Vancouver, B.C.; August 23rd,
2013; Confederation Minerals Ltd. (TSX.V:CFM; OTCQX:CNRMF):
("Confederation" or the "Company") is pleased to announce
assay results from the first hole of their 2013 summer drilling
program at their Newman Todd gold project in the Red Lake District,
northern Ontario. Confederation has the right to earn a 70%
interest in the project from Redstar Gold Corp. (TSXV:RGC).
Drilling was re-initiated after a
hiatus following a successful winter 2012-2013 drilling program to
allow for assimilation and interpretation of results to date.
Significantly, the winter 2012-2013 drilling program showed that
high-grade gold mineralization is present at very shallow levels
within the major structural host, called the Newman Todd Structure
("NTS"), a zone of quartz-carbonate alteration and brecciation
reaching over 200 meters in width and exceeding 2 km in strike
length within the property boundaries. When combined with a deep
hole which intersected gold mineralization approximately 1 km below
surface, gold has been intersected over a strike length of over 1.8
km, and from surface to approximately 1 km depth (refer to previous
news releases and the Company's website www.confederationmineralsltd.com).
Thus, drilling to date by the
Company has identified an exceptionally large volume of potentially
gold-bearing rock within the NTS, with most holes completed to date
intersecting significant gold-bearing intersections (refer to "hit
rate" statistics on the Company's website).
Drill hole NT-151 was drilled on Section
2000NE at an angle of -50 degrees towards the southeast within an
area referred to as the "Hinge Zone", which forms a very small
portion of the approximately 2 kilometer-long gold-mineralized
system.
Drilling highlights of hole NT-151
are tabulated below:
---------------------------------------------------------
|HoleID| |From (m)|To (m)|Width (m)|Au (g/t)|
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151| |139.0 |140.0 |1.0 |3.19 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|and |239.0 |244.0 |5.0 |5.30 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|including |242.5 |244.0 |1.5 |13.46 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|and |242.5 |243.0 |0.5 |12.10 |
| |including | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|and including|243.0 |243.5 |0.5 |24.00 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|and |281.0 |283.0 |2.0 |3.75 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|including |281.0 |282.0 |1.0 |4.65 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|and |304.0 |305.0 |1.0 |5.23 |
---------------------------------------------------------
Table 1: Significant Results
* Width is calculated
as core length and does not imply true width of the zone. Weighted
average gold intervals apply a 0.20 g/t lower cut-off. Internal
dilution within reported intervals does not exceed core lengths of
3 metres unless otherwise indicated.
Assays from additional holes will be
reported on as they are received from the laboratory and have
passed quality control criteria implemented by the Company.
Incomplete results from drill hole NT-152 have been received and
will be released shortly, subsequent to QAQC protocol.
NT-151 is the first of a number of
holes placed to follow potential extensions of highly-encouraging
results returned from nearby holes which returned near-surface,
high-grade gold values. For example, as stated in the Company's May
1, 2013 press release, drill hole
NT-148 intersected 7.0 meters grading 32.57 g/t gold beginning at
just 168 meters below surface. Nearby hole NT-142
intersected 6.0 meters grading
13.19 g/t gold beginning at 41.5 meters below the surface.
Mineralized outcrops at surface indicate that the NTS is
mineralized to surface, which carries significant implications for
future economic considerations.
The total drilling by Confederation
at Newman Todd now totals 41,525 meters in 106 holes over
approximately 1.8 km of strike length within the highly-altered,
gold-bearing NTS. A complete list of assay results, descriptions of
the geological and structural setting, representative cross
sections and long sections which illustrate the emerging morphology
of the mineralized zones, as well as the location of all drill
holes completed to date can be observed on Confederation's website
at www.confederationmineralsltd.com.
Going Forward:
Exploring a Large, Gold-Bearing System
Confederation has been diligently
exploring, primarily by drilling, with concurrent geological and
geochemical interpretation, this significant gold-hosting
structure. Meanwhile, the Company is evolving the business plan to
maximize project advancement while managing a conservative budget.
