Almaden Announces Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Ixtaca
Gold-Silver Zone of the Tuligtic Project, Mexico
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan 22, 2014) -
Almaden Minerals Ltd. ("Almaden" or "the Company")
(TSX:AMM)(NYSEMKT:AAU) is pleased to announce the results of an
updated National Instrument (NI) 43-101 compliant Mineral Resource
Estimate on the Ixtaca Zone of its 100% owned Tuligtic Gold-Silver
Project, Mexico performed by Giroux Consultants Ltd. The Ixtaca
Zone is an epithermal gold (Au) and silver (Ag) vein deposit hosted
in limestone and volcanic rocks with roughly equal values per tonne
of each metal. The Mineral Resource is presented in gold equivalent
(AuEq) ounces and cut-offs based on price ratios, as the
preliminary metallurgical test work previously reported shows the
potential for roughly equivalent high recoveries for both gold and
silver using standard gravity and flotation recovery techniques.
Highlights of the updated Mineral Resource Estimate include:
- Measured Resource of 1,351,000 AuEq ounces (599,000 Au ounces,
38,600,000 Ag ounces) using the base case 0.5 grams per tonne (g/t)
AuEq cut-off comprised of 30.44 million tonnes grading at 1.38 g/t
AuEq (0.61 g/t Au and 39.44 g/t Ag)
- Indicated Resource of 2,182,000 AuEq ounces (1,049,000 Au
ounces, 58,140,000 Ag ounces) using the base case 0.5 grams per
tonne (g/t) AuEq cut-off comprised of 62.61 million tonnes grading
at 1.08 g/t AuEq (0.52 g/t Au and 28.88 g/t Ag)
- Inferred Resource of 717,000 AuEq ounces (362,000 Au ounces,
18,240,000 Ag ounces) using the base case 0.5 grams per tonne (g/t)
AuEq cut-off comprised of 22.70 million tonnes grading at 0.98 g/t
AuEq (0.50 g/t Au and 24.99 g/t Ag)
MEASURED RESOURCE |
AuEq Cut-off |
Tonnes greater than Cut-off |
Grade greater than Cut-off |
Contained Metal |
(g/t) |
(tonnes) |
Au (g/t) |
Ag (g/t) |
AuEq (g/t) |
Au (ozs) |
Ag (ozs) |
AuEq (ozs) |
0.3 |
44,590,000 |
0.48 |
30.27 |
1.07 |
682,000 |
43,400,000 |
1,528,000 |
0.5 |
30,440,000 |
0.61 |
39.44 |
1.38 |
599,000 |
38,600,000 |
1,351,000 |
0.7 |
22,320,000 |
0.73 |
48.00 |
1.67 |
525,000 |
34,450,000 |
1,196,000 |
1.0 |
15,620,000 |
0.88 |
58.66 |
2.03 |
444,000 |
29,460,000 |
1,018,000 |
2.0 |
6,000,000 |
1.33 |
86.51 |
3.01 |
256,000 |
16,690,000 |
581,000 |
INDICATED RESOURCE |
AuEq Cut-off |
Tonnes greater than Cut-off |
Grade greater than Cut-off |
Contained Metal |
(g/t) |
(tonnes) |
Au (g/t) |
Ag (g/t) |
AuEq (g/t) |
Au (ozs) |
Ag (ozs) |
AuEq (ozs) |
0.3 |
109,150,000 |
0.38 |
20.76 |
0.79 |
1,344,000 |
72,850,000 |
2,762,000 |
0.5 |
62,610,000 |
0.52 |
28.88 |
1.08 |
1,049,000 |
58,140,000 |
2,182,000 |
0.7 |
39,520,000 |
0.65 |
37.09 |
1.37 |
828,000 |
47,130,000 |
1,746,000 |
1.0 |
23,850,000 |
0.81 |
47.06 |
1.73 |
624,000 |
36,090,000 |
1,327,000 |
2.0 |
5,910,000 |
1.39 |
72.81 |
2.81 |
265,000 |
13,830,000 |
534,000 |
INFERRED RESOURCE |
AuEq Cut-off |
Tonnes greater than Cut-off |
Grade greater than Cut-off |
Contained Metal |
(g/t) |
(tonnes) |
Au (g/t) |
Ag (g/t) |
AuEq (g/t) |
Au (ozs) |
Ag (ozs) |
AuEq (ozs) |
0.3 |
43,410,000 |
0.36 |
17.52 |
0.70 |
498,000 |
24,450,000 |
974,000 |
0.5 |
22,700,000 |
0.50 |
24.99 |
0.98 |
362,000 |
18,240,000 |
717,000 |
0.7 |
13,630,000 |
0.63 |
31.56 |
1.25 |
277,000 |
13,830,000 |
546,000 |
1.0 |
7,700,000 |
0.79 |
39.81 |
1.57 |
197,000 |
9,860,000 |
389,000 |
2.0 |
1,200,000 |
1.18 |
73.69 |
2.61 |
45,000 |
2,840,000 |
101,000 |
Table 1: Ixtaca Zone NI 43-101 Measured, Indicated and Inferred
Mineral Resource Statement with the Base Case 0.5 g/t AuEq Cut-Off
highlighted. Also shown are the 0.3, 0.7, 1.0 and 2.0 g/t AuEq
cut-off results. AuEq calculation based on three year trailing
average prices of $1540/oz gold and $30/oz silver.
