Sona Resources Corp.: West Vein Surface Chip Sampling Averages 162.2g Au/t Silver Values Up to 218.0g Ag/t
Silver Values Up to 218.0g Ag/t
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/09/10 -- Sona Resources Corp. (the 'Company' or 'Sona') (TSX VENTURE: SYS)(FRANKFURT: QS7) is pleased to report assay results from the surface and underground sampling program on the West and Southwest veins, and the final drill results on the Southwest Vein at its 100 percent owned Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property ('Elizabeth'), located in the Lillooet Mining District of south-central British Columbia, approximately 220 kilometres north of Vancouver.
'The results from the surface and underground sampling program of the West and Southwest veins are very positive,' states John P. Thompson, Sona's President and CEO. 'We have also expanded the Southwest Vein mineralization to the southwest, with high-grade gold drill intersections. Our ongoing focus remains to complete our underground drifting program, to further define the continuity of the mineralization, and to move us closer to a production decision.'
West Vein surface sampling
In 1939, prospectors first discovered gold at the Elizabeth property, in an area referred to as the 'Jewellery Box,' because of the rich assay values and abundant visible gold observed in the quartz veins. The area contains a 30-metre strike length of quartz veining that is exposed at surface at the currently known northeastern end of the West Vein.
During the 2010 exploration program, Sona collected a total of 10 chip and 10 grab samples along the strike length. Assay values for the chip samples ranged from trace to 675.2g Au/t over a narrow width of about 0.2 metres, with 64.3g Au/t over an occasionally larger width of up to 1.2 metres. The arithmetic average grade of the chip sampling was 162.2g Au/t, and the average width was 0.35 metres. The grab samples assayed from nil to 160.1g Au/t, with an average of 52.9g Au/t over the strike length.
Six chip samples and four grab samples assayed greater than 31.0g Au/t: the high-grade chip samples averaged 79.8g Ag/t, while the grab samples averaged 53.7g Ag/t. The highest-grade silver value was 218g Ag/t in a chip sample that also graded 675.2g Au/t.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
West Vein Surface Grab and Chip Sampling
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vein
Elevation Gold Silver width
Sample no UTM east UTM north (m) (g Au/t) (g Ag/t) (m)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8R189542 531620 5653924 2,275 1.2 0.3 grab
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83480 531613 5653928 2,273 0.0 0.4 grab
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83483 531613 5653923 2,274 3.1 1.0 0.25
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83490 531613 5653911 2,275 1.2 1.2 0.25
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83492 531613 5653906 2,279 16.6 2.7 0.50
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83489 531613 5653913 2,275 14.5 2.9 grab
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83487 531613 5653916 2,274 28.4 6.1 0.25
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83493 531612 5653899 2,282 64.3 14.7 1.20
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8R189545 531618 5653898 2,277 51.1 18.3 grab
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83486 531613 5653918 2,274 32.1 26.2 0.20
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83485 531613 5653919 2,274 129.1 36.0 0.15
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83488 531613 5653915 2,274 160.1 40.0 grab
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8R189544 531616 5653897 2,278 143.6 64.5 grab
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83491 531613 5653910 2,275 204.6 76.0 0.32
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8R189540 531617 5653923 2,273 157.6 92.1 grab
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83484 531613 5653922 2,274 467.2 108.0 0.20
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83482 531613 5653925 2,273 675.2 218.0 0.15
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83479 less than
531613 5653929 2,273 0.1 0.2 grab
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83481 less than
531613 5653926 2,273 0.1 0.2 grab
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8R189541 less than
531622 5653930 2,274 0.4 0.2 grab
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
West Vein underground sampling
In the late 1950s, Bethlehem Copper Mines drove the Upper Adit underground workings along a portion of the West Vein, approximately 55 metres below the Jewellery Box Zone. During 2010, Sona completed chip sampling on the back of the underground drift, on 3.0-metre centres over a strike length of 33 metres. Initial results from the sampling were released on October 7, 2010, and reported values of up to 1,401g Au/t, averaging 10.2g Au/t over a width of 0.72 metres (the highest value in the mean calculation, reduced to the second-highest assay value of 35g Au/t).
Subsequently, an additional 12 underground chip samples from the West Vein were collected between the first set of samples, with a 3.0-metre sample separation and at either end of the 33-metre strike length. The new samples returned assays varying from 0.5g Au/t over 1.2 metres to 213.6g Au/t over 1.2 metres, with an arithmetic average of 20.9g Au/t. The exposed quartz vein pinches and swells, varying in width from 0.2 metres to 2.3 metres and averaging 1.1 metres in width.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
West Vein Upper Drift Chip Sampling - Intermediate Sampling
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elevation Gold Vein width
Sample no UTM east UTM north (m) (g Au/t) (m)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7R102509 531599 5653886 2,220 1.0 0.9
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7R102508 531600 5653887 2,220 1.9 1.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7R102507 531600 5653889 2,220 2.4 1.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7R102506 531601 5653891 2,220 31.1 1.2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7R102505 531602 5653893 2,220 1.3 2.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7R102503 531603 5653895 2,220 5.3 1.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7R102504 531602 5653895 2,220 0.5 1.2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7R102502 531606 5653899 2,220 1.0 2.3
------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83495 531608 5653902 2,220 0.6 0.4
------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83497 531608 5653908 2,220 6.0 0.8
------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83498 531608 5653912 2,220 15.0 0.8
------------------------------------------------------------------------
E83499 531607 5653916 2,220 2.2 0.2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Southwest Vein surface sampling
Due to the abundance of loose talus rock on the steep slopes, the Southwest Vein is not always identifiable on surface. However, five grab samples, taken from the visible quartz vein outcrops over short distances around the anticipated trace of the Southwest Vein, returned assay values from 0.1 to 11.2g Au/t.
