14 Sep, 12

New Pacific Reports New Technical Report For Skukum Project

whitegoldbc2012

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — September 14, 2012 â€” New Pacific Metals Corp. (“New Pacific” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce the results of a Technical Report entitled “Technical Report Skukum Gold-Silver Project Whitehorse Mining District, Yukon Territory, Canada” with effective date of July 16, 2012and includes new independent resource estimates on the Mt. Skukum (Lake Zone), Skukum Creek and Goddell Gully deposits on the Company’s Skukum Gold-Silver Project (the “Project”) in southern Yukon Territory, Canada. The Technical Report was undertaken for the Company by Christopher O. Naas, P.Geo. of CME Consultants Inc. (“CME”) and Ronald G. Simpson, P.Geo. of GeoSim Services, Inc. (“GeoSim”).  Both Mr. Naas and Mr. Simpson are independent of New Pacific pursuant to National Instrument 43-101 (“NI 43-101”). Mr. Simpson is the Qualified Person with respect to the resource estimates and Mr. Naas is the Qualified Person with respect to all other aspects of the Technical Report. The Technical Report will be made available for review on the SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the company’s website at https://www.newpacificmetals.com/ in due course. Â

CME personnel conducted a property visit and acquired core samples as part of a sample assay verification program prior to, and in support of, the resource estimation. Results of the verification sampling, confirmed the presence of gold and silver mineralization with comparable grades to those reported historically for Mt Skukum (Lake Zone) and for samples collected by New Pacific during the 2011 diamond drilling exploration of the Lake Zone, Skukum Creek and Goddell Gully deposits.Â

Mineral Resource (1) Estimates
Resource estimates were undertaken on three of the targets within the Project area: Mt. Skukum (Lake Zone); Skukum Creek (comprising the Rainbow Zone, Kuhn Zone, Berg Zone, and Rainbow2 Zone); and Goddell Gully. The resource estimates were carried out using all available exploration data up to, and including, the results of New Pacific’s 2011 exploration program.

Each of the deposits were modeled as veins in Leapfrog3d software using a minimum horizontal width of 1.5 metres. The Mt. Skukum (Lake Zone) deposit was modeled as a single continuous vein, the Skukum Creek deposit was modeled as four separate vein zones: Rainbow, Rainbow 2, Berg and Kuhn, and the Goddell Gully deposit was modeled as two sub-parallel vein structures: the Southern Vein and the Northern Vein. Gold and silver values were used in the grade estimates of the Mt. Skukum and Skukum Creek deposits to create a gold-equivalent value. Only gold values were used in the estimation of the Goddell Gully deposit due to incomplete silver assaying on the samples used.

Best fit downhole sample assay composites of gold and silver (for the Mt. Skukum and Skukum Creek deposits) and gold only (for the Goddell Gully deposit) were generated using a nominal 1 metre interval within the zone domains. Samples were capped at established levels prior to compositing, and bulk densities used in the calculations were generated using density measurements made on diamond drill core sampled from the 2011 exploration program.

A rotated block model for each deposit was then created in Gemcom-Surpac Vision© software using a block sizing as follows:

  • Mt. Skukum deposit: 5 x 5 x 3 metres with sub-blocking enabled to 2.5 x 2.5 x 1.5 metres;

  • Skukum Creek deposit: 5 x 1.5 x 5 metres with sub-blocking enabled to 2.5 x 0.75 x 2.5 metres; and,

  • Goddell Gully deposit: 5 x 1.5 x 5 metres with sub-blocking enabled to 2.5 x 0.75 x 2.5 metres.

Gold and silver grades within the vein domain(s) were estimated in three passes using the inverse distance weighting method to the third power (ID3). A single pass nearest neighbour estimate was also carried out for use in model validation. Verification of the generated model was then carried out by visual comparison of blocks and sample grades in plan and section views.

