International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. ("ITH" or the "Company") (TSX:
ITH)(NYSE Amex: THM)(FRANKFURT: IW9) is pleased to provide an
operational update at its Livengood Gold Project near Fairbanks,
Alaska. To date, the Company has achieved key milestones in
advancing the Livengood project's pre-feasibility study (PFS) and
adding key members to its development team.
Highlights include:
-- Awarding of major contracts for the Livengood pre-feasibility study;
-- Continued augmentation of in-house development and permitting staff;
-- Optimization studies for maximizing the value of the deposit and
improving operational characteristics, inclusive of an oxide milling
option which brings higher recoveries and greater reliability to the
production plan;
-- Continued drilling focused on advancing key development-related projects
such as surface facility characterization, hydrology and metallurgy;
-- Continued drilling focused on resource infill and step out work as well
as the calculation of a new resource base with the addition of over
50,000 metres of new drilling in 2010; and
-- Planning of a new district-scale exploration program for the potential
discovery of new deposits along a 10-kilometre-long surface gold trend
on the Company's extensive 145 km2 Livengood land package.
Jeff Pontius, CEO of ITH, stated: "I am very pleased with the
rapid advancement of the Livengood project toward our corporate
goal of creating the next new mid-tier gold producer. The project
is hitting its milestones as planned, and I am most encouraged by
the excellent team we are assembling to take our Company through
the pre-feasibility/feasibility stage and on to a potential
production decision."
Pre-feasibility Study
Over the past three months, the Company has awarded key
contracts for the PFS to:
-- FLSmidth Salt Lake City, Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah, for metallurgical
engineering and design of processing plants, and to act as the lead
author for both the PFS final report and the resulting NI 43-101
technical report;
-- Knight Piesold & Co. of Denver, Colorado, for direction of studies on
site location, geotechnical characterization and design of waste rock
storage, heap leach pad, tailings storage facilities, and water storage
reservoirs;
-- Mine Development Associates of Reno, Nevada, to perform mine
engineering;
-- SRK Consulting of Denver, Colorado, to perform pit geotechnical design,
groundwater hydrogeology and rock geochemistry studies; and
-- MTB Project Management Professionals, Inc. to support ITH in the
management and integration of all studies.
Augmentation of Development Team
The Company has also strengthened its corporate and technical
management structure with the following appointments:
-- Carl Brechtel has been appointed as President, in addition to his
position as Chief Operating Officer, in order to bring greater focus on
the operating aspects of the Company. Jeffrey Pontius will continue as
the Company's CEO, focusing on corporate strategy and marketing.
-- Karl Hanneman has been appointed as General Manager, Livengood Project,
and has expanded the Fairbanks Project Management Team to include
Richard Moses as Site Operations Manager, Keith Malone as Technical
Services Manager, Chris Puchner as Chief Geologist and Denise Hertzog as
Environmental Manager.
Carl Brechtel, newly appointed President and COO of ITH, stated:
"The PFS Team brings extensive experience in the major technical
areas of mining project design and will make a major, positive
contribution to the optimization of the Livengood Project. In
addition, the Company has created a Fairbanks project group that
has extensive operating and project development experience in
Alaska and who are known and respected in the local community."
Drilling Progress at Livengood
The Company's Winter and Summer 2010 drill programs at Livengood
are projected to reach 70,000 metres by the end of the year and
will produce technical information for resource evaluation,
hydrogeologic characterization, geotechnical characterization,
metallurgical characterization and site condemnation. Key project
development studies have been accelerated into the third and fourth
quarters of 2010, with geotechnical characterization work being
conducted through the winter season. Preparation of heap leach
column tests was accelerated into the fourth quarter of 2010 due to
early completion of PQ core drilling and excavation of a
run-of-mine sample for large diameter column tests. The preparation
of the leach columns is currently underway at McClelland Labs in
Reno, Nevada.
In addition, the 2010 drilling has expanded the deposit at depth
as well as to the southwest and the results will form the basis of
an updated resource estimation projected to be released in the
first quarter of 2011.
The Company has now moved drilling activities to a year-round
basis in 2010 and will continue on this schedule in 2011. An
extensive $2.5 million district-wide exploration program will be
added to Livengood activities during 2011. This effort will be
augmented with a district-wide 3-D Induced Polarization geophysical
survey to aid in new deposit targeting. The main deposit
exploration drilling efforts will begin in early February and focus
on the western extension of the deposit as well as evaluation of
the extent of the newly discovered deep zone announced last week
(NR10-38).
