Exeter Resources denies rumours of Caspiche project sale

Exeter Resource Corp (AMEX: XRA, TSX: XRC, FSE: EXB) is distancing itself from bid rumours after a report from Reuters, citing a senior Exeter executive, suggested that the company is in talks with major gold mining groups and potential Chinese suitors interested in its flagship Caspiche copper-gold project in Chile. Subsequently, the company’s lawyer told Reuters that it is not in deal mode nor is it in active discussions.

"The company is not in active discussions with anybody about the sale of the project or the company itself”, Exeter's legal counsel Louis Montpellier commented. "If the company ... entered into confidentiality agreements with any third party it couldn't comment on that fact".

Montpellier told Reuters that it is routine practice in the industry for mining companies to share data about major projects, and the company was looking at putting out some "economic parameters" related to the project later in the year, but had not made any major decisions about its future.

The comments following the day’s earlier news that Exeter’s on-going drilling program, at its primary project the Caspiche gold-copper project in Chile, continues to yield positive results as the company’s latest NI43-101 resource estimate increased the project gold content by 23%.

The new indicated resource comprises 785 Mt (million metric tons) at a grade of 0.57 grams per metric ton gold (gpt) and 1.33gpt silver, including 690Mt at a grade of 0.23% copper. This equates to in-situ indicated resources of 14.3 million ounces (Moz) of gold, 33.6Moz of silver and 3.5 billion pounds of copper (23.9Moz gold equivalent).

"We are very pleased with the results from our ongoing drilling of the Caspiche Porphyry”, Exeter chairman Yale Simpson commented. “The new resource estimate, calculated by independent engineering firm AMEC International SA, delivers on our stated goals of expanding the resource base, and concurrently converting the best mineralized zone of the resource into the higher confidence indicated category”.

The new resource shows an increase of 23% in gold content over the October 2009 resource, of which 14% points was contributed by new drilling and 9% points was contributed by AMEC's change to higher long-term metal prices. Exeter highlighted that now 59% of the contained ounces of gold now report to the indicated resource category.

In addition to the indicated resource, Caspiche also has an inferred resource of 688Mt at a grade of 0.45gpt gold and 1.21gpt silver, including 675Mt at a grade of 0.19% copper. This equates to an in-situ inferred resource of 10Moz of gold, 26.7Moz of silver and 2.9 billion pounds of copper (c.17.8Moz gold equivalent).