VANCOUVER, Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Endeavour Silver Corp.
(EDR: TSX, EXK: AMEX, and EJD: Frankfurt) delivered additional
exploration success in 2007, highlighted by the discovery of new
polymetallic mineralization on the El Cometa mine property, part of
Endeavour's Parral Project located in the historic mining district
of Hidalgo de Parral, Chihuahua State, Mexico. Last year, the
Company drilled a total of 24,000 m of core in 76 drill holes,
testing prospective silver targets in 4 separate project areas,
Guanacevi in Durango, Guanajuato in Guanajuato, Parral in Chihuahua
and Arroyo Seco in Michoacan. All four areas returned positive
drill results although many of the sample assays for the projects
were still in progress at year-end. For 2008, Endeavour is
budgeting 38,000 of drilling in approximately 150 drill holes using
4 drill rigs at the four project areas, with a renewed focus on
expanding the silver resources near Endeavour's two operating mines
at Guanacevi and Guanajuato (previously called the Bolanitos
Project but renamed to reflect the district-scale opportunity of
the Bolanitos-Cebada-Golondrinas properties at Guanajuato).
Bradford Cooke, Chairman and CEO, Commented "We are gratified to
see our acquisition and exploration strategy at the Parral Project
already paying off with the new discovery at El Cometa. Even though
the new mineralized zone is not silver-rich, it has substantial
zinc, lead and gold values. El Cometa is attractively located
adjacent to existing infrastructure for rapid development and
represents the first of what management hopes will be several new
discoveries in this historic mining district." The following is an
overview of the Company's four principal exploration projects in
Mexico, including a review of exploration results in 2007 and the
outlook for exploration programs in 2008: Parral Project
-------------- Endeavour currently holds an option to acquire a
100% interest in the 20 hectare (49 acres) El Cometa mine property
located on the outskirts of the city of Parral in Chihuahua State,
Mexico. According to the Mexican Geological Survey (SGM, previously
CRM), the district of Parral produced over 250 million oz silver
historically, as a by-product of several large lead-zinc-silver
vein mines. Two large polymetallic mines continue to operate at the
south end of the district, the Santa Barbara mine (6000 tpd) of
Grupo Mexico and the San Francisco mine (3000 tpd) of Grupo Frisco.
In 2006, Endeavour acquired options to purchase several properties
along the Colorada vein system in the Parral district. In 2007, a
total of 15,800 m were drilled in 47 holes to test 7 separate
prospective silver veins target. Once it became clear that the
Company had an emerging discovery on the El Cometa Property, the
other properties were dropped because the drill results were less
encouraging. The El Cometa property is well located for mining,
accessible by paved road only 1 km from a 500 tpd government-owned
plant. The old El Cometa mine was developed on 3 mine levels to 75
m in depth on the same vein as the Esmeralda mine, located only 2
km to the south. Esmeralda is estimated to have produced 4 million
tonnes of ore grading 6% combined Pb-Zn, 100 gpt Ag and 0.5 gpt Au
on 10 levels to 600 m in depth. The deepest drill hole by Endeavour
at El Cometa is only 400 m below surface and the newly discovered
mineralized zone is still open at depth and to a certain extent
along strike. Drill results to year-end are shown in the following
table: El Cometa Vein Drill Results Released Previ- HOLE VEIN FROM
WIDTH Au Ag Cu(%) Pb(%) Zn(%) ously
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 178.30 2.50 0.2 77 0.005 0.077 0.300 CM11-1
------------------------------------------------------------------
El Cometa Vein 265.75 2.50 0.1 6 0.016 0.808 1.486 (x)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CM12-1 El Cometa Vein 129.46 2.38 0.4 28 0.035 1.063 1.344 (x)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CM13-1 El Cometa Vein 187.37 2.30 0.5 14 0.031 1.729 3.396 (x)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CM13-2 El Cometa Vein 199.62 2.66 0.9 15 0.050 2.527 4.952 (x)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 111.91 3.34 0.9 24 0.063 1.425 1.859 (x)
------------------------------------------------------------------
CM13-3 El Cometa Vein 292.25 3.95 0.2 9 0.070 1.168 2.917 (x)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Consuelo Breccia 342.30 3.86 0.2 30 0.134 0.349 0.111
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CM13-4 El Cometa Vein 225.75 4.15 0.2 10 0.049 1.856 4.452