J. Duane Poliquin, chairman of Almaden commented: "This new
mineral resource estimate showcases the continuity of the Ixtaca
Zone gold and silver mineralisation and the success of our 2013
infill drilling program. It will form the basis of a Preliminary
Economic Assessment (PEA) we expect to report in the first half of
this year. While engineering studies will be the emphasis of this
year's work program, we plan to focus our 2014 Tuligtic Project
drill program on the testing of other high priority exploration
targets on the property."
About the Ixtaca Drilling Program and the Ixtaca Project
The 100% owned Ixtaca Zone is a blind discovery made by the
Company in 2010 on claims staked by the Company. The deposit is an
epithermal gold-silver deposit, mostly hosted by veins in carbonate
units and crosscutting dykes ("basement rocks") with a minor
component of disseminated mineralisation hosted in overlying
volcanic rocks. On January 31, 2013 the Company announced a maiden
resource on the Ixtaca Zone. Since that time drilling has been
focused on expanding and infilling the known resource base for a
PEA. The results of this work program are reflected in the updated
Mineral Resource reported in this release. The Company has selected
Moose Mountain Technical Services to lead a PEA on the Ixtaca
deposit. Knight Piesold Ltd. will provide certain engineering and
environmental design inputs for the PEA and have been retained to
help the Company with long lead item studies concerning
environmental monitoring, assessment and permitting matters. Apart
from drilling planned for 2014, work underway currently includes
additional metallurgical studies, environmental baseline monitoring
such as flora and fauna studies, climate monitoring, water quality
sampling and surface water hydrology monitoring, a geochemistry
program, and scoping level engineering studies. The updated
resource will form the basis of a PEA to be completed in the coming
months. In 2014 the Company anticipates redirecting drilling
efforts to the exploration of high priority epithermal targets
outside of the Ixtaca Zone but within the project boundaries.
The Ixtaca deposit and any potential mining operation would be
located in an area previously logged or cleared with negligible to
no current land usage. The Company currently employs roughly 70
people in its drilling program who live local to the Ixtaca
deposit. Local employees make up virtually all the drilling staff,
who have been trained on the job to operate the Company's wholly
owned drills. The Company has implemented a comprehensive science
based and objective community relations and education program for
employees and all local stakeholders to transparently explain the
exploration program underway as well as the potential impacts and
benefits of any possible future mining operation at Ixtaca. The
Company regards the local inhabitants to be major stakeholders in
the Ixtaca deposit's future along with the Company's shareholders.
Every effort is being made to create an open and clear dialogue
with our stakeholders to ensure that any possible development
scenarios that could evolve from the anticipated PEA are properly
understood and communicated throughout the course of the Company's
exploration and development program. The Company invites all
interested parties to visit www.almadenminerals.com to find out
more about our community development, education and outreach
programs.
Resource Estimate
The data available for the resource estimation consisted of 423
drill holes assayed for gold and silver. The estimate was
constrained by three dimensional solids representing different
lithologic and mineralized domains. Of the total drill holes 400
intersected the mineralized solids and were used to make the
resource estimate. Capping was completed to reduce the effect of
outliers within each domain. Uniform down hole 3 meter (m)
composites were produced for each domain and used to produce
semi-variograms for each variable. Grades were interpolated into
blocks 10 x 10 x 5 m in dimension by Ordinary kriging. Specific
gravities were determined for each domain from drill core.
Estimated blocks were classified as either Measured, Indicated or
Inferred based on drill hole density and grade continuity.
Metallurgical Gold and Silver Test Work
Almaden has previously reported preliminary metallurgical test
results (for details consult Almaden's news release of January 31,
2013 and the 2013 Tuligtic Project NI 43-101 Technical Report filed
on SEDAR). These first test results showed that standard gravity
and flotation techniques could result in non-optimised gold and
silver recoveries that are roughly equivalent for each geological
domain. The preliminary test work showed overall Au and Ag
recoveries from a combination of flotation and gravity
concentration to average 88% for Au and 82% for Ag across all
geologic domains. Further test work focussing on process
optimization is currently underway on existing and fresh domain
samples collected from whole drill core.
