Name: El Toqui mine.

Location: The El Toqui mine is located 1 350 km south of Santiago, Chile, and 120 km north-east of Coyhaique.

Controlling Company: Nyrstar.

Brief History: The El Toqui mine has been in operation since 1983 and has a long history of reserve replacement. In August 2011, Nyrstar completed its acquisition of Breakwater Resources, the owner of the El Toqui mine. The Toqui deposits were discovered in the early 1970s. The three original deposits at Toqui – Doña Rosa, Mallín-Monica and San Antonio – adjoin one another, but are separated by faults.

Brief Description: The Toqui property encompasses an area of about 1 800 km2. This area includes the Doña Rosa zinc/gold mine, the Rosa West zinc-lead mine, the San Antonio East and the Mallín-Mónica and Mallín South zinc mines, the Aserradero and Mina Profunda gold/zinc mines, the Porvenir and Estatuas zinc mines, the Concordia zinc/lead/silver mine, and other advanced-stage zinc projects, the Altazor and the Aserradero East exploration zinc and zinc/gold projects.

Mining Method: Underground. The Toqui deposits all dip gently to the south and nearly all the deposits are amenable to room-and-pillar mining, with 11 m rooms around 8 m pillars.

The Mina Profunda deposit and the Porvenir deposit are mined using the drift-and-fill method, owing to the steeper dip of these deposits.

The Doña Rosa, Estatuas and Concordia mining areas are accessed through adits.

Porvenir and Mina Profunda are accessed from the Doña Rosa and Mallín-Monica adits. In general, mining is conducted in a single horizon from flat-lying mineralisation, varying in thickness from 4 m to 12 m, except where localised faulting may offset the manto into smaller stopes accessed by mine ramps.

At Estatuas, there is a lower secondary manto that has economic zinc grades and is being mined.

Products: Zinc and lead concentrate, with silver and gold as by-products.

Major Infrastructure and Equipment: Processing is conducted through a 1 725 t/d concentrating plant.

Geology/Mineralisation: Zinc/gold mineralisation at Toqui occurs as manto deposits hosted by an 8-m- to 12-m-thick bed of fossiliferous limestone, known as the Main Manto unit.

Reserves: Total proven and probable reserves, according to a report published on February 7, were 4.21-million tonnes, with a grading of 6.06% zinc, 0.30% lead, 9.9 g/t silver and 1.87 g/t gold.

Resources: Total measured and indicated resources, according to a report published on February 7, were 5.77-million tonnes, with a grading of 6.63% zinc, 0.36% lead, 12.16 g/t silver and 1.76 g/t gold. Inferred resources were 1.78-million tonnes, with a grading of 5.54% zinc, 0.65% lead, 19.27 g/t silver and 1.17 g/t gold.

Prospects: In 2012, about 533 000 t of ore was milled at El Toqui and all mineral reserves mined have been replaced. Further, an additional estimated 700 000 t has been added to the measured and indicated base. This was achieved through the delineation and extension of drilling programmes and Nyrstar expects to increase the mineral resource base in 2013.

Contact Person: Manager: corporate communications Geert Lambrechts.

Contact Details:
Nyrstar, tel: + 32 14 449 646,
fax + 32 14 810 531, email: geert.lambrechts@nyrstar.com, and website: http://www.nyrstar.com.