Vancouver, BC – Los Andes Copper Ltd. (“Los Andes” or the “Company”, TSX Venture Exchange: LA) is pleased to announce that it has received results from the ongoing PFS metallurgical study which, consistent with all prior test work conducted, confirms the adoption of dry stacked tailings at the Company’s Vizcachitas Project in Chile (“Vizcachitas” or the “Project”).

During 2020 Los Andes has continued metallurgical testing at the SGS laboratory in Santiago, Chile. The testwork was carried out on representative samples from locked cycle flotation tailings that reproduce the expected particle size distribution for the coarse and fine tailings fractions. The planned Pre-Feasibility Study (“PFS”) system for the water recovery is to use vacuum belts for the coarse tailings and pressure filters for the fine tailings. The filtration rates for coarse fraction vacuum filtration are between 1.8 and 2.0 t/h/m2 and the fine fraction pressure filtration rates between 0.5 and 0.6 t/h/m2.The expected average filtered cake moisture is between 15% and 18%, confirming that the Vizcachitas ore is amenable to be filtered and dry-stacked.

As the PFS advances, the decision to implement filtered tailings for dry stacking reflects the commitment of Vizcachitas to become one of the early adopters of the environmental friendly technology that will guide global mining in the future. Filtration reduces water consumption by 50% when compared to thickened tailings disposal alternatives (60-70% reduction when compared to traditional disposal alternatives). Furthermore, filtered tailings can be handled by trucks, conveyors and shovels, as other solid bulk materials, eliminating the need for the construction and operation of a tailings dam. The latter is a milestone in operational flexibility and safety standards of particular relevance in a seismic country such as Chile.

Fernando Porcile, Executive Chairman, commented:

“The verification that dry stacked filtered tailings as a viable option for Vizcachitas puts us on the forefront of environmentally responsible practices being adopted for the future of sustainable mining globally.

“Water conservation is high on the agenda for many mining companies, especially in Chile, and therefore the fact that we can reduce our water consumption by approximately 60-70% by using this method is a really positive development.

“This is a proven technology which is now being carried over into tier one copper projects and I am excited that we will be one of the first, large scale, copper mines to utilise it.”

About Los Andes Copper Ltd.