Southwest Vein drill results
The final three drill holes at the Southwest Vein targeted an area along a 70-metre strike length, at a depth averaging approximately 150 metres, to trace out a northeasterly extension of the mineralized quartz vein. All three holes intersected lower-grade gold values, as detailed in the following table:
------------------------------------------------------------------
Core Gold
Hole no From (m) To (m) length (m) (g Au/t)
------------------------------------------------------------------
E10-73 197.07 203.30 6.23 0.3
------------------------------------------------------------------
including 201.79 203.30 1.51 0.5
------------------------------------------------------------------
E10-74 197.31 199.36 2.05 0.5
------------------------------------------------------------------
E10-75 176.01 178.50 2.49 1.4
------------------------------------------------------------------
190.42 191.36 0.94 1.4
------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: true widths are less than core lengths.
Recent developments
The 2010 Elizabeth exploration program has been completed, and all the drill core and sample assay results have been reported. The known Southwest Vein strike length has now been traced over about 400 metres. The Southwest Vein outcrops on surface, has been drilled down to a maximum of 200 metres, and is open in both directions along strike and at depth. The 2010 drilling extended the gold mineralization at the southwestern end of the vein with drill holes E10-65, E10-67 and E10-69, which assayed 6.5g Au/t over a 6.70-metre core width, 96.4g Au/t over 2.50 metres, and 85.4g Au/t over 4.03 metres, respectively.
The new portal at the southwestern end of the Southwest Vein has been timbered, and the adit into the mountain has been started. The work has been halted for the season and will resume in January 2011. Sona plans to drive the new underground openings for approximately 25 metres, where it expects to reach the Southwest Vein. Upon intersecting the vein, the crew will then turn and drift along it for up to 350 metres. Chip samples from the face will be taken on every round, or approximately every 2.0 metres.
QA/QC
Drill core was logged and split on site, and half-core samples were analyzed using metallic screening gold fire assaying and 30-element ICP multi-acid digestion, at the independent EcoTech Laboratory in Kamloops, B.C. The surface and underground grab and chip samples were similarly analyzed at EcoTech. A QA/QC program consisting of duplicate samples, insertion of known standards and check assaying was used.
Review
The content of this news release has been reviewed by John P. Thompson, P.Eng., a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101, with the ability and authority to verify the authenticity and validity of the data.
About Sona Resources Corp.
Since its inception in 1990, Sona has engaged in exploration activities at its mineral properties in Canada and the United States, as well as small-scale gold production at its flagship property, the 100 percent owned Blackdome Gold Mine ('Blackdome'), in south-central British Columbia, 250 kilometres north of Vancouver. At Blackdome, the indicated mineral resources are estimated to be 144,500 tonnes, grading 11.29g Au/t and containing 52,600 ounces of gold, and the inferred resource is estimated to be 90,600 tonnes, grading 8.79g Au/t (news release dated May 4, 2010). At its 100 percent owned Elizabeth Gold Property, 30 kilometres south of the Blackdome Gold Mine, Sona has outlined an inferred gold resource of 522,900 tonnes, grading 12.3g Au/t and containing 206,100 ounces of gold (news release dated June 8, 2009).
Sona aims to bring its fully permitted Blackdome mill back into production over the next three years at a rate of 200 tonnes per day, with feed from the former-producing Blackdome Gold Mine and the Elizabeth Gold Deposit Property. A positive Preliminary Economic Assessment by Micon International Ltd. (news release dated May 28, 2010), at a gold price of $950 per ounce over an eight-year period, has estimated pre-tax cash flow of $27 million and pre-production capital costs of $21 million.
Sona holds 100 percent interests in two other promising properties: The Callaghan Project is located in Nevada, within 80 kilometres of several producing mines, and is underlain by the Roberts Mountain Thrust, a major structural setting for gold deposits. The Montgolfier Project is located in Quebec, 40 kilometres east of the multimillion-ounce Casa Berardi Mine gold deposit.
This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, and such statements involve risks and uncertainties. The results or events predicted may differ materially from actual results or events. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date of this news release. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or any other occurrence.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its regulation services provider, as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange, accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Sona Resources Corp.
1 (888) 236-5200
1 (604) 684-6678 (FAX)
info@sonaresources.com
www.sonaresources.com
Marston Webb International
Victor Webb/Madlene Olson
Media Inquiries
1 (212) 684-6601
1 (212) 725-4709 (FAX)
marwebint@cs.com