CONTACT NYSE MKT: NGD 6.31 -0.25 TSX: NGD 6.78 -0.23 GOLD: US $ 1,318.21 +3.46 HOME COMPANY PROPERTIES INVESTORS CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY CAREERS home/properties/projects/el morro/project summary .... Properties Operations Projects Rainy River Blackwater El Morro Project Summary Location Sustainability and Environment Geology and Mineralization El Morro Technical Report March 2012 Mining Processing Exploration Exploration Project Summary The El Morro project is a truly exciting world-class asset, whose ultimate potential has yet to be determined. Located in north-central Chile, El Morro is an advanced-stage, copper-gold development project with exciting exploration potential. New Gold holds a 30 percent, fully carried interest in the project, with owner-operator Goldcorp Inc. (“Goldcorp”) holding the remaining 70 percent interest. The El Morro site covers 417 square kilometres, and is accessible from the Chilean city of Vallenar via 129 kilometres of paved and unpaved roads. Resources and mining expertise are available in Vallenar and other cities in the region. Under the terms of New Gold's agreement with Goldcorp, they are responsible for funding New Gold's full 30 percent share of capital costs. The carried funding accrues interest at a fixed rate of 4.58 percent. New Gold will repay its share of capital plus accumulated interest out of 80 percent of its share of the project's cash flow with New Gold retaining 20 percent of its share of cash flow from the time production commences. A late 2011 feasibility study estimated development costs at $3.9 billion, of which New Gold’s share is $1.2 billion. The El Morro project will be developed as an open pit mine truck and shovel operation, supplying material for crushing and processing in a copper flotation mill producing a copper-gold concentrate. Planned production is approximately 90,000 tonnes of ore per day, equating to an annual average production of approximately 486,000 dry tonnes per year of copper concentrate containing over 300 million pounds copper and 300,000 ounces of gold on a 100 percent project basis. The project comprises three centers of porphyry style copper-gold mineralization (the La Fortuna, El Negro and El Morro areas). Of these, La Fortuna is currently the most significant and is slated to be the location of an open pit mine. The project has terrific upside exploration potential. At present, reserves are entirely located in the La Fortuna deposit. Future exploration will test the potential to underground bulk mine the gold and copper resource situated below the current La Fortuna open pit and to add additional resources at the namesake El Morro deposit. Activity at the site has been limited recently pending a court ruling. Previously, on October 22, 2013, the Environmental Assessment Commission of Atacama analyzed a final report prepared by the Chilean environmental permitting authority (SEA) and unanimously decided on the reinstatement of the environmental permit for the El Morro project that had been suspended since April 2012. Subsequently, on November 22, 2013, the Copiapo Court of Appeals granted an injunction suspending development of the El Morro project. The injunction was requested in constitutional actions filed by the Huascoaltino and Diaguita communities, which contended that the various consultations by SEA were inconsistent with Convention ILO 169 standards. The injunction effectively suspends construction activity or development works until the Court has completed its review. El Morro is continuing to work through local landowner issues. For over seven years, El Morro has kept local communities informed on the project, and received feedback though various channels. Between 2005 and 2008, four rounds of consultation were held with 44 community organizations, which were attended by nearly 1,200 people. The final project design, which was included in the Environmental Impact Statement, is the result of this participatory design process which involved local communities. This process of joint design, together with El Morro's vision of sustainable development, makes this project a pioneer among the new generation of mining projects in Chile. Activities during 2014 will continue to focus on gathering information to support permit applications for submission following the reinstatements of the environmental permit and optimization of the project economics including securing a long-term power supply. legal notice | © 2012 New Gold Inc. Powered By Q4 Web Systems 4.0.3.135