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CM14-1 El Cometa Vein 166.57 4.26 0.3 41 0.038 1.351 2.614
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CM14-2 El Cometa Vein 263.06 3.68 3.1 51 0.169 3.533 1.048
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 236.20 3.70 0.4 18 0.045 2.929 7.281
------------------------------------------------------------------
Inc. 236.55 0.35 0.51 38.00 0.071 6.080 17.850
------------------------------------------------------------------
CM14-3 Inc. 239.10 0.45 0.78 60.00 0.179 9.710 16.600
------------------------------------------------------------------
El Cometa Vein 416.65 2.97 1.8 22 0.121 0.293 0.261
------------------------------------------------------------------
Consuelo Breccia 477.05 2.97 0.1 18 0.119 0.488 0.505
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CM15-1 El Cometa Vein 212.06 2.94 1.4 22 0.052 1.826 1.662 (x)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
CM15-2 El Cometa Vein 300.57 8.86 1.0 50 0.212 5.431 3.043 (x)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 238.93 2.92 0.9 20 0.012 4.245 4.459
------------------------------------------------------------------
CM15-3 El Cometa Vein 447.23 4.34 0.2 81 0.382 2.631 2.442
------------------------------------------------------------------
Consuelo Breccia 473.50 3.20 0.1 15 0.459 0.084 0.408
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 156.55 2.51 0.3 40 0.022 3.067 1.181 (x)
------------------------------------------------------------------
CM16-1 El Cometa Vein 319.70 2.47 0.2 15 0.112 1.847 3.537 (x)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Consuelo Breccia 340.43 2.53 1.1 21 0.180 2.244 0.497
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
El Cometa Vein 254.47 2.63 0.2 6 0.015 0.475 0.672 (x) CM16-2
------------------------------------------------------------------
Consuelo Breccia 273.87 2.66 0.6 16 0.068 2.120 2.697
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
El Cometa Vein 300.90 2.92 1.5 23 0.097 2.799 4.295 (x) CM17-1
------------------------------------------------------------------
Consuelo Breccia 324.58 10.55 3.1 28 0.160 2.400 2.930
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 111.50 2.43 0.2 58 0.055 1.494 1.193 (x)
------------------------------------------------------------------
CM17-2 El Cometa Vein 278.77 2.36 0.3 6 0.060 0.519 0.404
------------------------------------------------------------------
Consuelo Breccia 283.83 4.19 0.6 21 0.134 3.472 1.322 (x)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
El Cometa Vein 210.93 2.24 0.1 8 0.007 1.015 1.239
------------------------------------------------------------------
CM17-3 Consuelo Breccia 227.39 2.16 4.7 362 0.095 3.110 2.107
------------------------------------------------------------------
Inc. 227.70 1.10 8.3 700 0.152 5.330 3.410
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 218.70 2.83 0.4 10 0.021 1.616 3.053 CM17-4
------------------------------------------------------------------
El Cometa Vein 406.81 5.08 3.5 47 0.014 2.978 0.397
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 138.24 2.51 0.4 19 0.048 1.538 1.985
------------------------------------------------------------------
CM18-1 El Cometa Vein 328.30 3.50 15.3 36 0.359 4.431 3.452 (x)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Consuelo Breccia 341.22 2.66 0.3 8 0.055 0.975 0.989
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 126.65 2.75 0.4 32 0.023 2.047 2.111 (x)
------------------------------------------------------------------
CM18-2 El Cometa Vein 303.61 4.53 0.8 115 0.254 5.051 6.456 (x)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Inc. 305.30 0.90 0.76 58.00 0.074 3.830 15.750
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 89.34 3.47 0.3 157 0.078 1.526 1.441 (x) CM18-3
------------------------------------------------------------------
El Cometa Vein 251.67 2.91 1.9 38 0.058 2.363 1.344 (x)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 154.01 2.74 0.8 11 0.017 0.900 1.610
------------------------------------------------------------------
CM18-4 El Cometa Vein 364.31 2.74 0.2 5 0.067 0.844 1.573
------------------------------------------------------------------
Consuelo Breccia 386.63 4.84 0.2 87 0.758 1.853 1.533
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 129.35 2.56 0.2 58 0.027 2.235 3.552
------------------------------------------------------------------
CM19-1 El Cometa Vein 327.93 6.59 0.7 63 0.304 3.023 4.646
------------------------------------------------------------------
Inc. 329.70 0.60 0.59 72.00 0.299 7.120 11.050
