Benton Options Shebandowan North Property from Trillium North Minerals
THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 01/12/11 -- Benton Resources Corp. ('Benton' or 'the Company') (TSX VENTURE: BTC) and Trillium North Minerals Ltd. ('Trillium') (TSX VENTURE: TNM), a public company based in Toronto, Ontario have signed a Letter of Intent ('LOI') which grants Benton the exclusive right to earn up to 70% interest in 5 mineral claims totaling 27 units by making various option payments and work commitments. Under the terms set out in the LOI, Benton can earn an initial 50% interest in the property by paying $80,000 in cash and 100,000 shares to Trillium and completing $200,000 in exploration expenditures over 3 years. Benton can earn an additional 10% (taking its interest to 60%) by completing a further $200,000 in exploration expenditures over a further 2 years and can earn an additional 10% (taking its interest to 70%) by completing a further $600,000 in exploration expenditures over a further 2 years.
The Shebandowan North property is located approximately 90 km west of Thunder Bay, Ontario and adjoins Benton's newly acquired 100%-owned Shebandowan project located in the central portion of the Shebandowan greenstone belt. Located less than 20 km along strike to the west are the past producing Ardeen and Coldstream gold deposits as well as the Moss Lake gold deposit. The Moss Lake deposit hosts a NI 43-101 compliant resource of 56.1Mt grading 0.92 g/t gold containing approximately 1.51 million ounces of gold (www.mosslakegold.com). The Coldstream deposit contains a historic resource (non NI 43-101 compliant) of 5.1Mt grading 1.4 g/t gold (www.altoventures.com). Approximately 20 km along strike to the west of the North Shebandowan project sits the Swamp River / Band-Ore gold deposit with a historic resource (non NI 43-101 compliant; Canadian Mines Handbook, 1998-99, p.63) of 998,000T grading 0.12 oz/T gold (approximately 905,000t grading 4.11 g/t) and the Vanguard Copper-Zinc-Gold deposit is situated only 4 km along strike to the east (www.trilliumnorth.com). Historic base metal production from the Shebandowan greenstone belt consisted of 8.7 million tons grading 2.07% nickel, 1% copper and approximately 3 g/t combined platinum group metals plus gold (www.nap.com) with current measured and indicated resources (NI 43-101 compliant) totaling 2.58 million tonnes grading 0.91% nickel, 0.62% copper, 1.09 g/t palladium, 0.34 g/t platinum, and 0.23 g/t gold (NAP NR, October 25, 2007).
A till sampling survey covering the Shebandowan greenstone belt was completed by the Ontario Geological Survey ('OGS') in 2002. The survey identified a 5 km trend of samples containing high counts of pristine gold grains taken on Benton's newly acquired ground. Other OGS till sampling programs completed in northern Ontario have identified similar areas of anomalous gold grain counts in the samples which have led to significant gold discoveries. The recent gold discovery by Northern Superior Resources Inc and Rainy River Resources Ltd on their TKP joint venture in Northern Ontario and the Rainy River deposit located near Emo, Ontario are two such examples. In addition, historical prospecting has identified high grade copper values with associated highly anomalous gold. Benton has initiated an exploration program consisting of grid establishment and ground geophysical surveys (magnetic and induced polarization) to help define diamond drill targets.
President Stephen Stares comments, 'This early stage project demonstrates Benton's commitment to find inexpensive, early stage properties to build value quickly for our shareholders. We believe that this project is in a highly prospective area and through an aggressive exploration program, we will be able to evaluate the potential to discover economic mineralization on the property.'
The Letter of Intent is subject to TSX Exchange approval.
Benton is a Canadian based junior with multiple joint ventures and a diversified property portfolio in Gold, Nickel, Copper, and Platinum group elements. The Company currently has approximately $12.7 million in cash, owns approximately 55.37 million shares and 2.43 million warrants in Coro Mining Corp. (TSX: COP), holds 523,053 shares of Stillwater Mining Company (NYSE: SWC), holds 782,500 million shares in Marathon Gold Corp. (TSX: MOZ), holds 1.6 million shares in Puget Ventures (TSX VENTURE: PVS), holds 4 million shares of Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: MMV), and holds 815,000 shares of Bell Copper Corporation (TSX VENTURE: BCU).
Clinton Barr (P.Geo.), V.P. Exploration for Benton Resources Corp., is the qualified person responsible for this release.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Benton Resources Corp.,
Stephen Stares, President
Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties.
THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
Contacts:
Benton Resources Corp.
Stephen Stares
(807) 475-7474
(807) 475-7200 (FAX)
www.bentonresources.ca
Investor Relations
Clair Calvert
(204) 799-2086