Benton and JV Partner Buchans Minerals to Drill Long Range Base Metal Targets & Conduct Soil Geochem Over Goldquest Prospect
February 24 2011 - 9:00AM
Marketwired
Benton Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE: BTC) ("Benton") and Buchans
Minerals Corporation (TSX VENTURE: BMC) ("Buchans Minerals") and or
the "Companies" are pleased to announce plans to commence drilling
several base metal targets on the Long Range 50/50 joint venture
property in the next few weeks. The program is expected to include
approximately 1,000 metres of drilling in ten holes testing three
priority targets including:
-- The Portage Nickel prospect, where previously trenched bedrock exposures
yielded grab samples assaying up to 2.70% nickel, 0.58% copper and 0.24%
cobalt, and limited drilling intersected mineralized gabbro, including a
section assaying 0.44% nickel, 0.22% copper and & 0.016% cobalt over
12.0 metres core length, including 1.36% nickel, 0.36% copper and 0.039%
cobalt over a 1 metre core length. This prospect will be further tested
as a near surface bulk tonnage target.
-- The Range Copper prospect, where previous drilling returned an
intersection of semi-massive to massive sulphides averaging 0.39% copper
and 0.032% cobalt over a core length of 37.8 metres. Drilling will test
the zone over a minimum strike length of 160 m, to a depth of 150
metres, as predicted from recent interpretation of geophysical data
collected in 2010. It is hoped that the new holes will better
characterize the grade and geometry of the zone, which is considered to
have good potential to host higher base metal grades within what may be
a large, zoned, sulphide body.
-- The String anomaly, an untested conductive anomaly located approximately
four kilometres southwest of the Portage Nickel prospect and potentially
on strike and associated with similar, but more concentrated, gabbro-
hosted nickel sulphide mineralization.
A drilling contract has been awarded to Logan Drilling of
Stewiacke, Nova Scotia and drilling is expected to commence within
the next few weeks and take four weeks to complete. A map showing
the location of the proposed drilling is available at
http://www.buchansminerals.com.
Goldquest Update:
Following the discovery of the Goldquest prospect at the end of
2010, the Joint Venture is currently evaluating snow conditions
with a view to commencing additional work over the prospect later
this month to expand the soil geochemical survey covering an
expanded area measuring 1.5 x 2.0 kilometres. This survey is to be
undertaken to further extend and define an open-ended, one
kilometre long, prospective trend detected as anomalous gold in
soils and float by preliminary surveys completed in December of
2010.
Qualified Person:
Paul Moore, M.Sc., P.Geo., (NL), Buchans Mineral's Vice
President of Exploration, is acting as Qualified Person in
compliance with National Instrument 43-101 with respect to this
release and has reviewed the contents for accuracy. Quoted assays
and QAQC procedures described in detail in previous Company press
releases dated November 3 and November 18, 2009.
About Benton
Benton is a Canadian based junior with multiple joint ventures
and a diversified property portfolio in Gold, Nickel, Copper, and
Platinum group elements. The Company currently has approximately
$17 million in cash, owns approximately 55.4 million shares and
2.43 million warrants in Coro Mining Corp. (TSX: COP), holds
approximately 348,000 shares of Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE:
SWC), holds 782,500 shares in Marathon Gold Corp. (TSX: MOZ), holds
1.6 million shares in Puget Ventures (TSX VENTURE: PVS), holds 4
million shares of Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:
MMV), and holds 815,000 shares of Bell Copper Corporation (TSX
VENTURE: BCU).
About Buchans Minerals
Buchans Minerals is an Atlantic Canada based resource company
that is focused on exploring and developing mineral properties in
New Brunswick and the historic Buchans mining camp in central
Newfoundland, Canada.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources
Corp.,
Stephen Stares, President
Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to
the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such
forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties.
THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT
RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
Contacts: Benton Resources Corp. Stephen Stares President (807)
475-7474 (807) 475-7200 (FAX) www.bentonresources.ca Investor
Relations Clair Calvert 204-799-2086