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
La Estrella Vein 145.20 4.00 0.3 11 0.010 1.022 1.582
------------------------------------------------------------------
El Cometa CM19-2 Vein 356.22 6.51 1.6 62 0.302 2.907 1.933
------------------------------------------------------------------
El Cometa Vein 264.16 8.87 0.4 40 0.346 3.721 4.470
------------------------------------------------------------------
Inc. 265.10 0.50 0.86 178.00 0.301 10.500 10.650
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
MX-1 La Mexicana Vein 121.00 3.66 0.2 47 0.054 2.852 6.343 (x)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note - The width referred to above is the core width and not the
true width which is in process of being finalized. It is clear that
the zinc, lead and gold contents of the vein appear to be more
valuable than the silver component. On average, the mineralized
zones grade approximately 1.7 % Zn, 2.6% Pb, 1.8 gpt Au and 50 gpt
Ag, assuming no mine dilution. Metallurgical test-work and a
preliminary economic assessment are currently underway so that an
initial resource estimate can be completed in Q1, 2008. Endeavour
has also commenced infill drilling of 7 holes totaling 2,000 m to
tighten up the drill spacing to approximately 40 m centers.
Negotiations are now underway to significantly expand Endeavour's
land-holdings at Parral, both near El Cometa as well as in other
prospective areas. For the Parral Project as a whole, a total of
4300 m of drilling is budgeted in 2008, including El Cometa and new
property acquisitions. Guanajuato Project ------------------ In
2007, Endeavour acquired a 100% interest in the Bolanitos Mines
Project (now renamed the Guanajuato Project), including the Cebada
mine properties along the Veta Madre and the Bolanitos mine
properties along the Veta La Luz as well as the 500 tpd Bolanitos
process plant, located only a few km north and west of the city
Guanajuato in the famous silver-gold mining district of Guanajuato,
Guanajuato State, Mexico. Unidad Bolanitos consists of 13
properties totaling 2071 hectares (5,117 acres) in two property
groups (Bolanitos and Cebada), three operating silver(gold) mines
(Bolanitos, Golondrinas and Cebada), several past-producing
silver(gold) mines, and the 500 tonne per day Bolanitos process
plant. Cebada is located just 3 km north of the city of Guanajuato.
Bolanitos and the plant are situated approximately 5 km west of
Cebada, and both properties are readily accessed by paved and well
maintained gravel roads. According to the SGM, the district of
Guanajuato was the second largest historic silver mining district
in Mexico, having produced over 1 billion oz of silver and 5
million oz of gold since the late 1500's. In the last three years,
three historic mines have been re-activated in the Guanajuato
district by Canadian companies, the El Cubo mine of Gammon Gold,
the Cata-Las Rayas-Valenciana mines of Great Panther and
Cebada-Bolanitos-Golondrinas mines of Endeavour. In 2007, Endeavour
compiled the historic surface and underground sample and drill data
of Industrias Penoles for the Cebada and Bolanitos mine properties,
commenced underground re-sampling of certain historic reserve
blocks, identified multiple prospective silver vein targets, and
initiated the first drilling program in this part of the district
in almost 2 decades. A total of 3,600 m were drilled in 15 holes to
test three target areas. As of year-end, the company was still
awaiting the assays from all 15 holes. The Cebada and Bolanitos
mine properties are well located for mining, accessible by gravel
road only a few km north and west of the city of Guanajuato. The
Cebada mine lies along the famous Veta Madre and were originally
developed by the Spaniards in the 1600's. The Bolanitos mines cover
most of the Veta La Luz sub-district, which was found in the early
1500's, prior to the discovery of the Veta Madre. The Company has
launched an aggressive drilling program at the Guanajuato Project
in 2008, totaling 17,500 m in approximately 75 holes. The focus
will be on delineating new resources within or adjacent to the
numerous existing mine workings at Cebada and Bolanitos, as well as
exploring new property acquisitions within the district. Guanacevi
District ------------------ Endeavour currently owns or has options
to acquire 100% interests in approximately 957 hectares (2,365
acres) within the historic silver mining district of Guanacevi,
Durango State, Mexico. The Company first acquired the producing
Santa Cruz mine properties and the Guanacevi process plant in 2004
