
dated November 5th 2012. We see
potential for additional resources on the property in the Berta
Central deposits, and believe there may be potential in the
surrounding district to augment these.
Other Projects
Chacay
All final agreements have been signed with Teck
for the sale of the Chacay property and we are in the final stages
of registering the claims transfer with the authorities. Payment of
US$2,000,000, as described in our
news release NR13-03, dated April 2nd
2013, will be received upon delivery of proof of transfer to Teck,
which we expect to be completed very shortly.
Payen, El Desesperado and Llancahue
In light of the current difficult market
conditions, Coro has elected to seek partners for its three active
Chilean exploration projects. Confidentiality agreements have been
signed with a number of companies, and data and field reviews
completed by several of them.
San Jorge
The approval process for the update to the
Company's approved Environmental Impact Study ("EIS") submitted to
the government of Mendoza, Argentina in July
2012, in relation to the San Jorge Bi-provincial Leach
Project ("SJBP") continues to progress within the applicable time
frames established by the provincial regulations. The SJBP Leach
Project comprises a rock quarrying operation in Mendoza province
together with a processing plant located in San Juan province, for
the production of up to 25,000 tonnes per year of copper in
cathode. The approval sought is confined to the proposed railway
line to transport ore from the San Jorge quarry to a planned
solvent extraction/electro-winning plant located in San Juan. Once
granted, no further environmental approvals would be required from
the Mendoza government, as the quarry itself and associated
crushing facilities have already been approved in the existing
EIS.
The SJBP Leach Project could be operated in full
compliance with all existing laws and regulations in both provinces
and applicable royalties would be paid to the province of Mendoza.
Additionally, as no mineral processing would take place in Mendoza,
no substances banned by the 7722 law would be employed there. We
continue to look forward to the approval of this simple update by
the Mendoza authorities later this year, so that a further EIS for
the proposed plant facilities in San Juan province can be prepared
and submitted.
Alan Stephens,
FIMMM, President and CEO of Coro, a geologist with more than 37
years of experience, is the Qualified Person for Coro who has
reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.
CORO MINING CORP.
"Alan Stephens"
Alan Stephens
President and CEO
About Coro Mining Corp.:
The Company was founded with the goal of
building a mining company focused on medium-sized base and precious
metals deposits in Latin America.
The Company intends to achieve this through the exploration for,
and acquisition of, projects that can be developed and placed into
production. Coro's properties include the Berta copper development
project and the Payen, El Desesperado, Llancahue exploration
properties all located in Chile;
and the advanced San Jorge copper-gold project, in Argentina.
For further information please visit the
Company's website at www.coromining.com or contact
Michael Philpot, Executive
Vice-President at (604) 682 5546 or
investor.info@coromining.com
This news release includes certain
"forward-looking statements" under applicable Canadian securities
legislation. Such forward-looking statements or information,
including but not limited to those with respect to the prices of
copper, estimated future production, estimated costs of future
production, permitting time lines, involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual
results, performance or achievements of the Company to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements or information. Such factors include, among others, the
actual prices of copper, the factual results of current
exploration, development and mining activities, changes in project
parameters as plans continue to be evaluated, as well as those
factors disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to
time with the securities regulators in the Provinces of
British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New
Brunswick, Nova Scotia,
Prince Edward Island and
Newfoundland and Labrador.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton
Capital Corp.,
"Stephen Stares"
Stephen Stares, President
THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS
RELEASE.
The information contained herein contains
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable
securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to
information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts
of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable.
Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs,
plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or
performance are not statements of historical fact and may be
"forward-looking statements."
Forward-looking statements are subject to a
variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events
or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking
statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure
to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable
terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political
and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks
related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks
related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential
for delays in exploration or development activities or the
completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of
profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the
interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity
of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of
production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected
costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility
studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development
or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's
expectations; risks related to gold price and other commodity price
fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the
Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in
the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks
and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions
prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those
described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned
against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking
statements. These forward looking statements are made as of
the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to
update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances.
Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's
expectations or projections.
SOURCE Benton Capital Corp.