Spanish Mountain Gold Announces Updated Resource Estimate and Grade
Increase
M&I Resources Increased by Additional 10%; Grade Increase
Ranges from 11% to 41% within Test Block
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Apr 10, 2014) -
Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd. ("the Company") (TSX-VENTURE:SPA) is
pleased to announce an updated resource estimate (National
Instrument 43-101 compliant) for its wholly owned Spanish Mountain
Gold Project (the "Project") in central British Columbia, Canada.
This resource estimate is an update to the previous estimate
disclosed by the Company in a news release dated July 24, 2012. The
updated resource was based on all drill data, including data from
the 9,229 metre (56 drill holes) reverse circulation ("RC")
drilling program completed by the Company during 2013.
The Company has completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment as
disclosed in a news release dated November 14, 2012. That
assessment established an economic cut-off of 0.2 g/t gold based on
assumptions of operating costs for a potential open pit operation.
The following table presents the updated resource at a cut-off
grade of 0.2 g/t gold.
Spanish Mountain
Updated Resources (at a 0.20 g/t gold cut-off) Effective April,
2014
Classification |
Tonnes |
Gold grade (g/t) |
Silver grade (g/t) |
Gold (ounces) |
Silver (ounces) |
Measured |
37,370,000 |
0.59 |
0.66 |
710,000 |
790,000 |
Indicated |
200,460,000 |
0.43 |
0.69 |
2,790,000 |
4,450,000 |
Measured plus Indicated |
237,830,000 |
0.46 |
0.69 |
3,500,000 |
5,280,000 |
Inferred |
310,970,000 |
0.35 |
0.63 |
3,500,000 |
6,300,000 |
Tonnages and contained ounces presented above may not total
as shown due to rounding. Readers are cautioned that mineral
resources, which are not mineral reserves, do not have demonstrated
economic viability.
Grade
Increase
In news releases dated March 7, 2013 and April 10, 2013 the
Company announced the potential for a grade increase as the core
drilling used for the majority of the resource drilling appeared to
underestimate the resource grade. The current resource estimate, in
addition to providing an overall resource estimate which
incorporates all the core drilling and RC drilling completed to
date as reported above, provides confirmation for the magnitude of
the grade increase based on a test block ("Test Block") of
approximately 50 million tonnes within the overall resource. The
Test Block is located in the central portion of the deposit in the
area of the initial pit development as proposed in the 2012 PEA.
Resource and grade estimates were made for the Test Block within
the overall deposit based on each of the core drilling and RC
drilling results in this area.
To test the effects of using only RC holes, blocks within this
test volume, were re-kriged using only RC composites in a similar
manner to the 2012 Resource Estimate. Within the RC drilling area
of the Test Block, only the upper argillite, tuff and lower
argillite domains were present and estimated. Since the RC holes
did not penetrate below 950 elevation, only blocks above this level
were compared. A comparison of the RC block grades with the 2012
estimate, which used only core drill holes, is tabulated below.
Comparison of Average Block Gold Grades between the Core
Estimate and the RC Estimate
Domain |
Drill type |
Number of Blocks |
Average Estimated Au (g/t) |
% Increase |
Upper Argillite |
Core holes |
3,014 |
0.52 |
11.5% |
RC holes |
3,014 |
0.58 |
Tuff |
Core holes |
8,498 |
0.40 |
25.0% |
RC holes |
8,498 |
0.50 |
Lower Argillite |
Core holes |
23,939 |
0.24 |
41.7% |
RC holes |
23,939 |
0.34 |
The reader is cautioned that the above results demonstrating an
increased grade and gold content apply to the Test Block only and
cannot be assumed to apply to the entire deposit as the Company's
RC program did not cover any area outside of the Test Block.
Highlights
The latest infill drilling program has been successful in
increasing the Project's resource in the Measured and Indicated
categories at a gold cut-off grade of 0.2 g/t when compared to the
previous resource estimate by the following amounts:
- An increase of 27% in contained gold ounces within the Measured
category.
- An increase of 6.5% in contained gold ounces within the
Indicated category.
- An increase of 10% in contained gold ounces within the Measured
and Indicated categories.
Analysis of all available drill data has concluded that the
grade within a test volume of about 50 million tonnes is shown to
be increased by 11% to 41% depending on the geologic domain through
the use of RC drilling and that the precision of the assays from RC
samples is up to three times greater than for the core drilling
samples.
Morris Beattie, CEO said today: "We are very pleased that our
expectations for the demonstration of a potential grade increase
have been met and that this increase has yielded an increase in the
Measured and Indicated resource categories for the deposit. The
Company will now focus on additional drilling this summer and on
advancing the project in other areas. The Company will announce the
details of plans for the 2014 field season in due course."
Details of the parameters used in the resource estimate for the
total deposit are as follows:
- Out of a total of 872 drill holes provided, 670 core drill
holes and 127 RC drill holes penetrated the various geologic
solids. Missing or unsampled intervals were filled with 0.001 g/t
gold. Samples not analyzed for silver from earlier drill campaigns
were left blank.
- A three dimensional geologic model was produced by the
Company's geologist using Vulcan 3D mining software. The
mineralization was modeled into an upper argillite unit, an altered
siltstone unit, a tuff unit and a lower argillite unit. All
material outside of these domains was considered waste.
- The gold grade distributions within the mineralized domains
were examined to determine if capping was required. In each case
the distribution for gold was strongly skewed. A lognormal
cumulative frequency plot was produced for gold in each domain and
in all cases showed multiple overlapping lognormal populations.
