Eagle Plains Executes Agreement to Regain 100% Interest in Iron Range Project
Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:EPL) has executed a Purchase Agreement (subject to regulatory approval), whereby Eagle Plains will acquire a 60% interest in the Iron Range project located near Creston, British Columbia. Upon completion of the agreement, the existing Iron Range Joint-Venture (“IRJV”) between Providence Resources Corp. and Eagle Plains will be dissolved, and Eagle Plains will then hold a 100% interest in the property, subject to a 1% NSR held in favour of Providence. To complete the purchase, Eagle Plains has agreed to issue to Providence 500,000 voting-class common shares of EPL and return to Providence 900,000 PV shares which were transferred to Eagle Plains as option payments prior to formation of the IRJV.
The Iron Range property is a covers an extensive area approximately 10km x 50km which overlies the regional Iron Range fault system. Prior to the initial involvement of Eagle Plains in 2001, the property had seen little systematic exploration for other than iron resources known to exist on the property since the late 1800s. The claims are transected by numerous logging roads, high-voltage hydro-electric power lines, Highway #3, the Canadian Pacific rail-line, and the Southern B.C. high-pressure gas transmission line.
Since originally acquiring the property in 2001, Eagle Plains and its partners have completed 17,226m in diamond drilling in 70 holes, collected 2482 line-km of airborne and surface geophysical data and analysed 10,053 soil geochemical samples, 495 rock samples and 5749 drill core samples.
Management of Eagle Plains considers the Iron Range project to hold excellent potential for the presence of both gold and Sullivan-style lead-zinc-silver mineralization. Drilling in 2010 resulted in the discovery of the Talon Zone, where drill-hole IR10-010 intersected 2 intervals of strong and continuous mineralization including 14.0m grading 5.1g/t gold, 1.86% lead, 2.1% Zinc, 75.3g/t silver (from 192.0-206 meters) and 7.1m grading 8.13g/t gold, 2.84% lead, 3.07% zinc, 86.6g/t silver (from 196.9-204.0 meters). Previous drilling 10km north of the Talon Zone in 2008 by EPL intersected gold mineralization in drill-hole IR08006, which assayed 7.0m grading 51.52g/t (1.50 oz/ton) gold (see EPL news release dated April 20th, 2009).
Update on other Eagle Plains projects
Eagle Plains has recently received notice from Lowell Copper Ltd. (formerly Waterloo Resources Ltd.) and Greenpower Motor Company Ltd. (formerly Blackrock Resources Ltd.), that the companies each respectively confirm termination of option agreements relating to the Ice River and Elsiar projects, both located in British Columbia (see EPL news releases Sept. 11th, 2008 and Sept. 14th, 2010).
About Eagle Plains Resources
Based in Cranbrook, B.C., Eagle Plains continues to conduct research, acquire and explore mineral projects throughout western Canada. Since 1992, EPL has been acquiring and developing early stage projects utilizing an in-house team of geologists, technicians and specialists. Considered a prolific project generator with over 35 properties, EPL invites joint venture participation to expedite development, reduce risk and enhance exposure to discovery.
Current third party agreements if maintained to completion expose EPL to over $40M in exploration expenditures, $4M cash and 10M shares in partner companies. Completed agreements have yielded over $17M in exploration spending, $1.8M cash to EPL and a total of 18M shares of partner companies including Alexco Resource Corp., NovaGold Resources Inc., Giyani Gold Corp. and numerous others.
Expenditures during 2011 and 2012 on Eagle Plains-related projects were approximately $14M, which was funded by Eagle Plains and third-party partners. This exploration work resulted in approximately 15,000m of diamond drilling and extensive ground-based exploration work facilitating the advancement of more than 23 projects at various stages of development.
Technical aspects of this news release have been reviewed and approved by C.C. (Chuck) Downie, P.Geo.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
“Tim J. Termuende”
President and CEO
For further information on EPL, please contact Mike Labach at
1 866 HUNT ORE (486 8673)
Email: mgl@eagleplains.com or visit our website at http://www.eagleplains.com
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.
Contact
Eagle Plains Resources Ltd.
Mike Labach, 1 866 HUNT ORE (486 8673)
mgl@eagleplains.com
http://www.eagleplains.com