Jaguar Mining Announces First Gold Pour at Turmalina

Jan 18, 2007 Download PDF

Jaguar Mining Inc. ("Jaguar" or "the Company") (JAG-TSX) announces that it has made substantial progress toward full-scale commercial operations at its 100% owned Turmalina mining complex near Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The first gold pour was conducted on January 3, 2007 and yielded 91% gold doré bars with a collective weight of approximately 248 oz. The Company previously announced operations at the mining and processing complex had entered the commissioning phase in mid-November, 2006 and were expected to achieve design capacities during early 2007.

Start-up of operations at Turmalina continues in the ordinary course. As the Company advances toward commercial production, expected in early 2007, the following benchmarks have been achieved:

  • Tests on the primary circuits (crushing, milling, leaching and absorption) were conducted "dry" during November, 2006. Initial ore loading of the circuits commenced in early December and, after experiencing some minor technical issues with one of the two milling circuits, increased ore loading continued into 2007.
  • Since commissioning began, physical gold production at Turmalina through January 15th has totaled approximately 1,200 ounces.
  • The ore stockpile currently measures approximately 115,000 tonnes with an average grade of 5.6 g/t.

Turmalina is an underground mine which utilizes the "sublevel stoping with paste fill" and "cut and fill" mining methods. Underground mine development began in the first quarter of 2006 on the first of two ore zones and underground development work today is progressing towards the Satinoco ore zone.

The main transportation ramp into the mine has reached an elevation of 550 m, 150 m below ground level.

Turmalina is designed to process 1,200 t/day of ore and produce approximately 60,000 oz of gold annually and has proven and probable reserves of 2,916,000 tonnes at 6.3 g/t containing 587,000 oz of gold. Jaguar currently estimates Turmalina production as 20,000 oz in the first half of 2007 and 33,000 oz in the second half1.

Jaguar's Board of Directors was on-site in November, 2006 and formally observed the start-up of commissioning operations at Turmalina. Jaguar's Board was joined by notable dignitaries including The Ambassador of Canada to Brazil, the Honorable Guillermo E. Rishchynski, Mr. Procópio Celso de Freitas, the Mayor of Conceição do Pará, as well as individual local business partners who played a key role in the construction of Turmalina.

Daniel R. Titcomb, Jaguar's President and CEO commented, "We are exceptionally pleased with the successful and orderly progress we have achieved thus far at Turmalina. I am especially proud of the dedication and hard work of our team in Brazil to further advance this operation toward commercial-scale operating levels. Turmalina represents our largest gold producing asset and will more than double our annual production capacity."

Mr. Titcomb further stated, "The combination of local infrastructure and highly-qualified mining personnel in close proximity to our 72,000 acre resource base in Brazil is a tremendous advantage for Jaguar. These local assets are essential to support our further growth initiatives at Paciência and Caeté, which we will be developing over the next 18 months1. By the end of 2008, the addition of these operations will again more than double Jaguar's gold production capacity1 from our current capacity."

About Jaguar
Jaguar is one of the fastest growing gold producers operating in a prolific greenstone belt in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil and is actively exploring and developing additional mineral resources at its 72,000 acre resource base. Additional information is available on the Company's website at www.jaguarmining.com.

For Information:

Investors and analysts:
Bob Zwerneman
Director of Investor Relations
603-224-4800
bobz@jaguarmining.com

Media inquiries:
Valéria Rezende DioDato
Director of Communication
603-224-4800
valeria@jaguarmining.com

1. The ability of the Company to produce 20,000 oz of gold in the first half of 2007 and 33,000 oz in the second half at Turmalina, to develop the Paciência and Caeté projects over the next 18 months and more than double Jaguar's gold production capacity by the end of 2008 with the addition of these operations is subject to the various risks and uncertainties that can be found in the "Forward-Looking Statements" below.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning Jaguar's objectives in the years ahead, the measured and indicated resources, their average grade, the commencement period of production, cash operating costs and completion dates of feasibility studies, gold production and sales targets, capital expenditure costs, future profitability and growth in reserves. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words, such as "are expected", "is forecast", approximately or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, or performance to be materially different from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

These factors include the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drilling results and other ecological data, fluctuating gold prices and monetary exchange rates, the possibility of project cost delays and overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, uncertainties related to production rates, timing of production and the cash and total costs of production, changes in applicable laws including laws related to mining development, environmental protection, and the protection of the health and safety of mine workers, the availability of labour and equipment, the possibility of labour strikes and work stoppages and changes in general economic conditions. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended.

These forward-looking statements represent our views as of the date of discussion. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause the Company's views to change. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements, either written or oral, that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company subsequent to the date of this discussion. For a discussion of important factors affecting the Company, including fluctuations in the price of gold and exchange rates, uncertainty in the calculation of mineral resources, competition, uncertainty concerning geological conditions and governmental regulations and assumptions underlying the Company's forward-looking statements, see the "CAUTIONARY NOTE" regarding forward-looking statements and "RISK FACTORS" in the Company's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2005 filed on System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval ("SEDAR") and available at http://www.sedar.com.