QAQC and Reporting
Almaden is currently in the final stages of preparing a NI
43-101 Tuligtic Project Mineral Resource Update Technical Report,
which will contain details of the mineral resource estimate. This
report is required to be announced and filed on SEDAR and the
Almaden website within 45 days of this news release and is authored
by Kris Raffle, P.Geo. of APEX Geoscience Ltd., and Gary Giroux,
M.A.Sc., P.Eng. of Giroux Consultants Ltd., both of whom act as
independent consultants to the Company, are Qualified Persons as
defined by National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and have
reviewed and approved the contents of this news release. The
analyses used in the preparation of the resource statement were
carried out at ALS Chemex Laboratories of North Vancouver using
industry standard analytical techniques. For gold, samples are
first analysed by fire assay and atomic absorption spectroscopy
("AAS"). Samples that return values greater than 10 g/t gold using
this technique are then re-analysed by fire assay but with a
gravimetric finish. Silver is first analysed by Inductively Coupled
Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectroscopy ("ICP-AES"). Samples that
return values greater than 100 g/t silver by ICP-AES are then re
analysed by HF-HNO3-HCLO4 digestion with HCL leach and ICP-AES
finish. Of these samples those that return silver values greater
than 1,500 g/t are further analysed by fire assay with a
gravimetric finish. Blanks, field duplicates and certified
standards were inserted into the sample stream as part of Almaden's
quality assurance and control program which complies with National
Instrument 43-101 requirements. In addition to in-house QAQC
measures employed by Almaden, Kris Raffle, P.Geo. completed an
independent review of Almaden's drill hole and QAQC databases. The
review included an audit of approximately 10% of drill core
analyses used in the mineral resource estimate. A total of 10,885
database gold and silver analyses were verified against original
analytical certificates. Similarly, 10% of the original drill
collar coordinates and downhole orientation survey files were
checked against those recorded in the database; and select drill
sites were verified in the field by Kris Raffle, P.Geo. The QAQC
audit included independent review of blank, field duplicate and
certified standard analyses. All QAQC values falling outside the
limits of expected variability were flagged and followed through to
ensure completion of appropriate reanalyses. No discrepancies were
noted within the drill hole database, and all QAQC failures were
dealt with and handled with appropriate reanalyses. The mineral
resource estimate referenced in this press release was prepared by
Gary Giroux, P.Eng., an independent Qualified Person as defined by
NI 43-101. All drill sections and related assay data from the 2013
drilling program used in the resource estimate will be posted to
the Company's website.
Cautionary Note concerning estimates of Measured, Indicated and
Inferred Mineral Resources
This news release uses terms that comply with reporting
standards in Canada and certain estimates are made in accordance
with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101"). NI 43-101
is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators that
establishes Canadian standards for all public disclosure an issuer
makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral
projects. These standards differ significantly from the
requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
("SEC"), and mineral resource information contained herein may not
be comparable to similar information disclosed by United States
companies.
This news release uses the terms "measured mineral resources",
"indicated mineral resources" and "inferred mineral resources" to
comply with reporting standards in Canada. We advise United States
investors that while such terms are recognized and required by
Canadian regulations, the SEC does not recognize them. United
States investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all
of the mineral deposits in such categories will ever be converted
into mineral reserves under SEC definitions. These terms have a
great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great
uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. Therefore,
United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all
or any part of the "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral
resources" or "inferred mineral resources" exist. In accordance
with Canadian rules, estimates of "inferred mineral resources"
cannot form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. It
cannot be assumed that all or any part of the "measured mineral
resources", "indicated mineral resources" or "inferred mineral
resources" will ever be upgraded to a higher category.
About Almaden
Almaden is a well-financed mineral exploration company working
in North America. The company has assembled mineral exploration
projects, including the Ixtaca Zone and the Tuligtic Project,
through its grass roots exploration efforts. While the properties
are largely at early stages of development they represent exciting
opportunities for the discovery of significant gold, silver and
copper deposits as evidenced at Ixtaca. Almaden's business model is
to find and acquire mineral properties and develop them by seeking
option agreements with others who can acquire an interest in a
project by making payments and exploration expenditures. Through
this means the company has been able to expose its shareholders to
discovery and capital gain without the funding and consequent share
dilution that would be required if the company were to have
developed these projects without a partner. The company intends to
expand this business model, described by some as prospect
generation, by more aggressively exploring several of its projects
including the Ixtaca Zone.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Morgan J. Poliquin, Ph.D., P.Eng., President, CEO and
Director
Almaden Minerals Ltd.
Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) nor the NYSEMKT
have reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of the contents of this news release which has been
prepared by management.. Except for the statements of historical
fact contained herein, certain information presented constitutes
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United
States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and
Canadian securities laws. Such forward-looking statements,
including but not limited to, those with respect to potential
expansion of mineralization, potential size of mineralized zone,
and size and timing of exploration and development programs,
estimated project capital and other project costs and the timing of
submission and receipt and availability of regulatory approvals
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of
Almaden to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others,
risks related to international operations and joint ventures, the
actual results of current exploration activities, conclusions of
economic evaluations, uncertainty in the estimation of mineral
resources, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be
refined, environmental risks and hazards, increased infrastructure
and/or operating costs, labour and employment matters, and
government regulation and permitting requirements as well as those
factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in
Almaden's Annual Information form and Almaden's latest Form 20-F on
file with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in
Washington, D.C. Although Almaden has attempted to identify
important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be
as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance
that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results
and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in
such statements. Almaden disclaims any intention or obligation to
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than
as required pursuant to applicable securities laws. Accordingly,
readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements.
Almaden Minerals Ltd.Morgan J. Poliquin, Ph.D., P.Eng.President,
CEO and Director604.689.7644604.689.7645www.almadenminerals.com
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