St. Elias Plans $0.25 million Exploration Expenditure at Gold
Summit Property in BC
VANCOUVER, British Columbia,
Oct. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/
-- St. Elias Mines Ltd. ("St. Elias" or the "Company") (SLI -
TSX.V) (Frankfurt Exchange: EKL) (U.S. Clearing Symbol:
SELSF) today announced a $0.25
million Phase One exploration plan for its Gold Summit
property in southwestern British
Columbia. St. Elias will commence the exploration activities
outlined in the plan within the month and expects to complete the
field portion of the planned activities during the current fiscal
year. St. Elias has obtained the required BC Government
permits to commence exploration, including diamond drilling and
mechanized trenching, for the Project.
"The Gold Summit Phase One exploration program consists of
mapping, surface sampling and geophysical surveys and will further
explore an intriguing, newly identified geophysical anomalous
zone," said Lori McClenahan,
President and CEO of St. Elias. "If the results are positive,
we intend to then proceed to a $1.2
million second-phase program that would primarily consist of
trenching and diamond drilling next summer's field season."
St. Elias will fund the first phase of the Gold Summit
exploration program from existing working capital. The second phase
of the program will likely require additional financing either by
St. Elias or by Havilah Mines Ltd., a proposed spin-off company
being established to own and explore St. Elias' British Columbian
properties. Gold Summit exploration plans will not be funded
by the proceeds of the financing that St. Elias announced on
October 22, 2012 as those proceeds
are intended to advance the Company's exploration activities in
Peru.
The 3,201-hectare Gold Summit property in British Columbia consists of eight mineral
claims and one placer claim in which St. Elias has a 100% interest,
as well as three mineral claims in which St. Elias has an 85%
interest.
The target commodity for Gold Summit is primarily gold, but may
also include silver with lead and zinc. The property is
located within the prolific Bralorne-Pioneer gold mining camp.
Reported historic production of the camp is approximately 4.15
million ounces of gold and 0.95 million ounces of silver. In
addition, there are numerous past producing gold mines in the area
(the Minto Mine, Congress Mine, Blackdome Mine) as well as a number
of advanced projects including Poison Mountain and Prosperity Lake
with 13.3 million ounces gold with 5.3 billion pounds copper.
Prior Exploration Completed by St. Elias at Gold
Summit
St. Elias identified the new geophysical zone at Gold Summit as
a result of an exploration program completed during the summer of
2011. The new zone is an appealing addition to Gold Summit's
previously established shear-hosted high grade gold quartz vein
targets.
In the course of the 2011 summer work, St Elias explored the
central part of the Gold Summit property and tested the
effectiveness of three types of ground geophysical surveys for
mapping rock types and defining potential shear bound
mineralization. Key activities and findings are as
follows:
- A 3D inversion induced polarization (IP) test survey covered
the north half of the survey area (five lines for 10
km).
- A total of 188 soil samples were collected on along a dirt
access road just south the grid area, following the contours of the
south slope of Marshall Ridge.
- A compilation of property gold in soil values shows the centre
of the property hosts a broad and open-ended northeast-southwest
trending gold anomaly measuring up to 750m wide by more than 2,000m
long. Within this large gold anomaly are at least six loosely
defined narrow linear zones that stand out as particularly
anomalous in gold.
- This composite geophysical zone measures at least 400m long by
up to 800m wide and is best defined by IP chargeability, with
elevated magnetic showing secondary features.
- The IP chargeability anomaly strongly trends off the northeast
limit of the survey area and is apparently narrowing to the
southwest.
- The exploration team established a total of twenty line km of
cut control grid line (10 lines) and entirely covered this area
with both ground magnetic and horizontal loop EM surveys. The
proposed Phase One program would expand the 2011 grid both to the
northeast and southwest.
- The geophysical surveys did not definitively identify or assist
in the extension of the Property's historical gold mineralization
hosted in east-west trending narrow shear structures. However
they did identified the new anomalous zone, which is large, open
ended, and trending northeast to east. The new zone is
loosely coincident with the Property's main gold in soil
anomaly.
Historical Exploration at Gold Summit
St. Elias' exploration team is drawing on the results of
historical exploration activities in the project area as
appropriate. Details of historical exploration activities are
available on the Company's website at www.steliasmines.com.
The Company cautions that while the company has no reason to
doubt the accuracy of the historical results, the data should not
be relied upon until confirmed by the Company's own exploration
that meets NI 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.
The contents of this news release have been verified by,
Michael A. Moore, P.Geo., a Canadian
geologist, 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 or call Danny Aaron at 1-888-895-5522 (toll free US and
Canada) or contact:
ST. ELIAS MINES LTD.
(signed "Lori McClenahan")
Lori McClenahan,
President
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.
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.