Livengood Project Highlights
-- Drilling at the project continues to expand the deposit, with the
current estimated resource only representing a snapshot in time. The
latest resource estimate (as at June 22, 2010) of 409 Mt at an average
grade of 0.83 g/t gold (10.9 Moz Indicated) and 94 Mt at an average
grade of 0.79 g/t gold (2.4 Moz Inferred), both at a 0.5 g/t gold cut-
off grade, make it one of the largest new gold discoveries in North
America.
-- The Core and Sunshine Zones together account for most of the higher
grade mineralization (Indicated Resources of 202 Mt at an average grade
of 1.07 g/t gold and Inferred Resources of 40 Mt at an average grade of
1.06g/t gold, based on a cut-off grade of 0.70 g/t gold) and will form
the basis for starter pit design work.
-- The PFS will include work for processing alternatives to identify those
that have potential to make significant positive impacts on project
economics.
-- The geometry of the currently defined shallowly dipping, outcropping
deposit has a low strip ratio amenable to low cost open pit mining which
could support a high production rate and economies of scale.
-- No major permitting hurdles have been identified to date.
-- The Livengood project has a very favourable logistical location, being
situated 110 road kilometres north of Fairbanks, Alaska along the paved,
all-weather Elliott Highway, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Corridor, and the
proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline route. The terminus of the Alaska
State power grid lies approximately 80 kilometres to the south.
-- ITH controls 100% of its approximately 145 square kilometre Livengood
land package, which is made up of fee land leased from the Alaska Mental
Health Trust, a number of smaller private mineral leases and 115 Alaska
state mining claims.
Geological Overview
The Livengood Deposit is hosted in a thrust-interleaved sequence
of Proterozoic to Palaeozoic sedimentary and volcanic rocks.
Mineralization is related to a 90 million year old (Fort Knox age)
dike swarm that cuts through the thrust stack. Primary ore controls
are a combination of favourable lithologies and crosscutting
structural zones. In areas distal to the main structural zones, the
selective development of disseminated mineralization in favourable
host rocks is the main ore control.
Within the primary structural corridors, all lithologies can be
pervasively altered and mineralized. Devonian volcanic rocks and
Cretaceous dikes represent the most favourable host lithologies and
are pervasively altered and mineralized throughout the deposit. Two
dominant structural controls are present: 1) the major shallow
south-dipping faults which host dikes and mineralization which are
related to dilatant movement on structures of the original
fold-thrust architecture during post-thrusting relaxation, and 2)
steep NW trending linear zones which focus the higher-grade
mineralization which cuts across all lithologic boundaries. The net
result is broad flat-lying zones of stratabound mineralization
around more vertically continuous, higher grade core zones with a
resulting lower strip ratio for the overall deposit and higher
grade areas that could be amenable for starter pit production.
The surface gold geochemical anomaly at Livengood covers an area
6 kilometres long by 2 kilometres wide, of which approximately half
has been explored by drilling to date. Surface exploration is
ongoing as new targets are being developed to the northeast and
west of the known deposit.
Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance
Exploration and development work at the Livengood Project is
directed by Carl E. Brechtel (Colorado PE 23212, Nevada PE 8744)
who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
He is a member of AusIMM and SAIMM. Mr. Brechtel has supervised the
preparation of the scientific and technical information that forms
the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure
herein. Mr. Brechtel is not independent of ITH, as he is the
President and COO of the Company and holds incentive stock
options.
The Livengood exploration program is designed and supervised by
Chris Puchner, Chief Geologist (CPG 07048) of the Company, who is
responsible for all aspects of the work, including the quality
control/quality assurance program. Mr. Puchner is not independent
of ITH as he is an employee and holds shares and incentive stock
options.
On-site personnel at the project photograph the core from each
individual borehole prior to preparing the split core. Duplicate
reverse circulation drill samples are collected with one split sent
for analysis. Representative chips are retained for geological
logging. On-site personnel at the project log and track all samples
prior to sealing and shipping. All sample shipments are sealed and
shipped to ALS Chemex in Fairbanks, Alaska, for preparation and
then on to ALS Chemex in Reno, Nevada or Vancouver, B.C. for assay.
ALS Chemex's quality system complies with the requirements for the
International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025:1999.
Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of
reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. Quality
control is further assured by the use of international and in-house
standards. Finally, representative blind duplicate samples are
forwarded to ALS Chemex and an ISO compliant third party laboratory
for additional quality control.
About International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.
International Tower Hill Mines controls a 100% interest in the
world-class Livengood Gold Project accessible by paved highway 70
miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska. ITH is focused on the rapid
advancement of the project into a compelling potential development
project in 2011 while it continues to expand its current resource
and explore its 145 km2 district for new deposits.
On behalf of International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.
