Ecuador Gold updates mineral resources at the Condor Project, Ecuador with indicated mineral resources increasing to approximately 2 million ounces of gold and inferred mineral resources increasing to approximately 4.4 million ounces of gold

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TORONTO, July 23, 2013 /CNW/ - Ecuador Gold & Copper Corp. (TSX-V: EGX), (the "Company" or "EGX") is pleased to report that it has completed an updated mineral resource estimate for the Company's Condor Project in the Zamora Gold and Copper Belt, Southeast Ecuador.

Highlights:

• A 39% increase in Indicated gold resources to 82.7 million tonnes of 0.76 g/t Au (2.0 million ounces Gold)
  
  
• A 240% increase in Inferred gold resources to 241.2 million tonnes of 0.56 g/t Au (4.4 million ounces Gold)
  
  
• The large increase in inferred gold resource is mainly due to continued expansion of the Santa Barbara South Zone where assay results up to drill hole DSB-25 were incorporated into this updated resource for a total of 221.3 million tonnes of 0.57 g/t Au and 0.09% Cu (4.0 million ounces of gold).  Further drill results have since been released by the Company for drill holes DSB-26 and DSB-27 (see Company News Release dated June 13, 2013 for a summary of all EGX drilling to date at www.ecuadorgoldandcopper.com).  Drilling continues with eight more holes completed and drill holes DSB-36 and DSB-37 currently under way on the Santa Barbara Au-Cu porphyry deposit. Further results will be released as they become available.  The Company is planning to release another updated resource calculation at Santa Barbara by the end of October, 2013.
  
  
• A maiden inferred copper resource has been calculated at the El Hito Cu-Mo porphyry deposit 5km east of Santa Barbara of 161 million tonnes of 0.31% Cu (1.1 billion pounds of copper).

The new resource estimates were calculated by Phil Jones of Al Maynard and Associates in Perth, Australia and incorporate drill results from just over 10,000 meters of new drilling since August 2012 by EGX and all assays up to the end of May 2013.  The Company's updated resource table is presented below with new estimates at the Soledad epithermal deposit, the Santa Barbara Au-Cu porphyry and the El Hito Cu-Mo porphyry deposits shown in bold with an asterisk (*).  Al Maynard and Associates were also responsible for the previous resource estimates calculated in the Company's NI 43-101 Technical Report dated June 14, 2012 available at www.sedar.com.  A new NI 43-101 Technical Report with full details will be filed on www.sedar.com within 45 days of the date of this News Release.  Location maps and plans with simplified geology, collar locations and drill hole traces are available for reference on the Company's web site at www.ecuadorgoldandcopper.com.

Glenn Laing, President and CEO of Ecuador Gold and Copper Corp. comments:

"The updated resource estimate at Condor represents a substantial increase in the Company's resource base.  We estimate that our cost of discovery of new ounces on this well-endowed 8,300 hectare concession to be on the order of $2.00 per ounce to date.  We are extremely encouraged by the results from our initial 13,000m Phase I drill program and further new results at Santa Barbara as previously announced in drill holes DSB-26 and DSB-27 indicate continued expansion to the north and east of the mineralized South Zone as we continue to step out from areas of known mineralization to increase resources.  The Company has completed 15,400m of new drilling on the concession between August 2012 and the end of June 2013.  EGX boasts close to 2 million ounces of indicated gold resource in our epithermal gold deposits at Los Cuyes and Soledad in the north and 4 million ounces of inferred resources at Santa Barbara in the south and we've added almost 500,000 tonnes of copper (1.1 billion pounds) at El Hito to our resource inventory."

Table 1: CONDOR GOLD AND COPPER PROJECT RESOURCE BREAKDOWN MAY 31, 2013
		Tonnes (000 t)	Grade Au (g/t)	Ag (g/t)	Cu (%)	Au (000 oz)	Ag (000 oz)	Cu ( lbs)
GOLD RESOURCE Indicated:
Los Cuyes		46,848	0.82	6.19		1,235	9,323
Soledad	*	34,900	0.63	7.21		707	8,090
Enma		1,005	2.88	32.83		93	1,061
Total Indicated GOLD		82,753	0.76	6.94		2,035	18,474
GOLD RESOURCE Inferred:
Soledad	*	20,000	0.50	6.93		322	4,456
Santa Barbara South Zone	*	216,300	0.56		0.09	3,894
Santa Barbara North Zone		5,000	0.90			145
Total Inferred GOLD		241,300	0.56	0.57		4,361	4,456
COPPER RESOURCE Inferred:
El Hito	*	161,000			0.31			1.1 billion
Total Inferred COPPER		161,000			0.31			1.1 billion

Notes:

1)		The mineral resource estimate has been completed in accordance with provisions of Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101).  Mr. Phil Jones is an independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and its companion policy 43-101CP.
2)		The definitions of Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources reported here are as defined in the CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves adopted by the CIM Council, as amended.
3)		Inferred Resource estimates have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and economic and legal feasibility.  It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an Inferred Mineral Resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under NI 43-101, estimates of Inferred Mineral Resources may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies except for a preliminary economic assessment or scoping study.
4)		Sums may not add up due to rounding as all quantities are rounded to the appropriate number of significant figures.
5)		Tonnage and grades are in metric units.  Contained gold and silver ounces are reported as troy ounces, contained copper as imperial pounds.
6)		Gold resources have been calculated using a 0.25 g/t Au cutoff grade and copper resources at El Hito were calculated using a 0.2% Cu cutoff grade.  Inverse distance squared (ID2) algorithms using wide search ellipses and confined to geological wireframe controls were used in all estimates except at Soledad where inverse distance cubed (ID3) was used.  Block size estimated is 10 x 10 x 5m at El Hito and Santa Barbara, while 10 x 10 x 10m blocks were estimated at Soledad.
7)		Maximum search distances used to calculate Indicated resources at Soledad are 50m while Inferred resources were calculated using maximum distances of 100m from the block being estimated at Soledad, Santa Barbara and El Hito.
8)		Los Cuyes, Enma and Santa Barbara North Zone resources were previously reported in the Company's 43-101 Technical Report dated June 14, 2012 that is available for viewing at www.sedar.com.
9)		The new calculations of Indicated and Inferred Resource shown above are based on results from 36 diamond drill holes (11,883m) at Soledad, 25 diamond drill holes at Santa Barbara (11,261m) and 9 diamond drill holes at El Hito (4,687m).

Quality Assurance

The Company has implemented a quality assurance and quality control program to ensure that the transport, sampling and analysis of all samples are conducted in accordance with the best possible practices. The QA/QC program has been described for each previous release of drill hole results on the project (see recent News Releases at www.ecuadorgoldandcopper.com).  In preparation for the resource estimate, the company recently hired independent consultants to review the QA/QC program.  Further details will be released in the NI 43-101 Technical Report that will be posted at www.sedar.com within 45 days of the date of this news release.

Qualified Person

Mit Tilkov, P.Geo., Vice-President Exploration of Ecuador Gold and Copper Corp. is a qualified person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the project field work, and is responsible for the preparation of the technical information in this News Release.

Phil Jones, BAppSc (Geol), MAIG, MAusIMM, of Al Maynard and Associates prepared the mineral resource estimate.  He is an independent Qualified Person, as required by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.

Cautionary Note

The Company has not completed a preliminary economic assessment or feasibility study of the Condor Gold Project under National Instrument 43-101, and there is no assurance that the exploration and subsequent development operations of the Condor Gold Project will be economically or technically viable.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Ecuador Gold and Copper Corp.

Glenn Laing
President and CEO
Telephone: [phone]
E-mail: [email protected]