Tintina Resources Inc.: New Inferred Copper Resource Reported at Black Butte Copper Project, Montana, Usa
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 03/19/12 -- Editors note: There is one infographic associated with this press release.
Tintina Resources Inc. ("Tintina" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: TAU)(OTCQX: TINTF) is pleased to announce that it has completed a NI 43-101 compliant initial inferred resource estimate on the Lowry Deposit Middle Zone, one of several new targets identified at the company's Black Butte Copper Project ("Black Butte") located in Central Montana, USA (see Figure 1 - 3). The addition of the Lowry Deposit Middle Zone as a NI 43-101 compliant resource continues to demonstrate the exploration upside of the Black Butte Copper Project mineral system.
To view Figures 1-3, please visit: http://file.marketwire.com/release/Black-Butte-Copper-Project.pdf.
Highlights:
-- The Lowry Deposit Middle Zone contains an Inferred Resource of 5.14 MMT
grading 2.60% Cu, 0.12% Co, 0.009 g/tonne Au and 14.6 g/tonne Ag at a
1.6% Cu cut-off grade.
-- Current total NI 43-101 Compliant Resources are 623 million lbs of
Inferred Copper Resource and 553 million lbs of Indicated Copper
Resource.
Click here to view the infographic version of this release or enter this url: http://bit.ly/wwARwe
Table 1 shows various Inferred Resource estimates for a range of copper cut-off grades for the currently outlined mineralization at the Lowry Deposit Middle Zone. Using a copper cutoff grade of 1.6% Cu, Lowry Deposit Middle Zone contains an Inferred Resource of 5.14 MM tonnes containing 2.60% Cu, 0.12% Co, 0.009 g/tonne Au and 14.6 g/tonne Ag for total of 294 Million pounds of copper.
Table 2 contains a listing of all Indicated and Inferred Resources reported to date for the Black Butte Copper Project.
Jerry Zieg, Vice President of Exploration, said: "The scale of the Black Butte Copper project continues to grow as we surpass our corporate objective by achieving a resource estimate for the project of 553 million pounds of copper in the indicated category and 623 million pounds of copper in the inferred resource category. Management believes that the evaluation of existing targets, together with on-going exploration efforts will result in the discovery of additional high grade copper resources on this promising property."
Table 1 - Undiluted Lowry Deposit - Middle Zone Inferred Resources:
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Cu Tonne
Cutoff (000)
(%) Estimated Metal Grades Estimated Contained Metal
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Cu Co Au Ag Cu Lbs Co Lbs Au Ozs Ag Ozs
(%) (%) (g/t) (g/t) (M) (M) (000) (000)
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0.00 11,157 1.69 0.09 0.010 12.7 416 22 3.6 4,556
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0.20 10,753 1.75 0.09 0.010 12.9 415 21 3.5 4,460
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0.40 10,191 1.83 0.09 0.011 13.1 411 20 3.6 4,292
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0.60 9,595 1.91 0.10 0.011 13.2 404 21 3.4 4,072
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0.80 8,732 2.03 0.10 0.011 13.2 391 19 3.1 3,706
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1.00 7,876 2.15 0.11 0.011 13.4 373 19 2.8 3,393
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1.20 7,015 2.28 0.11 0.011 13.7 353 17 2.5 3,090
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1.40 6,196 2.41 0.11 0.010 14.0 329 15 2.0 2,789
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1.60 5,139 2.60 0.12 0.009 14.6 294 14 1.5 2,412
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1.80 4,327 2.77 0.12 0.009 14.9 264 11 1.3 2,073
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2.00 3,398 3.00 0.12 0.010 15.4 225 9 1.1 1,682
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2.20 2,791 3.20 0.12 0.010 15.9 197 7 0.9 1,427
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2.40 2,382 3.36 0.13 0.010 16.4 176 7 0.8 1,256
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2.60 2,024 3.51 0.13 0.011 17.0 157 6 0.7 1,106
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2.80 1,762 3.63 0.13 0.010 17.2 141 5 0.6 974
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3.00 1,530 3.74 0.14 0.010 17.4 126 5 0.5 856
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(It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an Inferred Resource will be upgraded to an Indicated Resource, or that an Indicated Mineral Resource will be upgraded to a Measured Resource, as a result of continued exploration. Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves because there are insufficient studies to demonstrate economic viability. Mineral Resources are global in situ totals. Mineral Resource numbers have been rounded and may not add up in the above table. A NI 43-101 Technical Report detailing the Mineral Resource estimate will be filed on SEDAR within the next 45 days.)