Capping levels were determined to reduce the effect of small high
grade populations that can be considered erratic. A similar
procedure was used to cap silver values.
- Gold and silver were modeled separately for each geologic
domain using pairwise relative semivariograms.
- A block model with blocks 15 x 15 x 5 meters in dimension was
superimposed over the mineralized geologic solids.
- Ordinary kriging was used to interpolate grades into blocks
within the mineralized solids. In all cases, the kriging exercise
was completed in a series of four passes with the search ellipse
for each pass being a function of the semivariogram ranges.
The completed National Instrument 43-101 compliant report will
be available under the profile of the Company on SEDAR within 45
days.
Independent resource estimate consultant Gary Giroux MASc,
P.Eng. (BC) of Giroux Consultants Ltd. has authorized the release
of this estimate. Mr. Giroux is a qualified person by virtue of
education, experience and membership in a professional association.
He is independent of both the Company and ALS Chemex, applying all
of the tests pursuant to section 1.5 of NI 43-101.
All drill samples were fire assayed at ALS Chemex Laboratory in
Vancouver, BC. The Company has retained Discovery Consultants of
Vernon, BC, to monitor independently the quality control and
quality assurance (QC/QA) data on the Spanish Mountain Gold
Project. Analytical precision and accuracy were measured and
monitored by the use of duplicate core, prep and pulp samples and
by standards (reference material). Possible contamination during
the sampling and processing procedures was monitored by the
insertion of blank samples.
Judy Stoeterau, P.Geo, the Company's Vice President, Geology, is
a qualified person (as defined under NI 43-101) and has reviewed
and approved the contents of this news release.
About Spanish Mountain Gold
Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd. is focused on the responsible
development of its flagship Spanish Mountain gold project in
southern central British Columbia, Canada. The Company has a strong
cash position with no debt and owns 100% of four gold properties
located in British Columbia. Additional information about the
Company is available on its website:
www.spanishmountaingold.com.
On Behalf of the Board, SPANISH MOUNTAIN GOLD LTD.
Morris Beattie, Chief Executive Officer
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: Certain of the
statements and information in this press release constitute
"forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" Any
statements or information that express or involve discussions with
respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections,
objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but
not always, using words or phrases such as "expects",
"anticipates", "believes", "plans", "estimates", "intends",
"targets", "goals", "forecasts", "objectives", "potential" or
variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or
results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur
or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar
expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be
forward-looking statements or information.
Forward-looking statements or information relate to, among
other things, the timing and scope of NI 43-101 technical reports
in respect of the Spanish Mountain Gold Project, including a
prefeasibility study and subsequent feasibility study.
Forward-looking statements or information are subject to a
variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that could cause actual events or results to differ from those
reflected in the forward-looking statements or information,
including, without limitation, risks relating to: results from
infill and exploration drilling, geotechnical studies,
metallurgical studies, planning of tailings facilities, access to
power supply, fluctuations in the spot and forward price of gold or
certain other commodities; timing of receipt of permits and
regulatory approvals; the sufficiency of the Company's capital to
finance the Company's operations; geological interpretations and
potential mineral recovery processes, changes in national and local
government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and
political or economic developments in Canada or other countries in
which the Company may carry on business in the future; the
uncertainties involved in interpreting geological data; business
opportunities that may be presented to, or pursued by, the Company;
operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining
activities; the speculative nature of gold exploration and
development, including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses
and permits; diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; and
contests over title to properties, particularly title to
undeveloped properties. In addition, there are risks and hazards
associated with the business of gold exploration, development and
mining, including environmental hazards, industrial accidents,
unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and
gold bullion losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance, or the
inability to obtain insurance, to cover these risks).
This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect
any of the Company's forward-looking statements or information.
Forward-looking statements or information are statements about the
future and are inherently uncertain, and actual achievements of the
Company or other future events or conditions may differ materially
from those reflected in the forward-looking statements or
information due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other
factors, including, without limitation, those referred to in the
Company's continuous disclosure documents under the heading "Risk
Factors". Although the Company 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, described or intended. Accordingly, readers should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or
information.
The Company's forward-looking statements and information are
based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of
management as of the date of this press release, and other than as
required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume
any obligation to update forward-looking statements and information
if circumstances or management's assumptions, beliefs, expectations
or opinions should change, or changes in any other events affecting
such statements or information. For the reasons set forth above,
investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements and information.
Cautionary Note Regarding Mineral Resources and Mineral
Reserves
Readers are advised that National Instrument 43-101 of the
Canadian Securities Administrators requires that each category of
mineral reserves and mineral resources be reported separately.
Readers should refer to the Company's current technical reports and
other continuous disclosure documents filed by the Company,
available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com for further information the
mineral resource estimates of the Company's projects, which are
subject to the qualifications and notes set forth therein, as well
as for additional information relating to the Company more
generally.
Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves, have a
great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and do not have
demonstrated economic or legal viability. Inferred mineral
resources have insufficient confidence to allow the meaningful
application of technical and economic parameters or to enable an
evaluation of economic viability suitable for public disclosure.
Neither the Company, nor readers, should assume that all or any
part of an inferred mineral resource will be upgraded to indicated
or measured mineral resources. Most projects at the inferred
mineral resource stage do not ever form the basis of feasibility or
other economic studies, or achieve successful commercial
production. Each stage of a project is contingent on the positive
results of the previous stage and that there is a significant risk
that the results may not support or justify moving to the next
stage.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services
Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture
Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of
this release.
Spanish Mountain Gold Ltd.(604)
601-3651info@spanishmountaingold.comwww.spanishmountaingold.com
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