when they were preparing to close. Since that time, Endeavour has
discovered four new high-grade silver orebodies along an initial 4
km length of the Santa Cruz vein, culminating in a reserve and
resource estimate in March 2007 (see NR dated March 8, 2007)
totaling approximately 10 million oz silver in proven and probable
reserves, 21 million oz silver in measured and indicated resources
and 10 million oz silver in inferred resources, as follows: Proven
and Probable Reserves
----------------------------------------------------------------
In-situ Tonnes & Grade
------------------------------------------------ Silver Gold
Category Zone Tonnes (g/t) Ounces (g/t) Ounces
----------------------------------------------------------------
Proven Zone 1 0 0 0 0 0
----------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 1-2 91,436 513 1,508,049 0.92 2,718
----------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 2 82,063 671 1,770,316 0.97 2,558
----------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 3 182,498 483 2,833,911 0.91 5,314
----------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 4 10,072 658 213,070 0.95 309
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total Proven 366,069 537 6,325,346 0.93 10,898
----------------------------------------------------------------
Probable Zone 1 218,818 476 3,348,659 0.98 6,892
----------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 1-2 0 0 0 0 0
----------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 2 0 0 0 0 0
----------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 3 23,421 341 256,799 0.73 550
----------------------------------------------------------------
Zone 4 0 0 0 0.00 0
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total Probable 242,239 463 3,605,458 0.096 7,442
----------------------------------------------------------------
Total Proven + Probable 608,308 508 9,930,804 0.94 18,339
----------------------------------------------------------------
Indicated Resources (Cut-off Grade 200 g/t Silver)
------------------------------------------------------------
Million Silver Gold Silver Gold AREA Tonnes (g/t) (g/t) Million oz
Thousand oz
------------------------------------------------------------
PORVENIR 1.38 300 0.46 13.33 20
------------------------------------------------------------
PORVENIR DOS 0.22 349 0.66 2.47 5
------------------------------------------------------------ SANTA
CRUZ 0.33 391 0.69 4.21 7
------------------------------------------------------------ ALEX
BRECCIA 0.10 314 0.62 1.05 2
------------------------------------------------------------ TOTAL
2.03 327 0.54 21.06 34
------------------------------------------------------------
Inferred Resources (Cut-off 200 g/t Silver and within 75 m of the
Indicated Boundary)
------------------------------------------------------------
Million Silver Gold Silver Gold AREA Tonnes (g/t) (g/t) Million oz
Thousand oz
------------------------------------------------------------
PORVENIR 0.68 284 0.58 6.19 13
------------------------------------------------------------
PORVENIR DOS - - - - -
------------------------------------------------------------ SANTA
CRUZ 0.22 379 0.62 2.67 4
------------------------------------------------------------ ALEX
BRECCIA 0.13 277 0.50 1.13 2
------------------------------------------------------------ TOTAL
1.03 323 0.60 9.99 19
------------------------------------------------------------
According to the SGM, the district of Guanacevi was a top five
historic silver mining district in Mexico with past production
estimated at more than 450 million oz silver. Endeavour brought its
first new discovery, the new North Porvenir ore-body into
production in late 2004 and has significantly expanded the
operations each year since. Exploration drilling was halted in Q1,
2007 to allow mine development to proceed and underground drill
stations to be cut. Drilling resumed in September, 2007 and by
year-end, 3,900 m had been completed in 7 drill holes to extend
known mineralization at the North Porvenir and Santa Cruz mines to
the northwest. Only half of the assays for these drill holes were
received by year-end. An aggressive drilling program is now
underway in 2008 to complete 12,700 m in approximately 50 drill
holes testing 6 target areas, including the newly acquired Milache
and San Pedro properties. Like Guanajuato, the focus will be on
delineating new silver resources proximal to both current and
historic mine workings. Arroyo Seco ----------- Endeavour owns
1,215 hectares (3,002 acres) at the Arroyo Seco property in
Michoacan that it acquired at auction from the SGM in late 2006.
