VANCOUVER, British Columbia,
April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --
Lori McClenahan, President, Intigold
Mines Ltd. and St. Elias Mines Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: SLI) (PINKSHEETS:
SELSF) (US Clearing Symbol: SELSF) (FRANKFURT: EKL) (collectively
the "Companies"), announces today the following update and overview
with respect to the Cueva Blanca Gold Property (the "Property")
located in northwest Peru. The Property is owned 100% by St.
Elias Mines Ltd. Intigold Mines Ltd. has an option to acquire
a 60% interest in the Property.
The Companies have initiated field studies in the Cueva Blanca
area in preparation for diamond drilling. At this time, it is
anticipated that very little field work will be required prior to
mobilizing drilling equipment and crews to the site. The
initial drilling targets include the Cruz vein, the Cruz breccia
bodies as well as the Bi-Hg quartz manto zone. The economic
targets at the property are gold and silver.
The Companies have recently been approached by Compania de Minas
Buenaventura to conduct a review of the property. The
Companies are taking this into consideration.
Cueva Blanca Property Agreement
Intigold acquired an option to earn a 60% carried interest in
the Property, subject to a 1.5% net smelter return royalty ("NSR"),
from St. Elias in consideration of Intigold making cash payments of
$200,000 to St. Elias over a two-year
period, issuing 1,000,000 common shares in the capital of Intigold
to St. Elias and incurring $1.5-million in exploration expenditures on the
Property over a three-year period.
In addition, Intigold has the right to purchase one-half of the
1.5% NSR from St. Elias for the sum of $1,500,000, thereby reducing the NSR payable from
1.5% to 0.75%.
Cueva Blanca Property
The Property covers approximately 5,000 hectares (50km2), and is
located in the Lambayeque department in northwestern Peru, within the Northern Peru Miocene
metallogenic belt. This belt is defined by a large
number of world-class gold and copper-gold deposits of similar age
(5-25 million years). Giant gold deposits within this belt
include Yanacocha, Lagunas Norte, and Pierina. Also of great
importance are world-class Cu+/-Au porphyry deposits such as
Rio Blanco, Canariaco, La Granja,
Cerro Corona, Minas
Conga-Galeno-Michiqillay, Magistral, and Antamina. The giant
gold deposits and the Cu-Au porphyries often occur in clusters
(e.g. Yanacocha-Conga-Galeno-Michiqillay). Discrete vein and
breccia-hosted deposits of gold and polymetallic mineralization
occur adjacent to some Cu porphyry deposits.
The Cueva Blanca property is bordered to the south and southeast
by mineral concessions of Vale S.A. Barrick Gold holds extensive mineral concessions
four kilometres to the north.
The Property lies within the northern member of a pair of
profound east-west tectonic warps that cross northern Peru.
These flexures are marked by an abrupt change in the direction of
the regional geological trend from northwest to
east-west. Within the southernmost of these tectonic
features is the multi-million ounce Yanacocha gold mine and
numerous Cu-Au porphyry deposits. Both the northern and
southern structures are on the order of 60-80 km wide; they extend
right across the Andes from the Pacific Ocean to the Amazon River
Basin.
The locations of the giant Yanacocha gold mine and other gold
deposits and Cu-Au porphyries of the Cajamarca district may be
controlled or at least influenced by east to north-east structures
within the large-scale southern tectonic flexure. The Cueva
Blanca property, as well as the Canariaco and Rio Blanco Cu-Au
porphyries and gold prospects such as Las Huaquillas (Inca One) and
Rio Tabaconas (Golden Alliance,
GLL), appear to be with the northern tectonic flexure.
An important feature of the Cueva Blanca property is the Cruz
gold/silver epithermal vein system. Some examples of
exceptional classic epithermal deposits with geologic
characteristics similar to the Cruz vein system are Kupol
(Russia), El Penon (Chile), and Tayoltita, Guanajuato, and Pachuca (Mexico).
Exploration History
Cueva Blanca exploration history has followed the classic
pattern: acquisition based on geologic reasoning; property-wide
prospecting and subsequent discovery of precious metal showings;
detailed surface exploration of mineralized zones; and initial
diamond drilling. The historical results provide an
indication of the potential of the Property and are relevant to
continuing exploration.
The previously announced confirmation exploration work,
conducted in 2011, consisting of sampling of outcrops and trenches
at the Cruz Vein portion of the Property. Assay results
indicate a weighted average grade of 2.84 g/t gold across an
average width of 4.3 meters and along a strike length of 850 meters
in the Cruz Vein system.
Historical exploration work on the Cruz vein system, which
included 91 trenches and 18 drill holes totalling 1,860 metres,
proved that the quartz veins consistently contain gold and silver
and that the Cruz vein system is a classic epithermal gold-silver
deposit. Historical results of gold assays from the Cruz vein
drill program include 6.0 metres of 2.31 grams per tonne, 6.0
metres of 2.96 grams per tonne (including 1.75 metres of 7.45 grams
per tonne), 1.5 metres of 22.68 grams per tonne, 9.5 metres of 8.09
grams per tonne (including 1.5 metres of 35.84 grams per tonne),
10.8 metres of 2.4 grams per tonne and 1.2 metres of 6.95 grams per
tonne. The vein intersections contain virtually no sulphides.
The vein system is open along strike to the southeast and
northwest, and to depth. (Summary report, Sivertz, 1999.)
While the Companies have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the
historical results, the existing data should not be relied upon
until the Companies' own exploration work confirms that the data
meet National Instrument 43-101 standards for disclosure.
Historical results and the work that generated them predate
the enactment of National Instrument 43-101 and accordingly may not
meet the requirements of that policy.
Qualified Person
The technical contents of this news release have been verified
by George Sivertz, P.Geo., a
Canadian geologist residing in Peru, who is a "qualified person" as defined
in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Projects.
For additional information on St. Elias and its projects, please
visit us at www.steliasmines.com for further information on
IntiGold, please visit www.intigold.com or call 1-888-895-5522
(toll free US and Canada) or
contact:
U.S. Investor Relations Consultant
Herbert Haft
The Haft Group, Inc.
Tel: (212) 759-8865
Email: herbhaft@haftgroupinc.com
herbhaft@aol.com
ST. ELIAS MINES LTD.
(signed "Lori
McClenahan")
Lori McClenahan,
President
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not
accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the
contents of this document.
This News Release may contain forward-looking statements
including, but not limited to, comments regarding the timing and
content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations,
potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking
statements address future events and conditions and therefore
involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may
differ materially from those currently anticipated in such
statement.
SOURCE St. Elias Mines Ltd.