VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 02, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atico Mining Corporation (the "Company" or "Atico") (TSX.V: ATY | OTC: ATCMF) is pleased to announce the results of the Definitive Feasibility Study (the "DFS" or the "Study") for its 100% owned La Plata Project ("La Plata") located in Ecuador. The DFS was prepared in accordance with the National Instrument 43-101 Standards
of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). Please note that all financial
figures in this press release are in United States dollars, unless otherwise noted.
Key Highlights:

  * Initial Probable Mineral Reserves for the La Plata project 2.51 Mt with an
    average grade of 1.59% Cu, 2.28 g/t Au, 30.41 g/t Ag, and 2.18% Zn.
  * Updated Indicated Resources of 2.345 Mt with an average grade of 2.13% Cu,

2.98 g/t Au, 40 g/t Ag, 3.05% Zn and Inferred Resources of 380 Kt at average

    grade of 0.96% Cu, 1.75 g/t Au, 38 g/t Ag, 2.29% Zn.
  * Average annual production of 9.71 Mlbs Cu, 15,929 oz Au, 226,299 oz Ag, and
    13.25 Mlbs Zn in concentrates over 8.1 years Life of Mine ("LOM")
  * Initial Capex of US$91 Million, including a 9.8% contingency
  * Average AISC of US$2.70(1) per payable lb of Cu equivalent produced over
    LOM
  * After Tax NPV of US$93M at a 5% discount rate and an IRR of 25.1%

* Underexplored VMS camp, currently identified resources are contained in only 1.6% of total land package
Fernando E. Ganoza, CEO and Director, commented, "Completion of this study is yet another important milestone that the Company has achieved this year as it provides for an important foundation upon which to continue building the La Plata project. As a next step, we have already commenced and advanced basic and detailed engineering where we continue to see significant opportunities yet to be captured." Mr. Ganoza continued, "The current reserves and resources at the La Plata project are a good starting point, however, historic and recent exploration work performed here tells us that these areas still provide significant exploration potential. We intend to test this hypothesis in the very
near future. In addition, the currently identified resources are contained in only 1.6% of the total land package, where we see tremendous opportunities for further exploration success in the regional target areas."
Metallurgy and Processing
Metallurgical testwork has shown that the production of two concentrates provide
the best economic performance for the operation, a zinc concentrate and a bulk concentrate. The testwork results are shown in Table 1 and were used in the estimation of the Mineral Reserve.
Table 1. Metallurgical Testwork Results
+------------+---------+------------------------+ +-----------+---------+------+
| Parameter |Algorithm| Models | | Parameter |Algorithm|Models| +------------+---------+------------------------+ +-----------+---------+------+
| Bulk conc | | | | Zn conc | | | |recovery, % | | | |Recovery, %| | | | - Au | | 58 | | - Au | | 12 | +------------+---------+------------------------+ +-----------+---------+------+
| Bulk conc |Cu>=3.33 | 69.3 | | Zn conc |Cu>=3.33 | 8.1 | |recovery, % +---------+------------------------+ |Recovery, %+---------+------+
| - Ag | Cu=3.33 | 92.64 | | Zn conc |Cu>=3.33 | 1.73 | |recovery, % +---------+------------------------+ |Recovery, %+---------+------+
| - Cu | Cu=3.33 | 87.05 | | |Cu>=3.33 | 4 | | Bulk conc +---------+------------------------+ | Zn conc +---------+------+ |recovery, % | | max(0.6675- | |Recovery, %| | | | - Pb | Cu=9.34 | 59 | | Zn conc |Fe>=9.34 | 33.1 | |recovery, % +---------+------------------------+ |Recovery, %+---------+------+
| - Zn | FeÂ