TORONTO, Nov. 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd. (TSXV:BGM) (the “Company” or “Barkerville”) is pleased to announce additional drilling results from the ongoing 160,000 metre Phase II Island Mountain exploration and infill drilling program at the Company’s flagship Cariboo Gold Project. The Company is currently exploring and delineating the Valley and Shaft Zones with nine drill rigs. Detailed drilling results, a drill hole location plan map and vertical sections are presented at the end of this release. The exact geometry and hence true width of the mineralized zones cannot be assuredly concluded at this time therefore core lengths are reported.
Drilling Highlights
- IM-17-177: 46.50 g/t Au over 6.00 metres
- IM-17-177: 14.02 g/t Au over 6.50 metres
- IM-17-177: 6.62 g/t Au over 11.00 metres
- IM-17-177: 9.38 g/t Au over 5.50 metres
- IM-17-179: 18.57 g/t Au over 2.85 metres
- IM-17-183: 35.69 g/t Au over 3.10 metres
- IM-17-195: 10.49 g/t Au over 4.90 metres
Alpha and Beta Corridors at Shaft Zone Expand
Phase II Shaft Zone drillhole IM-17-177 was successful in confirming short range continuity of the vein hosted gold mineralization as well as expanding the modelled Alpha and Beta Corridors. In the Beta Corridor, the hole predictably extended mineralization along vein strike as well as downdip having intersected 14.02 g/t Au over 6.50 metres at a vertical depth of 370 metres below surface. This new intersection correlates with previously reported drillholes IM-17-142 and IM-17-173 which intersected 10.04 g/t Au over 8.20 metres and 7.70 g/t Au over 8.35 metres respectively. Further up-hole in the Beta Corridor at a vertical depth of 275 metres below surface, IM-17-177 also intersected 6.62 g/t Au over 11.00 metres and correlates with Phase II drillhole IM-17-173 which averaged 10.82 g/t Au over 8.60 metres, 25 metres along corridor strike. The Beta Corridor remains open for expansion to depth.
In the Alpha Corridor, IM-17-177 significantly expanded the known mineralization having pierced
46.50 g/t Au over 6.00 metres. This new pierce point is located 130 metres southwest along vein strike from previously disclosed Phase II drillhole IM-17-124 (18.84 g/t Au over 30.85 metres), at a vertical depth of 460 metres below surface. This new intersection opens up a significant untested area of the Alpha Corridor.
Shaft Zone - Corridors Discussion
The sandstone hosted veining which constitutes the newly named Alpha, Beta and Gamma Corridors of the Shaft Zone are manifested as an anastomosing network of high vein density with an overall sub-vertical dip and northeast strike. Based upon drilling results to date, estimated horizontal widths of the corridors are variable and range from 5 to 35 metres. These corridors, as well as others that are developing in the Shaft and Valley Zones have been defined from surface to a vertical depth of 600 metres and remain open for expansion to depth and down plunge. Drillhole spacing in the corridors currently averages 25 metres between drilling sections with vertical drilling separations ranging from 20 to 75 metres with hole spacing increasing to depth. Gold grades are intimately associated with vein-hosted pyrite as well as pyritic, intensely silicified wall rock haloes in close proximity to the veins.
Barkerville Enters into Agreement to Purchase Mineral Tenures
The Company is also pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement to purchase an interest in 20 mineral tenures located in British Columbia (the "Acquisition"). As consideration for the purchase, the Corporation has agreed to pay the vendor a cash purchase price of $500,000 and to issue the vendor an aggregate of 1,100,000 common shares in the capital of the Corporation ("Common Shares"). The Common Shares issuable in connection with the Acquisition will be subject to a four-month hold and one day period in accordance with applicable securities legislation. The Acquisition remains subject to TSXV approval.
Qualified Persons
Exploration activities at the Cariboo Gold Project are administered on site by the Company’s Exploration Manager, Maggie Layman, P.Geo. As per National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, Paul Geddes, P.Geo. Vice President Exploration, is the Qualified Person for the Company and has prepared, validated and approved the technical and scientific content of this news release. The Company strictly adheres to CIM Best Practices Guidelines in conducting, documenting, and reporting its exploration activities on the Cariboo Gold Project.
Quality Assurance – Quality Control
Once received from the drill and processed, all drill core samples are sawn in half, labelled and bagged. The remaining drill core is subsequently stored on site at the Company’s secure facility in Wells, BC. Numbered security tags are applied to lab shipments for chain of custody requirements. The Company inserts quality control (QC) samples at regular intervals in the sample stream, including blanks and reference materials with all sample shipments to monitor laboratory performance. The QAQC program was designed and approved by Lynda Bloom, P.Geo. of Analytical Solutions Ltd., and is overseen by the Company’s Qualified Person, Paul Geddes, P.Geo, Vice President Exploration.
Drill core samples are submitted to ALS Geochemistry’s analytical facility in North Vancouver, British Columbia for preparation and analysis. The ALS facility is accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard for gold assays and all analytical methods include quality control materials at set frequencies with established data acceptance criteria. The entire sample is crushed and 250 grams is pulverized. Analysis for gold is by 50g fire assay fusion with atomic absorption (AAS) finish with a lower limit of 0.01 ppm and upper limit of 100 ppm. Samples with gold assays greater than 100 ppm are re-analyzed using a 1,000g screen metallic fire assay. A selected number of samples are also analyzed using a 48 multi-elemental geochemical package by a 4-acid digestion, followed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS).
About Barkerville Gold Mines Ltd.
The Company is focused on developing its extensive land package located in the historical Cariboo Mining District of central British Columbia. Barkerville’s mineral tenures cover 2,110 square kilometres along a strike length of 67 kilometres which includes several past producing hard rock mines of the historic Barkerville Gold Mining Camp near the town of Wells, British Columbia. The QR Project, located approximately 110 kilometres by highway and all weather road from Wells was acquired by Barkerville in 2010 and boasts a fully permitted 900 tonne/day gold milling and tailings facility. Test mining of the Bonanza Ledge open pit was completed in March of 2015 with 91,489 tonnes of material milled producing 25,464 ounces of gold. The Company has completed several drilling and exploration programs over the past 20 years and has compiled this data with all historical information in order develop geologic models which are assisting management in defining new deposits in the Cariboo Gold Project. An extensive drill program is currently underway with the goal of delineating additional high grade gold mineralization.
