Bravada Drills 12.2m of 1.66g/t Au-eq at Wind Mountain Au/Ag Deposit, Nevada
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 08/30/11 -- Bravada Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE: BVA)(FRANKFURT: BRT) reported today that assays have been received from seven holes drilled along the eastern and southern margins of the previously mined Wind open pit. The holes successfully extend or upgrade mineralization compared to the project's existing resource model. The strongest mineralization occurs in hole WM11-058, which intersected 12.2m averaging 1.222g Au and 30.8g/t Ag (1.661g/t Au-eq @ 70Ag:1Au) within a 73.1m interval averaging 0.460g/t Au and 15.6g/t Ag (0.683g/t Au-eq) and ended in strong mineralization. Mineralization in this hole is approximately 300m south of the open pit designed for the Company's 2010 PEA. The drill site was chosen, based on detailed mapping combined with historic drill data, to test an approximately 60m-wide 'feeder' zone, where Au/Ag-bearing fluids are believed to have been focused when the deposit formed. Such 'feeder' zones may grade downward into much higher-grade vein deposits that formed where underlying dense volcanic rocks further constrained the flow of mineralizing fluids to permeable fault zones.
Hole WM11-054 intersected a different 'feeder' zone, located on the eastern edge of the existing resource and outside of the designed PEA pit. The hole intersected 6.1m of 0.607g/t Au and 108.6g/t Ag (2.158g/t Au-eq) within a 45.7m interval averaging 0.281g/t Au and 23.0g/t Ag (0.610g/t Au-eq).
Bravada is now more than halfway through its planned 70-hole ( 6,000m) reverse-circulation drilling program, which is designed to test undrilled portions of the existing resource and to identify new shallow oxide resources. New mineralization will be included in an updated PEA for Wind Mountain, expected during the second quarter of 2012 after the current program of drilling and metallurgical test work has been completed and incorporated into a new resource and mine model. Economic parameters should improve dramatically as a result of expanding the resource and updating 3-year trailing average gold and silver prices. Thus far the program has encountered shallow mineralization well outside of the current resource area at the South End Target (13.7m of 1.26g/t Au-eq starting at 29m depth in hole WM11-034, NR-10-11 dated July 25, 2011) and the North Hill Target (6.1m of 0.875g/t Au-eq starting at surface in hole WM11-039, NR-12-11 dated August 2, 2011) where satellite pits may be economic to develop.
President Joe Kizis commented, 'The holes released here are important because they further expand the near-surface resource, as this program was designed to do in part. But they also demonstrate that metal grades in the 'feeder' zones are several-fold higher than average for the deposit, strengthening our belief that the deeper, untested roots of this extensive system should contain bonanza-grade gold and silver deposits, as have been discovered beneath other disseminated, low-sulfidation deposits that have not been deeply eroded.'
2011 Wind Mountain Drill Intercepts
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Inter-
Orien- T.D. From To val Au Ag Au-eq
Hole # tation (m) (m) (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) (70:1) Comments
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South Wind Pit Target
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WM11-051 -50, 071 61.0 13.7 15.2 1.5 0.299 22.8 0.625
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Wind Pit Extension
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WM11-052 -90 121.9 12.2 32.0 19.8 0.436 9.4 0.569
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Including 18.3 25.9 7.6 0.745 9.1 0.875
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38.1 102.1 64.0 0.245 8.8 0.371
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WM11-053 -90 109.7 53.3 59.4 6.1 0.394 13.1 0.581
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incl. 1.5m
of 0.394g/t
Au &
93.0 108.2 15.2 0.382 21.4 0.688 102.2g/t Ag
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WM11-054 -90 121.9 51.8 97.5 45.7 0.281 23.0 0.610
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incl. 1.5m
of 1.49g/t
Au &
59.4 65.5 6.1 0.607 108.6 2.158 350.8g/t Ag
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WM11-055 -90 121.9 0.0 7.6 7.6 0.270 10.0 0.412
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32.0 35.1 3.0 0.403 1.6 0.425
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54.9 76.2 21.3 0.378 10.7 0.531
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WM11-056 -90 121.9 12.2 83.8 71.6 0.263 9.6 0.401
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89.9 103.6 13.7 0.222 10.9 0.378
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WM11-057 'waste' pile
test, lost
-90 7.6 0.0 4.6 4.6 0.166 10.5 0.316 hole at 4.6m
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WM11-058 'waste' pile
in this
-90 121.9 0.0 13.7 13.7 0.356 11.1 0.514 interval
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48.8 121.9 73.1 0.460 15.6 0.683
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Including Hole
bottomed in
mineral-
100.6 112.8 12.2 1.222 30.8 1.661 ization
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Western Heap Leach pile
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WM11-059 -90 7.6 No samples,
lost hole in
heap
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Intercepts calculated 0.2g/t Au &/or 10g/t Ag combined, intervals of 0.3g/t Au-eq reported. Nothing above or below intercept included if less than 0.3 Au-eq & no barren intervals greater than 6m included internally