Carl Brechtel, President and Chief Operating Officer
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements and
forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking
statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US
securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of
historical fact, included herein including, without limitation,
statements regarding the anticipated content, commencement and cost
of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program results,
the discovery and delineation of mineral
deposits/resources/reserves, the potential for the expansion of the
estimated resources at Livengood, the potential to convert the
existing estimated resources at Livengood from the indicated and
inferred categories to the measured and indicated categories; the
potential for any production at the Livengood project, the
potential for higher grade mineralization to form the basis for a
starter pit component in any production scenario, the potential low
strip ratio of the Livengood deposit being amenable for low cost
open pit mining that could support a high production rate and
economies of scale, the potential for cost savings due to the high
gravity concentration component of some of the Livengood
mineralization, the potential for operational and capital cost
savings through the potential use of milling, with a
flotation-gravity circuit, the completion of a pre-feasibility
study at Livengood, the potential for a production decision to be
made regarding Livengood, the potential commencement of any
development of a mine at Livengood following a production decision,
business and financing plans and business trends, are
forward-looking statements.
Information concerning mineral resource estimates and the
preliminary economic analysis thereof also may be deemed to be
forward-looking statements in that it reflects a prediction of the
mineralization that would be encountered, and the results of mining
it, if a mineral deposit were developed and mined. Although the
Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give
no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct.
Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such
as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and
similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to
future events. The Company cautions investors that any
forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of
future results or performance, and that actual results may differ
materially from those in forward looking statements as a result of
various factors, including, but not limited to, variations in the
nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be
located, variations in the market price of any mineral products the
Company may produce or plan to produce, the Company's inability to
obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required
for its activities, the Company's inability to produce minerals
from its properties successfully or profitably, to continue its
projected growth, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully
able to implement its business strategies, and other risks and
uncertainties disclosed in the Company's Amended 2010 Annual
Information Form filed with certain securities commissions in
Canada and the Company's 2010 Annual Report on Form 40-F filed with
the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"),
and other information released by the Company and filed with the
appropriate regulatory agencies. All of the Company's Canadian
public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and its
United States public disclosure filings may be accessed via
www.sec.gov, and readers are urged to review these materials,
including the latest technical report filed with respect to the
Livengood Property.
Cautionary Note Regarding References to Resources and
Reserves
National Instrument 43 101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Projects ("NI 43-101") is a rule developed by the Canadian
Securities Administrators which establishes standards for all
public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical
information concerning mineral projects. Unless otherwise
indicated, all resource estimates contained in or incorporated by
reference in this press release have been prepared in accordance
with NI 43-101 and the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute
of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the "CIM") Standards on
Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council
on November 14, 2004 (the "CIM Standards") as they may be amended
from time to time by the CIM.
United States shareholders are cautioned that the requirements
and terminology of NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards differ
significantly from the requirements and terminology of the SEC set
forth in the SEC's Industry Guide 7 ("SEC Industry Guide 7").
Accordingly, the Company's disclosures regarding mineralization may
not be comparable to similar information disclosed by companies
subject to SEC Industry Guide 7. Without limiting the foregoing,
while the terms "mineral resources", "inferred mineral resources",
"indicated mineral resources" and "measured mineral resources" are
recognized and required by NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards, they
are not recognized by the SEC and are not permitted to be used in
documents filed with the SEC by companies subject to SEC Industry
Guide 7. Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not
have demonstrated economic viability, and US investors are
cautioned not to assume that all or any part of a mineral resource
will ever be converted into reserves. Further, inferred resources
have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to
whether they can be mined legally or economically. It cannot be
assumed that all or any part of the inferred resources will ever be
upgraded to a higher resource category. Under Canadian rules,
estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of a
feasibility study or prefeasibility study, except in rare cases.
The SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that
does not constitute SEC Industry Guide 7 compliant "reserves" as
in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit amounts. The
term "contained ounces" is not permitted under the rules of SEC
Industry Guide 7. In addition, the NI 43-101 and CIM Standards
definition of a "reserve" differs from the definition in SEC
Industry Guide 7. In SEC Industry Guide 7, a mineral reserve is
defined as a part of a mineral deposit which could be economically
and legally extracted or produced at the time the mineral reserve
determination is made, and a "final" or "bankable" feasibility
study is required to report reserves, the three-year historical
price is used in any reserve or cash flow analysis of designated
reserves and the primary environmental analysis or report must be
filed with the appropriate governmental authority.
This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way
as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.
NR10-39
Contacts: International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. Quentin Mai
Vice-President - Corporate Communications 1-888-770-7488 (toll
free) or (604) 683-6332 (604) 408-7499 (FAX)
qmai@internationaltowerhill.com International Tower Hill Mines Ltd.
Shirley Zhou Manager - Corporate Communications 1-888-770-7488
(toll free) or (604) 638-3247 (604) 408-7499 (FAX)
szhou@ithmines.com www.ithmines.com
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