Arroyo Seco was acquired because the SGM reported a stratabound
silver historic resource within a favorable sedimentary layer.
Arroyo Seco is somewhat unique to Mexico in that the silver
mineralization appears to be syn-sedimentary in nature, forming
stratiform tabular lenses within three stacked sedimentary layers.
Mineralization consists of tetrahedrite, tennantite, argentite, and
minor galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and pyrite associated with
barite, calcite, and quartz in disseminated sulfide zones. The
Company drilled 750 m in 7 holes last year to confirm the
syn-sedimentary nature of the silver-barite mineralization. The
holes returned economically interesting mineralization, including
823 gpt Ag over 1.10 m. Geological mapping and IP-Resistivity
surveying both indicate that the favorable mineralized sedimentary
bed thickens towards the southeast part of the property. Therefore,
a small drilling program of 1,500 m in approximately 10 holes is
planned for this area in 2008. Barry Devlin, M.Sc., P.Geo. Vice
President Exploration is the Qualified Persons who reviewed this
news release and supervised the surface drilling and sampling
programs in Parral, Guanacevi and Guanajuato Projects. A Quality
Control sampling program of blanks and duplicates has been
instituted to monitor the integrity of all assay results. All core
samples are split at the Parral, Guanajuato, or Guanacevi field
offices and shipped to SGS assay lab in Durango and or Chemex Labs,
where they are dried, crushed, split and 30 gram pulp samples are
prepared for analysis. Gold and silver are determined by fire assay
with an atomic absorption (AA) finish and lead, zinc and copper are
determined by AA. Endeavour Silver Corp. (EDR: TSX, EXK: AMEX, EJD:
DBFrankfurt) is a small-cap silver mining company focused on the
growth of its silver production, reserves and resources in Mexico.
The expansion programs now underway at Endeavour's two operating
mines, Guanacevi in Durango and Bolanitos in Guanajuato, coupled
with the Company's aggressive acquisition and exploration programs
in Mexico should enable Endeavour to join the ranks of top primary
silver producers worldwide. ENDEAVOUR SILVER CORP. Per: /s/
"Bradford J. Cooke" Bradford J. Cooke Chairman and CEO CAUTIONARY
DISCLAIMER - FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
-------------------------------------------------- Certain
statements contained herein regarding the Company and its
operations constitute "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995. All statements that are not historical facts,
including without limitation statements regarding future estimates,
plans, objectives, assumptions or expectations of future
performance, are "forward-looking statements". We caution you that
such "forward looking statements" involve known and unknown risks
and uncertainties that could cause actual results and future events
to differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
Such risks and uncertainties include fluctuations in precious metal
prices, unpredictable results of exploration activities,
uncertainties inherent in the estimation of mineral reserves and
resources, fluctuations in the costs of goods and services,
problems associated with exploration and mining operations, changes
in legal, social or political conditions in the jurisdictions where
the Company operates, lack of appropriate funding and other risk
factors, as discussed in the Company's filings with Canadian and
American Securities regulatory agencies. Resource and production
goals and forecasts may be based on data insufficient to support
them. Godfrey Walton, M.Sc., P.Geo., President and COO is the
Qualified Person for the Company as required by NI 43-101. The
Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements. We seek safe harbour. CONTACT: Hugh
Clarke, Toll free: 877-685-9775, tel: (604) 685-9775, fax: (604)
685-9744, email or visit our website, http://www.edrsilver.com/
DATASOURCE: Endeavour Silver Corp. CONTACT: Hugh Clarke, Toll free:
877-685-9775, tel: (604) 685-9775, fax: (604) 685-9744, email or
visit our website, http://www.edrsilver.com/
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