A summary of where the Company is positioned with respect to
going-forward options to take an exploration success towards a
potential economic reality is as follows:
-
1.Newman Todd
is situated in the Red Lake Greenstone Belt, an assemblage of
approximately 4 billion year-old volcanic rocks and associated
intrusions which also host Goldcorp's world-class Campbell Red
Lake, and other multi-million ounce gold deposits. Goldcorp's Red
Lake deposit, which has been in production for approximately 75
years, typifies the Canadian Shield "mesothermal" type gold
deposits which have extreme depth extensions (measured in thousands
of feet below surface) and are, as a group, amongst the
highest-grade gold deposits in the world;
-
2.Mesothermal
gold deposits, although high grade, are extremely complex in a
structural geological sense. The adage "drill for structure, drift
for grade" was coined specifically for these deposits;
-
3.Newman Todd
typifies the "mesothermal" style of gold mineralization in that
approximately 1 km of depth extension has been documented by the
drilling to date. What sets Newman Todd apart from the majority of
high-grade, mesothermal gold deposits in Canada and other
greenstone terrains in the world (South Africa, Tanzania,
Australia) is the highly-anomalous strike length over which gold
mineralization has been intersected by drilling carried out to date
(over 1.8 km);
-
4.The strict
structural control on gold mineralization, which can lead to very
complex morphologies of ore shoots, is very prevalent at the nearby
Red Lake deposit and all other deposits of this class. There, as in
most mesothermal deposits which can host up to and exceeding 20
million ounces of gold, drilling can answer only part of the
geological puzzle. Once gold-bearing structures have been
identified, an underground program, consisting of drifting along
the auriferous structures, is required to produce an enhanced
understanding of the controls on gold mineralization, a more
accurate representation of gold grade, and to provide important
information for future resource estimations;
-
5.It is not
feasible to take the entire approximately 2.0 km of strike length
of the NTS, with an open depth, to the stage where an
all-encompassing resource estimation can be carried out without
drilling many more tens of thousands of meters, and expending tens
of millions of dollars. Exploring a sufficient volume of structure
to determine required grade and tonnage targets to support economic
development is more realistic. If these targets can be successfully
attained within a small component of the structure then further
development, at increased scale, would suggest significant
additional merit within an already financially de-risked project;
and
-
6.The Company
has retained Mining Plus Ltd. to prepare a Preliminary Economic
Assessment of a component of the property (refer to the
Company's press release dated April
8th, 2013). Mining Plus is working with
Confederation geological staff to interpret the structural controls
on mineralization, continuity of gold mineralization and
metallurgical recoveries of gold (see the Company's press release
dated July 8th, 2013). Mining Plus is also
working to complete the Preliminary Economic Assessment within the
context or a realistic exploration budget. The Company is also in
the process of contracting a knowledgeable structural geologist,
with extensive experience in the structural habits of gold
concentrations in the large mesothermal deposits of northern
Canada. This information will be used to carry out an analysis of
the orientation of drill holes completed to date and to determine
the feasibility of re-orienting specific holes in areas of known
mineralization to better understand the preferred structural
orientation of the mineralized zones.
Concurrently, plans are underway for
a limited program of surface stripping of the NTS where it is
buried under shallow cover. By exposing the mineralization in three
dimensions, coupled with detailed geochemical sampling and
structural mapping of the stripped mineralization, the objective is
to gather important structural information with which to
extrapolate along the trend.
Conclusion
The Company plans to aggressively
advance the exploration of the Newman Todd project through a
combination of:
-
1.Preliminary
economic studies of restricted areas of the much larger system to
determine if open cast mining might be a viable option during the
early stages of the project;
-
2.Continue
drilling on both shallow and much deeper targets along the trend of
the NTS to strengthen the potential of the entire system;
-
3.Identify a
target for shallow, underground exploration, via a ramp from
surface, to strengthen our understanding of the grade and overall
width and tenor of the mineralization and to provide samples for
mineable grade and metallurgical recovery studies;
-
4.Carry out
structural geological mapping studies, perhaps aided by ground
and/or airborne geophysical surveys if deemed applicable, to
further our knowledge of the structural setting of gold
mineralization and aid in identifying high-priority drill targets,
in turn resulting in a more efficient and cost-effective drilling
program going forward; and
-
5.Continue
with our efforts to prepare environmental base-line studies and
progress along our road map for obtaining all necessary permits for
open-cast and underground excavations and processing.
Andrea Diakow, P.Geo,
is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101
and has reviewed the technical content relating to the disclosed
drill results in this news release. Core samples from the program
were cut in half using a diamond cutting saw and were sent to
Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Red Lake, Ontario, an accredited
mineral analysis laboratory. All samples were analyzed for gold
using standard Fire Assay-AA techniques. Samples returning over 3.0
g/t gold were analyzed utilizing standard Fire Assay-Gravimetric
methods. Certified gold reference standards, blanks, and field
duplicates were routinely inserted into the sample stream as part
of Confederation's quality control/quality assurance
program.
About CFM
Confederation Minerals Ltd. is a
British Columbia based company engaged in the business of
acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties. Its
objective is to locate and develop economic precious and base
metals properties of merit. Confederation Minerals Ltd. holds an
Option Agreement to acquire up to 70% of the Newman Todd project in
the Red Lake Mining District of Northern Ontario, as well as 100%
ownership in another property in the Red Lake Mining District of
Ontario.
This press release
was prepared by Lawrence Dick, Ph.D., P.Geo.and CEO
On Behalf of the Board:
"Brian Bapty"
Brian Bapty, Ph.D.
President and Director
CORPORATE INQUIRIES
Confederation Minerals Ltd.
Suite 1980, 1075 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, B.C.
Brian Bapty, President and Director
604-652-3950
brian.bapty@confederationmineralsltd.com
www.confederationmineralsltd.com
Neither the TSX Venture
Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is
defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this
release.
Forward-Looking
Information
This news release includes
certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements".
All statements in this news release, other than statements of
historical facts, that address events or developments that the
Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical
facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words
"expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends",
"estimates", "proposes", "project", "potential" and similar
expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may",
"could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the
expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based
on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of
future performance and actual results may differ materially from
those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause
the actual results to differ materially from those in
forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and
exploration successes, and continued availability of capital
and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions.
Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees
of future performance and actual results or developments may differ
materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and
opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are
made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company
undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements
in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or
other factors, should change.
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Figure 1: Cross
Section 2000 Showing Geology and Assay Highlights
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