The Lowry Deposit Middle Zone is a tabular layer up to 52 meters thick of copper-cobalt-silver mineralization with bands, veins, and masses of chalcopyrite concentrated within a modestly dipping silicified breccia and shale layer from 265 to 718.5 meters below the surface. The true thickness of the moderately dipping mineralized zone approximates 90% of the drilled thicknesses. Historic resources calculated by earlier operators are non-compliant with NI 43-101 standards and are not being relied upon for resource estimation purposes. There is potential for additional resources in extensions of the Lowry Deposit Middle Zone and in other Cu-Co-Ag deposits identified on the property.
The Mineral Resource estimate for the Lowry Deposit Middle Zone was prepared by Mike Lechner, president of Resource Modeling Inc., an independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. The drill hole database that was used to estimate Mineral Resources consists of 4 drill holes completed by Cominco American Inc. totaling 2,558.8 meters and 10 drill holes completed by Tintina Resources Inc., totaling 6,715.2 meters. The Mineral Resource estimate was completed by constructing a three dimensional computer block model with a block size of 5 m X 5 m for the X and Y dimensions and 2.5 m for the Z dimension. Three-dimensional wireframes were constructed to represent the Lowry Deposit Middle Zone, the Volcano Valley Fault, and the Rose Fault, a northeast trending high-angle structure. Drill hole composites 2.5 meters in length were generated from the assay data after capping high-grade outliners and subsequently used to estimate copper, cobalt, and silver grades using inverse distance weighting methods and a dynamic anisotropy search strategy. The block grades were validated visually and by comparing the grades with a nearest neighbor model. A density of 3.35 g/cm3 was selected to tabulate resource tonnage based on 24 density determinations from fresh drill core collected from Tintina's 2010 and 2011 drilling campaigns. Tintina incorporated a rigorous quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program for their 2010, 2011 and 2012 drilling programs, including the submission of standards, blanks, and duplicates into the assay stream that was submitted to their primary analytical laboratory ALS Chemex. Historical assays were obtained from files donated to the University of Montana drill core collection by Cominco American Inc. These files do not contain original assay certificates, and attempts to recover these have so far have been unsuccessful.
Jerry Zieg, Vice President of Exploration for the Company is a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the information of a scientific nature contained in this news release.
About Black Butte Copper Project
The Black Butte Copper Project is located approximately 17 miles north of White Sulphur Springs, Montana, and lies along a well-maintained gravel road within two miles of U.S. Highway 89. The property, originally explored by Cominco American Inc. and BHP during the 1980's and early 1990's, consists of approximately 12,225 acres of fee simple lands and mining claims and contains sediment-hosted zones of Cu-Co-Ag syn-sedimentary massive sulfide mineralization. The Company has completed over 39,300 meters of drilling since initiating work in September of 2010 and has established Indicated and Inferred Resources on the property including the Johnny Lee Deposit Upper Zone, Johnny Lee Deposit Lower Zone and the Lowry Deposit Middle Zone (please see Company News Release dated January 13, 2012, and Table 2).
Table 2. Black Butte Copper Project Resources:
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UNDILUTED INDICATED RESOURCES
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Estimated Metal Grades
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Cu
Cutoff Tonnes Cu Co Au Ag
(%) (000) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t)
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Johnny Lee Deposit Upper
Zone 1.60 8,483 2.96 0.12 0.008 16.9
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TOTAL 8,483 2.96 0.12 0.008 16.9
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UNDILUTED INDICATED RESOURCES
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Estimated Contained Metal
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Cu Co Au Ag
Lbs Lbs Ozs Ozs
(Millions) (Millions) (000) (000)
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Johnny Lee Deposit Upper
Zone 553 22 2.2 4,609
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TOTAL 553 22 2.2 4,609
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UNDILUTED INFERRED RESOURCES
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Estimated Metal Grades
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Cu
Cutoff Tonnes Cu Co Au Ag
(%) (000) (%) (%) (g/t) (g/t)
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Johnny Lee Deposit Upper
Zone 1.60 1,257 2.64 0.10 0.008 16.4
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Johnny Lee Deposit Lower
Zone 1.50 2,462 4.71 0.06 0.350 5.1
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Lowry Deposit Middle Zone 1.60 5,139 2.60 0.12 0.009 14.6
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TOTAL 8,858 3.19 0.10 0.10 12.2
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UNDILUTED INFERRED RESOURCES
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Estimated Contained Metal
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Cu Co Au Ag
Lbs Lbs Ozs Ozs
(Millions) (Millions) (000) (000)
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Johnny Lee Deposit Upper
Zone 73 3 0.3 663
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Johnny Lee Deposit Lower
Zone 256 3 28.0 404
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Lowry Deposit Middle Zone 294 14 1.5 2,412
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TOTAL 623 20 29.8 3,479
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The Company continues to explore additional mineralized zones within the property area. Tintina is completing a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of the Johnny Lee Deposit, planned for finalization by the end of Q2, 2012. The company is also preparing an advanced underground exploration proposal which includes an exploration decline and ancillary facilities for presentation to the appropriate State authorities. All presently envisaged mine workings and facilities would lie on private ranch lands.
