Century Provides February Progress Update for Lamaque Gold Project

Mar 01, 2010 09:00 ET

Century Provides February Progress Update for Lamaque Gold Project

BLAINE, WASHINGTON--(Marketwire - March 1, 2010) - Century Mining Corporation ("Century" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:CMM) is pleased to provide a progress update at its 100% owned Lamaque gold project located in Val-d'Or, Quebec, Canada. The Company is fully financed for the reopening of the Company's Lamaque gold project.

To date, the Company has rehired 19 staff and 69 hourly employees, and is well on its way to advance the Lamaque gold project to production in the second quarter of 2010. The underground development crew is making excellent progress at the Lamaque #2 portal by re-opening the existing workings and advancing towards the first ore zone for extraction and stockpiling in March 2010. Recent activity includes commencement of the slashing of the underground workings, installation of new ventilation infrastructure, formation of a new health and safety committee, and mobilization of equipment and supplies to the first mining zone, #90 stope, to commence mining on Monday, March 1, 2010.

Other notable items include the commitment of approximately $7.0 million for new and near-new underground mining equipment for delivery commencing March 15th, 2010. New lease lines are being put in place to support the acquisition of this equipment, which includes a combination of low profile scoops and jumbo drills, as well as mine trucks and miscellaneous mine equipment. The equipment shop facility is full of existing equipment which is being readied for the start-up of mining the first week of March 2010.

As indicated, the power is on throughout the minesite and underground, and the Company continues to complete the modifications on the crusher system at the Lamaque mill facility. Work completed to date at the mill facility includes the inspection (and repair where necessary) of all grinding mill bearings, inspection of all pumps and motors, review of the water circuit, activation of the fire system, continued cleaning and refurbishing of other mill equipment where necessary, and the full review of the PLC (programmable logic control) computer mill operating system. The current jaw crusher is being dismantled and removed, and the new crushers have been ordered and will be in transit to the site by the first week of March. Final engineering is near completion for the installation of the new jaw and new cone crushers, and the mill refurbishment is on schedule.

An eight-hole exploration and definition drill program commenced on the Bedard Dyke during the week of January 25th, 2010, and was completed on February 17, 2010, with visible gold identified in each of the eight holes. Assays are pending and will be released when completed. Information from the drill program is currently being used to complete the block model for the dyke and to finalize the mine planning on the area for the upcoming development program in the Bedard Dyke zone. The Company will be displaying drill core from the recent drill program at the upcoming Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) conference from March 7 -10, 2010 at our booth location #2126. The Company is also reviewing tenders for an upcoming 150,000 foot (45,700+ meter) underground drill program at Lamaque over a three-year period.

The Company's Board of Directors visited the Lamaque site February 22 and 23, and is pleased with the progress to date. Senior management continues to focus its energy on the Lamaque mine development and is spending additional time at the site, where necessary, to ensure a smooth transition to production. The Company continues to recruit the additional employees needed to bring the Lamaque mine back to full production, and Century also has ten dedicated technical staff located in the corporate office working on additional reserve and resource delineation and project engineering.

About Century Mining Corporation

Century Mining Corporation is a Canadian junior gold producer and holds strategic land positions in Canada, United States and Peru. The Company's strategy is to grow to an intermediate gold producer through existing mine expansions and acquisitions of other strategic and synergistic gold opportunities.

On behalf of Century Mining Corporation,

Margaret M. Kent, President & CEO