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TORONTO , Jan. 28, 2013 /CNW/ - Aureus Mining Inc. ("Aureus" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the metallurgical optimization test work programme undertaken as part of the on-going New Liberty Project ("New Liberty" or the "Project") optimization phase confirms a substantial improvement on the results in the original Technical Report published in October 2012 . Key highlights include:

Metallurgical test work has shown encouraging results with improved leach kinetics indicating that the recovery of 93% modelled in the Technical Report is achievable at a reduced carbon in leach ("CIL") residence time of 24 hours (previously 48 hours), with significantly lower reagent consumption. These improvements will impact positively on both the capital and operating costs. Overall plant recovery will be defined when an economic trade-off has been completed to quantify the recovery benefit associated with the inclusion of a regrind mill.

The extensive optimization test work was completed on a 240kg representative bulk composite sample and six variability composite samples from the New Liberty deposit and has produced the following key results:

Commenting on the metallurgical test results, David Reading stated:

"These metallurgical results, which indicate significantly lower operating costs due to factors which include a shorter CIL residence time and lower consumption of reagents, further demonstrate the strong economics of New Liberty. This is the first set of results for what is an on-going optimization programme, the full results of which will be available towards the end of the first quarter of this year. We are confident the results of this programme will further enhance the returns for all stakeholders on what will be Liberia's first commercial gold mine."

Introduction Subsequent to the feasibility study the Company initiated optimization phase for the Project. The objective of the optimization phase test work was to finalize the flowsheet and optimize reagent consumption while achieving an overall test work recovery of 93%.

Metallurgical Testwork Programme A metallurgical test work programme has been completed as part of the optimization phase. The test work programme was undertaken by the Australian, Perth based, ALS Laboratories ('ALS').

In October 2012 , 800kg of pre-crushed (12.7mm) core sample material was delivered to ALS's mineral progressing facility for metallurgical characterization test work. This material was the product material from comminution test work conducted on core samples at JKtech in September 2012 . The sample material received from JKtech was composited to produce a 240kg bulk master composite sample for test work aimed at finalizing the flowsheet and optimizing reagent consumption. This bulk sample was comprised of pre-crushed core samples from the western and central portions of the deposit at various depths. The master composite had a gold grade of 4.23g/t. In addition to the test work conducted on the master composite sample, further variability test work was conducted using the optimized flowsheet and reagent consumptions. Six (6) variability samples were prepared from the pre-crushed core samples as received from JKtech and four (4) additional drill core samples which were delivered to ALS in December 2012 . The four additional drill core sample mass totalled 136kg. The variability samples had a measured gold grade ranging from 4.26 g/t - 10.44g/t.

The scope of work of the test work programme included:

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Further Metallurgical Testing on New Liberty Ore Confirms Gold Recovery and Reduces Reagent Consumption and CIL ...