The Johnny Lee Deposit lies 3.2 km (2 miles) west of U.S. Highway 89, and is comprised of the Johnny Lee Deposit Upper Zone and the Johnny Lee Deposit Lower Zone. Please refer to Table 2 summarizing identified resources. The Johnny Lee Deposit is the subject of an ongoing Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) due for completion in mid-2012, which examines production from both the Johnny Lee Deposit Upper Zone and Johnny Lee Deposit Lower Zone of the Johnny Lee Deposit. Both copper zones consist of tabular layers of copper-cobalt-silver mineralization with bands of massive chalcopyrite concentrated within fine-grained massive pyritic sulfide layers hosted by shale and shale clast conglomerate. The Johnny Lee Deposit Upper Zone deposit lies at depths ranging from 30 to 210 meters below the surface and is up to 29.17 meters thick. The Johnny Lee Deposit Lower Zone lies at depths ranging from 340 to 500 meters below surface and is up to 22.30 meters thick. All drill hole intersections represent approximate true thicknesses in the gently dipping mineralized zones. Historic resources calculated by earlier operators are non-compliant with NI 43-101 standards and are not being relied upon for resource estimation purposes. There is potential for additional resource in the Johnny Lee Deposit and in the other targets identified on the property to date.
The Lowry Deposit (Fig. 2) lies 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles) west of U.S. Highway 89 and consists of at least five mineralized copper zones. Of these, the Lowry Deposit Middle Zone is a tabular layer of copper-cobalt-silver mineralization reaching up to 52 meters thick with high concentrations of chalcopyrite (copper-iron sulfide) concentrated within fragmental, silicified and dolomitized shale and carbonate. The deposit dips gently to the south, lies at depths ranging from 265 to 718.5 meters below surface, and measures 600 meters by 300 meters in plan. The northeast trending Rose fault down drops the southeast portion of the zone, where two holes extend the zone by about 100 meters. These holes have not been offset further east and south.
About Tintina Resources Inc.
Tintina Resources Inc. is a growth company focused on the exploration and development of base metal properties in North America. The Company's experienced Board of Directors and Management Team is currently focused on advancing the Black Butte Copper Project (Cu-Co-Ag) located in central Montana towards a production decision. The Company is also exploring the Baird (Cu-Zn) property in Alaska where it plans to complete a 4,000 meter drill program this summer (2012).
About Mining in Montana
Montana has been a mining state for a well over 100 years. Today, more than two dozen mining operations are active making mining a cornerstone contributor to the State's GDP. Tintina has met with State regulators and looks forward to presenting the Black Butte Copper project as an underground mine with a small footprint located on private land. The project continues to benefit from broad local community support.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Raj Chowdhry, CA Executive Vice-Chairman & CEO
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain disclosure in this release, including statements regarding the Company's plans for and intentions with respect to exploration of the Company's Black Butte Copper Project, the results of such exploration, including the potential for additional resources on the project, mineral resource estimates, the completion of a Preliminary Economic Assessment and an underground exploration proposal and the filing of a technical report constitutes "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian securities legislation, respectively. In making the forward-looking statements in this release, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable, including that the Company is able to obtain any government or other regulatory approvals and any financing required to complete the Company's planned exploration activities, that the Company is able to procure equipment and supplies in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis, that the Company's exploration activities on the Black Butte Copper Project will not be affected by actions of environmental activists or other special interest groups, that actual results of exploration activities are consistent with management's expectations and, with respect to mineral resource estimates, the key assumptions and parameters on which such estimates are based. However, the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to Tintina Resource's operation as a mineral exploration company and the Black Butte Copper Project property that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and risks include, among others, actual results of the Company's exploration activities being different than those expected by management, uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and geological tests, delays in obtaining or inability to obtain required government or other regulatory approvals or financing, interference with Tintina Resource's exploration activities by environmental activists or other special interest groups, inability to procure equipment and supplies in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis, equipment breakdowns and bad weather, that mineral resources are not as estimated and unexpected variations in mineral resources, grade or recovery rates. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Tintina Resources does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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:
Tintina Resources Inc.
Philippe Van Nieuwenhuyse
Investor Relations
Phone: 604-628-1162
(604) 628-1163 (FAX)
philvann@tintinaresources.com
www.tintinaresources.com
Tintina Resources Inc.
Karen Nestoruk
Executive Assistant
Phone: 604-628-1162
(604)-628-1163 (FAX)
knestoruk@tintinaresources.com
www.tintinaresources.com