For all targets, a base case cut-off grade of 3.0 g/t gold or gold equivalent was selected and is considered to be generally consistent with the economic cut-off for other mineral deposits of similar characteristics, scale, and location. The current resource estimates of the targets using the 3.0 g/t gold or gold equivalent cut-offs are:

  • Mt. Skukum (Lake Zone): Inferred Mineral Resources of 90,500 tonnes at 9.51 g/t Au equivalent;

  • Skukum Creek: Indicated Mineral Resource of 1,086,800 tonnes at 8.72 g/t Au equivalent and Inferred Mineral Resource of 586,000 tonnes at 6.83 g/t Au equivalent; and,

  • Goddell Gully: Indicated Mineral Resource of 329,700 tonnes at 8.13 g/t Au and Inferred Mineral Resource of 483,900 tonnes at 7.13 g/t Au

The mineral resource inventory for the Project, by category, are provided below in Tables 1 and 2:

Table 1: Indicated Mineral Resources

Deposit
Cut-off Grade g/t (2)
Tonnes
Au
g/t
Ag
g/t
Au EQ
g/t
Total contained oz Au
Total contained oz Ag
Total contained oz Au EQ
Skukum Creek
3.0
1,086,800
5.54
159
8.72
193,700
5,547,600
304,600
Goddell Gully
3.0
329,700
8.13
8.13
86,210
86,210
Total Indicated
3.0
1,416,500
6.14
8.58
279,910
5,547,600
390,810

Table 2: Inferred Mineral Resources

Deposit
Cut-off Grade g/t (2)
Tonnes
Au
g/t
Ag
g/t
Au EQ
g/t
Total contained oz Au
Total contained oz Ag
Total contained oz Au EQ
Mt. Skukum
3.0
90,500
9.25
13
9.51
26,900
37,800
27,656
Skukum Creek
3.0
586,000
4.74
105
6.83
89,200
1,972,700
128,700
Goddell Gully
3.0
483,900
7.13
7.13
110,867
110,867
Total Inferred
3.0
1,160,400
6.09
7.16
226,967
2,010,500
267,223

Notes:
(1) By prescribed definition, “Mineral Resources” do not have demonstrated economic viability. An Inferred Mineral Resource is that part of a mineral resource for which quantity and grade can be estimated on the basis of geological evidence and limited sampling and reasonably assumed, but not verified, geological and grade continuity.
(2) Cut-off grade is 3.0 g/t Au equivalent (AuEQ) for Mt Skukum and Skukum Creek, 3 g/t Au for Goddell Gully. Metal prices were assumed $US1300/oz Au and US$26/oz Ag. The AuEQ formula is as follows: Au + (Ag *0.02) = Au EQ

The Qualified Persons, Christopher O. Naas, P.Geo. and Ronald G. Simpson, P.Geo., have reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.

About New Pacific Metals Corp.

New Pacific Metals Corp. is a Canadian near-term gold and silver production mining company engaged in the exploration and development of gold polymetallic properties in Yukon, Canada. The Company’s current project is the Tagish Lake Gold Property in Yukon. With experienced management and sufficient technical and financial resources, the Company is well positioned to build shareholder value through discovery, exploration and resource development.

For more information about New Pacific Metals Corp., see www.newpacificmetals.com or contact investor relations, New Pacific Metals Corp., Phone: (604) 669-9397, Fax: (604) 669-9387 or send inquires to info@newpacificmetals.com.

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Certain of the statements and information in this press release constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian provincial securities laws. Any statements or information that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as “expects”, “is expected”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “plans”, “projects”, “estimates”, “assumes”, “intends”, “strategies”, “targets”, “goals”, “forecasts”, “objectives”, “budgets”, “schedules”, “potential” or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements or information relate to, among other things: the price of silver and other metals; the accuracy of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates at the Company’s material properties; the sufficiency of the Company’s capital to finance the Company’s operations; estimates of the Company’s revenues and capital expenditures; timing of receipt of permits and regulatory approvals; availability of funds from production to finance the Company’s operations; and access to and availability of funding for future construction, use of proceeds from any financing and development of the Company’s properties.

Forward-looking statements or information are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements or information, including, without limitation, risks relating to: fluctuating commodity prices; calculation of resources, reserves and mineralization and precious and base metal recovery; interpretations and assumptions of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates; exploration and development programs; feasibility and engineering reports; permits and licences; title to properties; First Nations title claims and rights; property interests;Â joint venture partners; acquisition of commercially mineable mineral rights; financing; recent market events and conditions; economic factors affecting the Company; timing, estimated amount, capital and operating expenditures and economic returns of future production; integration of future acquisitions into the Company’s existing operations;Â competition;Â operations and political conditions; regulatory environment in Canada;Â environmental risks; insurance; risks and hazards of mining operations; key personnel; conflicts of interest; dependence on management.

This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company’s forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements or information are statements about the future and are inherently uncertain, and actual achievements of the Company or other future events or conditions may differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements or information due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, without limitation, those referred to in the Company’s Annual Information Form for the year ended June 30, 2011 under the heading “Risk Factors”. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, described or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.Â

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