VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - March 7, 2017) - Medgold Resources Corp. (TSX VENTURE:MED) (the "Company" or "Medgold") is pleased to announce that it has entered into an Option Agreement with Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. (TSX:FVI) ("Fortuna") whereby Fortuna has the exclusive option to acquire up to 70% in the Tlamino Project located in Southern Serbia (comprised of the Donje Tlamino and Surlica-Dukat licences), by spending a total of US$8.0 million in qualifying expenditures and completing a preliminary economic assessment.
Dan James, President of Medgold, commented: "We are very pleased with Fortuna's continued support of our exploration efforts in Serbia. Their decision to option the Tlamino Project is a clear demonstration of our joint excitement over the Project and a validation of our successful project generation work completed in 2016. We will continue to generate projects under our Strategic Alliance with Fortuna, and will also now commence a more focused exploration campaign at Tlamino under the Option Agreement. We have a combined budget of CAD$2.5m for 2017 in Serbia, which will allow us to complete a program of ground geophysics and diamond drilling at Tlamino aiming to test recently reported channel results of 40 m of 8.32 g/t Au and 193 g/t Ag, as well as continuing our project generation work across the country."
Fortuna Option Agreement
Under the terms of our Strategic Alliance whereby Fortuna has the exclusive right to option any two of Medgold's Serbian projects, Fortuna's first Selected Property is the Donje Tlamino and Surlica-Dukat licences, collectively the Tlamino Project, which cover a total area of approximately 200 sq km, and are located on the Bulgaria-Macedonia borders close to the town of Boseligrad.
Fortuna can earn a 51% stake in the Tlamino Project by spending US$3.0 million on the Project over three years. Once it has earned 51%, Fortuna can elect to form a 51:49 joint venture with Medgold to further develop the Project; or can elect to earn an additional 19% interest in the Project by spending an additional US$5.0 million in qualified expenditures and completing a preliminary economic assessment on the Project. The Option Agreement is subject to TSX Venture Exchange acceptance.
The Tlamino Gold Project
The Tlamino Gold Project is located in southern Serbia, and includes two historical showings: Liska and Barje. Both showings are associated with a regional east-west striking detachment fault, which in the vicinity of these showings has been overlain by conglomerates. Mineralization is located at the contact of the basement metamorphic rocks and the base of the conglomerate cover. Liska, located approximately 1.5 km to the southwest of Barje, was drilled in the 1970s by Yugoslav state companies, and a lensoid-shaped mineralized volume of rock with 1-2 % combined Pb & Zn was found to strike NE towards Barje. The mineralization at Liska is located at the base of the conglomerate and parallel to the slope of the detachment fault. Liska was found to contain little precious metals. At Barje, base metal contents are lower, but precious metals are found in much higher concentrations. The area between the two showings is overlain by a thin conglomerate cover likely in the range of 50 - 100 m in thickness, and Medgold considers the exploration potential under the conglomerate, between the two showings, to be excellent.
After identifying the project in the fall 2016, Medgold completed a series of saw-cut surface channel samples over the outcrop at Barje, where approximately 70 m x 25 m of mineralized tectonic breccia is exposed on surface at the edge of the conglomerate cover. A total of 132 linear samples of 1 m in length by approximately 8 cm in width and 4 cm in depth, were collected from 7 channels, designed to test as large an areal extent of the outcrop as possible. Three channels were cut across the outcrop in an east-west direction, while 4 channels were cut across the outcrop in a general north-south direction. Gold assays ranged from 0.78 g/t Au to 132.5 g/t Au, with an average grade of 8.11 g/t Au and a median grade of 4.74 g/t Au. Silver concentrations ranged from 10.3 g/t Ag to 2110 g/t Ag, with an average grade of 210.6 g/t Ag and a median grade of 111.5 g/t Ag.
Applying a top-cut of 31.104 g/t Au (affects 4 / 132 samples) and 700 g/t Ag (affects 6 / 132 samples), the channel length-weighted assay averages are summarized as follows:
| Channel | Orientation | Length (m) |
Au (g/t) |
Ag (g/t) |
AuEq (g/t)* |
Pb (%) |
Zn (%) |
| 1 | EW | 30 | 6.64 | 137.1 | 8.60 | 0.33 | 0.13 |
| 2 | EW | 40 | 8.32 | 193.0 | 11.08 | 0.29 | 0.07 |
| 3 | NS | 11 | 5.55 | 189.3 | 8.25 | 0.20 | 0.03 |
| 4 | NS | 12 | 8.63 | 351.8 | 13.66 | 0.44 | 0.06 |
| 5 | NS | 18 | 5.71 | 207.1 | 8.67 | 0.54 | 0.18 |
| 6 | EW | 14.5 | 3.23 | 59.6 | 4.08 | 0.28 | 0.01 |
| 7 | NS | 7 | 7.05 | 82.0 | 8.22 | 0.61 | 0.02 |
| *Gold equivalent (AuEq) calculated for gold and silver using a gold:silver price ratio of 70:1. |
The channel samples described here represent the sampling of an outcrop face. Medgold's current exploration model for Barje is premised on the interpretation that the outcrop face represents a faulted oblique cross-section through 'strata-bound' mineralization striking NE-SW, and located at the base of the conglomerate sequence, directly analogous to the mineralization at Liska. However, Medgold does not yet have direct observational evidence to suggest its interpretation is correct. The reader is cautioned therefore that the true thickness of the mineralization described here is unknown, and further work will be required before the true thickness of mineralization can be determined.
A plan map showing the locations of the channel samples has been posted on Medgold's website at http://www.medgoldresources.com/.
A detailed structural interpretation of the Tlamino Project is currently underway, and previous historical exploration work is being integrated into Medgold's exploration model and conceptual understanding of the mineralization. Exploration drill targets for the Project will be developed over coming months, in anticipation of a first phase of drilling in summer 2017.
About Fortuna Silver Mines Inc.
Fortuna is a growth oriented, precious metals producer focused on mining opportunities in Latin America. Its primary assets are the Caylloma silver mine in southern Peru, the San Jose silver-gold mine in Mexico and the Lindero gold Project in Argentina. The company is selectively pursuing acquisition opportunities throughout the Americas and in select other areas. For more information, please visit its website at www.fortunasilver.com.
About Medgold
Medgold is a European-focused, TSX-V listed, exploration and development company targeting gold properties in Portugal and Serbia. Run by a highly experienced management team with a successful track record of building value in resource companies, Medgold is aiming to become a leading European gold exploration company.
Qualified Person
Mr. David Clark, M.Sc., P.Geo., is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. Mr. Clark prepared the technical information contained in this news release and has approved its disclosure.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Channel sampling at Barje followed a standardized protocol to ensure representative and unbiased quantities of material from across each sample. Samples were delivered by Medgold personnel directly to the assay lab prep facilities in Bor, Serbia. Samples were analysed by ALS Chemex using analytical method codes Au-ICP21 and ME-MS61, with overlimits for gold and silver analysed by GRA21, and for Ag, Pb, and Zn by OG62. Medgold routinely inserted appropriate multi-element geochemical standards and blanks into its sample stream at Barje, and additionally collected regular field duplicate samples.
Additional information on Medgold can be found on the Company's website at www.medgoldresources.com and by reviewing the Company's page on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
