Silver Wheaton to Acquire 45% Production From Rosemont

VANCOUVER, BC - Silver Wheaton Corp. reported that Augusta Resource Corporation has elected to sell to Silver Wheaton 45% of the payable silver to be produced from its 100% owned Rosemont Copper Project for an upfront cash payment of US$165 million.
The upfront payment will be made on a drawdown basis to fund construction of the mine as milestones are achieved. Silver Wheaton will not be required to pay any further ongoing per ounce payments for silver delivered from Rosemont and is not required to fund or contribute to ongoing capital expenditures. Augusta will provide a completion guarantee with certain minimum production criteria by a certain date.
The Rosemont Project is a copper-molybdenum-silver-gold porphyry deposit located in Pima County, Arizona. Based on a positive Feasibility Study released in August 2007, Augusta approved the project for development as a 75,000 tpd low cost open pit mine with a sulfide concentrator and SX/EW plant to treat sulfide and oxide mineral reserves. The proposed Rosemont mine is expected to produce annually an average of 220 million pounds of copper, 4.5 million pounds of molybdenum, 2.7 million ounces of silver and 15 thousand ounces of gold over the mine life, currently expected to be a minimum of 18 years.
The company's address is 666 Burrard Street, Suite 3150, Vancouver, BC V6C 2X8, 604-684-9648, fax: 604-684-3123, email: [email protected].