True thicknesses are estimated to be 70-90% in bedding replacement; however, geometry uncertain adjacent to high-angle faults
A ratio of 70Ag:1Au is used to reflect expected lower recoveries of Ag relative to Au, although detailed metallurgy has not been completed
Note: To view the map associated with this release, please click the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/0830bva.pdf
About Wind Mountain
The project is located approximately 160km northeast of Reno and has good road access and a power line to the property. AMAX Gold/Kinross Gold recovered nearly 300,000 ounces of gold and over 1,700,000 ounces of silver between 1989 and 1999 from the Wind Mountain and Breeze open pit heap leach operations (based on Kinross Gold files). Rio Fortuna Exploration (US) Inc., a wholly owned US subsidiary of Bravada Gold Corporation, acquired 100% of the property via an earn-in agreement with Agnico-Eagle (USA) Limited, a subsidiary of Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited, who retains a 2% NSR royalty interest, of which 1% can be purchased for $1,000,000 any time prior to production. In May 2010, Rio Fortuna received and filed on SEDAR a Technical Report for the Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) conducted by Mine Development Associates (MDA) of Reno. The study assumed open-pit mining using conventional trucks, shovels, run-of-mine leaching and utilized a base case gold price of US$850 per ounce with a credit for silver at a price of $14.50 per ounce. The base case economic model (1) in US dollars indicates:
Resource inside pits = 26.9 million short tons (24.4 million metric tonnes) @ 0.012 oz Au/t (0.411g/t), with 0.007 oz Au/t (0.240g/t) cutoff (approx. 90% Measured Indicated, approx. 10% Inferred)
Gold Ounces mined = 320,000
Gold Ounces produced = 198,000
Waste: Ore Strip ratio = 0.7:1
Capital = Initial capital of US$41.8 million with $4.4 million sustaining capital
Mine Life = 4 years active mining with 2 additional years of residual leaching and rinsing of leach pads
Life-of-mine cash cost per Au ounce = $497 after a silver credit of $86 per ounce of gold is applied
Total Pre-Tax cost per Au ounce = $719 after a silver credit of $86 per ounce of gold is applied
IRR = 15%
Pre-tax NVP @ 5% = $13.2 million
(1)Note that Canadian NI 43-101 guidelines define a PEA as follows: 'A preliminary economic assessment is preliminary in nature and it includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied that would enable them to be classified as mineral reserves, and there is no certainty that the preliminary assessment will be realized.'
Sensitivity studies by MDA indicated that gold and silver prices 20% higher in the same modeled pit ($1,020/oz Au and $17.40/oz Ag) will increase the IRR to 38% and the NPV@5% to $43.7 million. Gold and silver prices that are 10% lower ($765/oz Au and $13.05/oz Ag) result in the model becoming uneconomic at an NPV@5%. Sensitivities of the model to capital and operating costs are also provided by MDA.
Mine Development Associates, Ore Reserves Engineering ('O.R.E.') and Debra Struhsacker, Environmental Permitting and Government Relations Consultant, compiled the technical report. Thomas Dyer, P.E. is a Senior Engineer for MDA and is responsible for sections of the technical report involving mine designs and the economic evaluation; Alan C. Noble, P.E. is the Principal Engineer of O.R.E. and is responsible for sections of the technical report involving resource modeling and information taken from the 2007 Technical Report completed entitled 'Technical Report on the Wind Mountain Gold Project'; and Debra Struhsacker is responsible for the section of the technical report involving environmental issues. These are the Qualified Persons of the technical report for the purpose of Canadian NI 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Economic Analyses of Mineral Projects.
About Bravada Gold Corporation
Bravada Gold Corporation is a member of the Manex Resource Group of companies with an exploration office in Reno, Nevada from which it is exploring its extensive (22 properties covering over 20,000 hectares) Carlin-type and low-sulfidation-type gold holdings strategically located within numerous productive gold trends in Nevada. The Company has several projects available for joint venture with qualified groups.
Joseph Anthony Kizis, Jr. (P.Geo.) is the Qualified Person responsible for reviewing the technical results in this release.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Bravada Gold Corporation
Joseph A. Kizis Jr., Director, President, Bravada Gold Corporation
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. These statements are based on a number of assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions regarding general economic conditions, interest rates, commodity markets, regulatory and governmental approvals for the company's projects, and the availability of financing for the company's development projects on reasonable terms. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, the timing and receipt of government and regulatory approvals, and continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions. Bravada Gold Corporation does not assume any obligation to update or revise its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable law.
Neither 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:
Bravada Gold Corporation
Liana Shahinian
604.641.2773 or toll free: 1.888.456.1112
liana@mnxltd.com
www.bravadagold.com