Stronghold Metals Announces Drill Results From Its Tucuma Project in Brazil
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 03/16/11 -- STRONGHOLD METALS INC. ('Stronghold' or the 'Company') (TSX VENTURE: Z) Stronghold is pleased to provide the details of its progress on the diamond drill program on the Tucuma Property (11,500 hectares) of its wholly owned Brazilian subsidiary, Minerica Vale Do Sonho Ltda. ('Do Sonho'). The Tucuma Property is located in the State of Para, Brazil, within the Carajas mineral district. Access is via an all-year, un-surfaced road from the town of Tucuma located 12km to the northeast. The drilling program was supervised by Stronghold's local Brazilian geological team, which is headed by Paulo Jose Mena Barreto de Andrade, Country Manager and Dr. Luiz Bizzi, a Director of the Company.
Highlights of the results include 7.90m @ 3.28 g/t Au along hole T2010-3A over the Filomena target and 7.00m @ 1.32 g/t Au along hole T2010-4B over the Augusto target.
A Phase One drill program consisting of 6 diamond drill holes has now been completed to test gold targets within the Cuca concession. Five diamond holes (1,105 m of drilling) tested the Filomena target area, including the area around historic discovery hole T97-11b. Historical discovery hole T97-11b tested the Filomena gold soil geochemical anomaly, historic results are tabulated below, with the recent results.
Outcrop exposure on the Tucuma Property is less than 5%, thus historic surface soil geochemical surveys were carried out extensively to locate favourable gold targets. An area within the Cuca mineral concession, covering approximately ten square kilometres, hosts significant gold soil geochemical anomalies that remain mostly untested by drilling. The anomalies lie over a blanket of laterite and saprolite (in-situ decomposed bedrock) and are interpreted as an accumulation of gold within soil proximal to a bedrock source. Initial diamond drill testing of this extensive gold anomaly was conducted in 1997.
FILOMENA ZONE
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CORE
FROM TO LENGTH
DDH (m) (m) (m) GRADE COMMENTS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIGNIFICANT INTERSECTIONS: FILOMENA 2010-2011 PHASE ONE DRILLING
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stronghold's 103.10 114.00 10.90 0.39 g/t Au
T2010-2B ------------------------------------ Filomena
including 0.95 2.48 g/t Au
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stronghold's 72.30 73.30 1.00 0.61 g/t Au
T2010-2A ------------------------------------ Filomena Saprolite zone
82.30 84.20 1.90 0.49 g/t Au
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stronghold's 102.00 103.00 1.00 5.7 g/t Au Filomena
T2010-1B
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stronghold's 169.50 171.30 1.80 0.61 g/t Au
T2010-1A ------------------------------------ Filomena
including 0.40 2.15 g/t Au
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
0.00 7.90 7.90 3.28 g/t Au
------------------------------------
including 1.00 24.75 g/t Au
------------------------------------ Filomena Saprolite zone
47.25 49.65 2.40 1.43 g/t Au
Stronghold's ------------------------------------
T2010-3A including 0.80 4.03 g/t Au
-------------------------------------------------------------
149.85 156.70 6.85 1.19 g/t Au
------------------------------------
including 1.00 6.7 g/t Au Filomena
------------------------------------
166.60 167.60 1.00 5.6 g/t Au
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIGNIFICANT INTERSECTIONS: HISTORIC FILOMENA 1997 DIAMOND DRILLING
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
54.32 77.69 23.37 2.53 g/t Au
Historic ------------------------------------ Filomena Saprolite Zone
T97-11B including 9.12 6.30 g/t Au
-------------------------------------------------------------
120.06 134.82 14.76 3.96 g/t Au Filomena
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 2010-2011 Phase One diamond drilling taken together with the 1997 diamond drilling results are now interpreted to be part of a local trend of soil geochemical and geophysical results that trend NNE through the Diomar, Diamar North and Filomena zones for a distance of greater than 1 km of strike length. The Company is contracting a sonic drill rig to conduct a Phase Two drilling program along this trend plus other promising saprolite-hosted gold zones on the Property. Deep laterite and saprolite profiles have hampered efficient diamond drilling in these zones, and refining of drill targets will now shift to a first evaluation using a robust sonic drill core rig, which can effectively and rapidly recover intact core from weathered and residual zones up to 60 m thick.
