TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Jan. 18, 2017) - Inventus Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE:IVS) ("Inventus" or the "Company") today announces that it has commenced a winter drill program at the 100% owned Pardo Paleoplacer Gold Project ("Pardo"), and provides details of exploration plans and strategy for 2017.
"Our focus in 2017 will be on drilling and sampling of the approximately 4.5 square kilometers of Paleoplacer conglomerate reefs that we believe are within 40 m of surface. Our fundamental goal during the next 12-24 months is to determine if Pardo contains gold resources of sufficient quality and quantity to become a mine," said Stefan Spears, Chairman and CEO.
2017 Exploration and Development Program
- 1,500 meter (m) winter drill program: Approximately 50 diamond drill holes are planned for the winter drill program (average 30 m depth) that will focus on extending a 50 m by 50 m grid of holes in Exploration Zones A and B (see attached Figure 1).
- 4,500 m summer/fall drill program (starting in Q3): Approximately 130 diamond drill holes are planned for the summer/fall drill program that will focus on Exploration Zones C, D, E, F, G and H.
- Bulk sampling of up to 1,000 tonnes of material (in Q3 or Q4): A permit is in place to remove 1,000 tonnes of material from the property for metallurgical testing. A recently completed geostatistical study indicates that a sample of 250 tonnes may be sufficient to determine the gold grade within an acceptable confidence interval. We are evaluating taking samples from multiple sites and will provide an update on the program later in the year.
- Initial mineral resource estimate on Pardo: By the end of 2017, we expect to engage a third party engineering firm to prepare a NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate on Pardo.
Update on 2016 Activities
An official Ontario Land Survey has been completed on the two core mineral claims in preparation for a mineral lease application. Securing a lease will provide several benefits to the project, including the ability to extract large amounts of material for trial mining and the ability to install a mill for test purposes, provided a certified closure plan and the required financial assurance is in place. We expect the mineral lease to be approved within 12-18 months.
A geostatistical study prepared by SGS Geostat has been received and the results are being used to design the current drill program and planned bulk sampling activities.
An ore sorting study being prepared by Sacré-Davey Engineering is well advanced and we expect the results soon. This study is attempting to evaluate the effectiveness of state-of-the-art ore sorting techniques on separating the gold-containing matrix from the unmineralized clasts of the Pardo conglomerates.
About Inventus Mining Corp.
Inventus is a mineral exploration company focused on the world class mining district of Sudbury, Ontario. Our principal asset is a 100% interest in the Pardo Paleoplacer Gold Project located 65 km northeast of Sudbury. Pardo is the first important paleoplacer gold discovery found in North America. Inventus has 100,304,403 common shares outstanding (108,898,570 shares on a fully diluted basis). Endurance Gold Corp. owns 25.4% of the issued and outstanding shares, Robert McEwen owns 18%, Eric Sprott owns 13.6%, Osisko Gold Royalties Ltd. owns 6%, and the former Chairman and CEO Wayne Whymark owns 6.4%.
Qualified Person
The Qualified Person responsible for the geological technical content of this news release is Andy Bite, P.Geo., who has reviewed and approved the technical disclosure in this news release on behalf of the Company.
