TORONTO, Nov. 28, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red Pine Exploration Inc. (TSX-V:RPX) ("Red Pine" or the "Company") announces results from six drill holes completed as part of the 20,000 m drilling program completed earlier this fall in the Minto Mine area at the Company’s Wawa Gold Project. The Minto Mine South Zone, located south of the property’s current 1.1 Moz inferred resource1, has been identified as an exploration target (Oct. 26, 2017 News Release) and the Company is actively drilling in the area to convert the exploration target into a NI 43-101 resource.
Drilling highlights for the Minto Mine area include (Figures 1 and 2):
- Intersection of high-grade quartz veins associated with Minto Mine South Zone;
- SD-17-101 contains 34.6 g/t gold over 1 metre;
- SD-17-96 contains 6.58 g/t gold over 1 metre;
- Extension to the south of the high-grade zone of the Minto Mine South Zone;
- SD-17-106 contains 8.09 g/t gold over 1.73 metres and 7.18 g/t gold over 2.72 metres;
- SD-17-108 contains 5.88 g/t gold over 2 metres;
- Visible gold in the Minto vein was observed in SD-17-162 and SD-17-164 drilled 90 metres down-plunge step-out. Results are pending.
Quentin Yarie, President and Chief Executive Officer of Red Pine stated, "Our on-going drilling program continues to focus on the extension of the Surluga Deposit to the north and the high-grade exploration target that includes the Minto Mine South Zone to the south of the existing inferred resource. Our results to date keep on validating our model and we will continue to work on converting our exploration targets into a NI 43-101 mineral resource(s).”
Table 1. Highlights of the 2017 drilling results south of the Minto Mine
| Hole | From (m) |
To (m) |
Length (m)* |
Gold (g/t) |
Gold Zone |
| SD-17-96 | 4.6 | 5.6 | 1 | 6.58 | Minto E Gold Zone |
| SD-17-99 | 210.75 | 212.26 | 1.51 | 3.18 | MMSZ |
| SD-17-101 | 206.4 | 207.4 | 1 | 34.6 | MMSZ |
| SD-17-103A | 233.66 | 236.67 | 3.01 | 3.01 | MMSZ |
| including | |||||
| 234.62 | 235.62 | 1 | 6.6 | ||
| SD-17-106 | 136.62 | 148 | 11.38 | 3.13 | MMSZ |
| including | |||||
| 136.62 | 138.35 | 1.73 | 8.09 | ||
| 141.76 | 144.48 | 2.72 | 7.18 | ||
| SD-17-108 | 133 | 135 | 2 | 5.88 | |
*Assay results reported over intersection length. In the Minto Mine South Zone, for SD-17-99 and SD-17-103A, , the intersection length is estimated to >90% true width, for SD-17-106, the intersection length is estimated to represent ≥ 45% true width, for SD-17-108 the intersection length is estimated to represent ≥ 60% true width. As it represents a discovery, no true width estimation is available for the discovered Minto E Gold Zone and quartz tension vein in SD-17-96 and SD-17-101. Additional drilling is required to estimate the true width and continuity of the mineralized structure.
Overview of the drilling results in the Minto Mine South Zone area
Drill holes were testing the down-dip extension of the Minto Mine South Zone and successfully intersected the structure. Hole SD-17-101 also intersected a high-grade quartz tension vein that is possibly related to the Minto Mine South Zone. Additional drilling will be necessary to confirm the geometry of the intersected high-grade vein and the possible repetition of these tension veins above and below the Minto Mine South Zone.
The mineralization at the Minto Mine South Zone appears to be very similar to Richmont's Island Gold deposit located 60 km away. Richmont has been acquired for US$770 million by Alamos Minerals.
Results for 31 boreholes in the Minto Mine South Zone are still pending. The zone remains open at depth and along strike (>1 km) to the south. Five additional drill holes are currently planned to further define its strike length and down-dip extension with additional exploration planned on an on-going basis.
Wawa Gold Project Background
The Wawa Gold property package consists of over 5,500 hectares and hosts several former mines with a combined historic production of 120,000 oz gold2. To date, the largest gold deposit on the property is the Surluga Deposit, which hosts a NI 43-101 Inferred Resource of 1,088,000 oz gold at an average grade of 1.71 g/t (using a 0.5 g/t cut-off) contained within 19.82 million tonnes1.
Since December 2014, Red Pine's exploration work has involved the ongoing sampling of 42,000 m of historic core that was never sampled by previous operators of the project, and aggressive drilling campaigns. To date, the Company has completed over 26,000 m of drilling and made four discoveries along the extension of the Surluga Deposit: the Surluga North Zone; the Hornblende-William Zone; the Minto Mine South Zone and; the Grace-Darwin Zone. These are part of the Wawa Gold Corridor, a gold-mineralization zone that extends for more than 5 km.
On October 26, 2017, the Company announced that Golder Associates Ltd. had identified three exploration targets on the property:
- Hangingwall Exploration Target ranging from 3 Mt to 9 Mt at 1 g/t to 2 g/t
- Footwall Exploration Target ranging from 6 Mt to 17 Mt at 1 g/t to 2 g/t
- High-Grade Discovery Exploration Target ranging from 1.5 Mt to 3 Mt at 4g/t to 10 g/t
- Contained ounces in the combined three Exploration Targets ranging from 0.5 M oz to 2.5 M oz.
Two drills are currently operating non-stop - one is focused on the Hangingwall Exploration Target to the north of the Surluga Deposit, while the second drill is targeting the High-Grade Discovery (Minto Mine South Zone) to the south.
The Company is well positioned to fund its share of the Wawa Gold exploration program.
As such, the sampling and drill programs are expected to continue in 2018.
On-site Quality Assurance/Quality Control (“QA/QC”) Measures
Drill core samples were transported in security-sealed bags for analyses to Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Ancaster, Ontario. Individual samples are labeled, placed in plastic sample bags and sealed. Groups of samples are then placed into durable rice bags and then shipped. The remaining coarse reject portions of the samples remain in storage if further work or verification is needed.
Red Pine has implemented a quality-control program to comply with best practices in the sampling and analysis of drill core. As part of its QA/QC program, Red Pine inserts external gold standards (low to high grade) and blanks every 20 samples in addition to random standards, blanks, and duplicates.
Qualified Person
Quentin Yarie, P Geo. is the qualified person responsible for preparing, supervising and approving the scientific and technical content of this news release.
About Red Pine Exploration Inc.
Red Pine Exploration Inc. is a gold and base-metals exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Company's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "RPX".
Red Pine has a 60% interest in the Wawa Gold Project with Citabar LLP. holding the remaining 40% interest. Red Pine is the Operating Manager of the Project and is focused on expanding the existing gold resource on the property.