AUGUSTO ZONE
One additional diamond drill hole (493m length) was completed during the Phase One diamond drilling program on the nearby Augusto target area.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
CORE
FROM TO LENGTH
DDH (m) (m) (m) GRADE COMMENTS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stronghold's 78.35 85.35 7.00 1.32 g/t Au
T2010-4B ------------------------------------ Augusto Saprolite Zone
including 1.00 8.02 g/t Au
0.15% Cu
-------------------------------------------------------------
109.50 112.10 2.60 1.49 g/t Au Augusto
-------------------------------------------------------------
266.80 270.50 3.70 2.20 g/t Au Augusto
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stronghold Metals Inc. has not independently analyzed the core from the historical drilling; therefore the previous drill results should not be relied upon. However, Stronghold believes these historical results provide an indication of the potential that exists on the property and are thus deemed relevant to ongoing exploration. Paul McGuigan, P. Geo., a Director of Stronghold and a Qualified Person under NI 43-101, has reviewed and verified the data disclosed in this news release.
Yannis Tsitos, President and CEO of Stronghold Metals stated, 'We are excited and encouraged with the drilling results of the first six holes at Tucuma Project, especially the fact that every drilled hole in this campaign has intersected gold mineralisation. The Tucuma Project in Brazil, is a high-quality exploration stage gold and IOCG copper-gold project with numerous untested targets. The Company is currently evaluating the historical and current drill results, as well as current auger drilling and trenching analytical data, the numerous locations of Garimpo workings and historical geophysical data all located in such a vast property, in order to define the most effective and efficient means of further developing the Tucuma Project.'
About Stronghold Metals Inc.
Stronghold Metals Inc. is a Canadian gold and base metals exploration and development company listed in Toronto Stock Exchange Venture (TSX VENTURE: Z) with projects in South America. In Sept 2010, Stronghold entered into an Earn-In and Joint Venture Agreement with a subsidiary of IAMGOLD Corporation, under which the Company has been granted the right to acquire in stages up to 95% in the Eagle Mountain Gold Property, located in Guyana, South America. The Eagle Mountain Gold Project is an advanced stage exploration project on track to produce a preliminary economic assessment report or scoping study. In November 2010, the Company filed an NI 43-101 reporting an Inferred Mineral Resources of 18Mt @ 1.27 g/t, containing 733,500 ounces of gold (using a 0.5 g/t Au cut-off grade). More than 250,000 ounces of contained Au in this inferred mineral resource is hosted by oxide material (saprolite). Stronghold Metals is now aggressively pursuing the development of the Eagle Mountain gold project in Guyana. Our primary focus at Eagle Mountain is enhancing the NI43-101 compliant mineral resource with advanced exploration drilling and mineral resource definition drilling.
The Tucuma Property in Brazil is wholly owned by Stronghold Metals Inc. and consists of 6 mining concessions comprising a land package of 11,500 hectares. The project is located close to infrastructure, only 12 km from the town of Tucuma. The Tucuma Property represents an excellent opportunity to explore for both shear-hosted economic gold vein mineralisation and for a copper-gold system of the IOCG type, with drill ready targets. Stronghold's concessions are surrounded by exploration titles belonging to senior mining companies. Several world-class mines exist in the area. Vale, the second largest mining company in the world, has recently developed a major nickel mine, named Once Puma, only 55km north of Stronghold's Tucuma Property.
On behalf of The Board of Directors of Stronghold Metals Inc.
Ioannis (Yannis) Tsitos, President, CEO & Director
This document contains certain forward looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, delays, and uncertainties not under the corporations control which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the corporation's to be materially different from the results, performance or expectation implied by these 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.
Contacts:
Stronghold Metals Inc.
Ioannis (Yannis) Tsitos
President, CEO & Director
1 604.806.0916
1 604.806.0956 (FAX)
www.strongholdmetals.com