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SANTIAGO, CHILE, Feb 08, 2013 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Swingplane Ventures, Inc. (OTCBB: SWVI) (the "Company" or "Swingplane") is pleased to update information pertaining to the Algarrobo property.The Algarrobo Property (the "Property") is located approximately 850 km north of Santiago, in the III Region, Province of Copiapo, Chile. The city of Copiapo is located approximately 43 km to the southeast of the Property, with the small port city of Caldera 25 km to the east. The Property consists of 32 tenures, comprising a total of 6,161 hectares.The current limited artisanal workings are now producing 9% copper ore on 10 acres. The 3 current veins that are being worked on have been trenched and sampled and shown to be over 6 km in length. From existing information on adjacent mines i.e: the Viuda Mine, which is 250 meters in depth, the evidence suggests that we have the same formation.Historical documents from San Roman drafted in 1890 talk about the production on the Algarrobo. In 1860 the British were extracting 15% copper in such quantities that they deemed it feasible to build a railway to the nearby port town of Caldera where they also built a smelting plant and shipped copper to Europe. Evidence of the railway is still on the property. The mine was abandoned after 25 years due to the lack of technology. The only reason the copper is still abundant on the Algarrobo is because it is buried under sand. There is very little historical information to be found, other than the San Roman documents.The artisanal workings on the property are currently producing 2000 tonnes per month on three drifts. The mines are roughly 10 meters wide and 150 meters long and are worked with very rudimental methods where by the workers blast into the drifts and haul the boulders out, hand sort and reduce them to 3 inch rocks with hand tools. The ore is then ready to ship to ENAMI, the local government owned processing plant, approximately 60km away. ENAMI does not accept less than 9% copper.Recent ore produced from the Descubrodoras vein runs as high as 50% copper content. At an average of 9% per tonne, ENAMI pays an estimated $582/tonne. With each 1% increase in grade the payment per tonne increases by an estimated $60. The high grade piles of hand sorted 40% ore would, therefore, pay $2,408/tonne. Eight additional exposed mineralized veins are ready for production and eleven more proposed will be ready for extraction when licenses are granted. The estimated time for licensing is 2 to 3 months as we are already in production on the property. With the purchase of heavy equipment we will increase production to an estimated 5,000 tonnes / month. We are currently stockpiling high grade ore and the ore below 9% as we intend to construct our own processing facility. We will only ship 9% ore to ENAMI.Preliminary exploration has been interpreted to suggest high potential for identification of additional high grade copper mineralized veins for subsequent development into additional producing drifts.Preliminary exploration also suggests mineralized trends and major vein identification in bedrock over 8 km. Five major veins have been identified and are currently being worked on. Each vein contains a multitude of subsidiary veins. The 5 major veins in question suggest that mineralization occurs over a 4 km trend and there is no reason to indicate that the mineralization is any different from the adjacent ore bodies at the Viuda mine which reach a depth of 550 meters or the same ore body as the Cerra Negro north district which is extensive and forms dominantly large ore bodies.Each of the 5 veins identified are believed to be substantial enough in ore content that they are capable of sustaining a large mining operation and produce for many years. The Atacama fault zone is renowned for its ore bodies and some of the mines in the district have been producing 50, 75 and 100 years.Aside from the main vein mineralization there are a number of splays and hundreds of subsidiaries that denote the Algarrobo as an IOCG (iron, oxide, copper and gold) property. Trenching and sampling of a 5 acre parcel has demonstrated gold values throughout of .5 g/t and as high as 12g/t. Although limited, samples for Cobalt are producing abnormally high results of .4%, more sampling is required as these grades are very high.Moly and silver grades are consistent and are of a significant value so as generate additional revenues.The Algarrobo is adjacent to the Chilean Iron Belt and there is enough iron in the sand to seriously consider production of iron as a byproduct or as a secondary source of revenue.The Algarrobo has all the indication of a world class deposit and is not a difficult property to mine. The Pacific ocean is 15 km away and pipe lines and desalination are fairly simple, implementation power is nearby and, although in need of upgrading, road infrastructure has been built.Significant opportunity exists to develop a processing plant for recovery of copper concentrate from "waste" and to process low grade copper mineralization from the Property and other workings in area and the larger District which could make the Algarrobo one of the most profitable and extensive mine in Chile in the very near future.
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