Corvus Gold Announces Granting of Mayflower Project Permit, North Bullfrog Project, Nevada and Alaskan JV Exploration Programs Start-Up
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 06/21/12 -- Corvus Gold Inc. ("Corvus" or the "Company") (TSX: KOR)(OTCQX: CORVF) announces the start of exploration activities on its Alaskan projects. The Company's Alaskan joint venture partners have indicated that significant exploration work, including drilling, is planned for both the West Pogo and Terra properties this summer, with a surface program anticipated on the Chisna Property. This work is part of the 2012 partner funded Alaskan exploration programs required under the Company's existing joint venture agreements and should significantly advance these properties.
In addition, the Company has been notified by the Nevada Bureau of Mining Regulation and Reclamation that the permit for the expanded exploration and development related work on the private lands within the North Bullfrog Project has been approved. Accordingly, drilling on the Mayflower deposit will begin shortly. Work at the Mayflower deposit will include the necessary engineering work and resource definition required for a completion of a feasibility study. Phase 2 drilling on the Federal land portion of the North Bullfrog Project, where recent exploration success outlined a potential high-grade feeder zone (NR 12-14, May 23, 2012) as well as resource expansion potential (NR 12-08, Feb. 29, 2012), is expected to start in the Fall of 2012, subject to drill permit issuance.
Jeff Pontius, Corvus CEO, stated: "The start of our joint venture exploration programs in Alaska is an exciting next step in advancing these new gold discoveries using partner funding while Corvus stays focused on moving our Nevada project toward anticipated production. Corvus's Alaskan projects represent significant downstream growth potential for the Company for both major new gold discoveries and to augment our future anticipated production profile. The timely Mayflower permit approval will allow the Company to rapidly move the project to feasibility completion by early next year. This program will not only allow the completion of key development work but also exploration to assess the expansion potential of the deposit. It is truly an exciting time for Corvus."
Alaska Programs
Joint Venture partner Alix Resources Corp. ("Alix") has informed the Company that they will be mobilizing a core rig to the joint venture area in the second half of June and that they intend to initially drill two holes on the West Pogo claim block this summer. The Alix program will be following up on untested structurally related gold targets developed by Alix geologists from work on adjacent properties which are now part of the joint venture.
Westmountain Index Advisors Inc. ("WIA"), who have joint ventured the Terra Property, have informed the Company that they will be opening the Terra camp in late June, and are mobilizing a core drill together with mining and excavation equipment to Alaska in June, with the intention of completing the mill installation and commencing initial operation with stockpiled material, as well as beginning the construction of the road from the Terra camp to the main mining area (Ben Vein). Diamond drilling will focus on the continued extension of the Ben Vein to the north as well as infilling the additional 200 metres of vein extension delineated in 2011 (NR 11-24, Dec. 6, 2011).
Ocean Park Ventures Corp. ("OCP"), who have joint ventured the Chisna Property, have not finalized their exploration program for the summer but have indicated to the Company that it will be limited in scope as necessary to fulfill their remaining 2012 work commitment.
About the West Pogo Gold Project
Alix optioned the 24km2 West Pogo claim block in February 2012 and, under the terms of the option agreement, can earn a 60% interest in the property by incurring expenditures of USD 5M over five years. Corvus has reserved a 2-3% NSR royalty on the project, with Alix having the right to purchase 1% for USD 1M (NR Mar. 5, 2012).
The West Pogo project is located approximately 5 km to the west of Sumitomo Metals Corp. Pogo Gold Mine. The Pogo Mine road and power line pass through the West Pogo Property providing easy access to the property. At West Pogo there is the potential to discover high-grade gold mineralization in both steeply and shallowly dipping structural zones. Surface mapping and sampling in 2011 has identified two more than 1 kilometre long East-West trending zones of alteration and mineralization on the property. Mineralization is associated with zones of sericite-dolomite alteration in the host quartz monzonite and with silica-flooded breccias which have produced grab samples with up to 118.5 g/t gold. One N-S oriented shallow hole drilled in 2003 encountered broad zones of gold mineralization in altered quartz monzonites but missed breccia-style mineralization. In 2011, a 3D induced polarization survey covering 5km2 over the main alteration zones highlighted a series of NW-trending cross structures, which may be the control on the high-grade mineralization, thus explaining why the original drill hole missed the high-grade zone.
About the Terra Project
Terra Gold Corp. ("Terra Alaska"), a subsidiary of WIA, is Corvus's joint venture partner on the Terra project. Terra Alaska has the right to earn a 51% interest in the Terra Gold Project from Corvus by spending a total of USD 6.0M. Terra Alaska can further increase its ownership to 80% with an additional USD 3.05M investment bringing to a total of USD 9.05M capital investment over a four-year period with their 2012 work commitment being approximately USD 1M.
The Terra Gold Project is a high-grade gold vein system with a current NI 43-101 Inferred resource of 428,000 tonnes at 12.2 g/t gold (using a cutoff grade of 5.0 g/t gold) for contained metal content of 168,000 ounces. The project's primary focus is the Ben Vein, where 28 drill holes completed to date have returned 111 vein intersections of over 3 g/t gold. Initial metallurgical work has indicated a high recovery rate via gravity circuit, illustrating potential for near-term production. Given the high-grade nature of the gold veins, coupled with the favourable mining configuration and gravity recovery characteristics, the deposit may be amenable to near-term gold production. Further information on the Terra Project can be found at http://www.corvusgold.com/projects/alaska/terra/.
About the Chisna Project
The Chisna Project is focused on a new and emerging Alaskan gold and copper-gold porphyry belt of deposits with copper and gold mineralization associated with mid-Cretaceous intrusions of similar age to the Pebble deposit to the west and Orange Hill deposit to the east. At present, the Chisna project consists of approximately 232,000 acres of State of Alaska Mining Claims and land leased from Ahtna Corporation. The Chisna property has good infrastructure as it sits between two major highways, access to grid power as well as an extensive winter road network making this a unique development setting in Alaska.
Corvus and its predecessor-in-title, International Tower Hill Mines Ltd., began exploration on the project in 2006 and discovered the Grubstake porphyry copper system in 2007. Since 2010, the Chisna project has being operated as a joint venture between Raven Gold Alaska Inc. (a subsidiary of Corvus) and Ocean Park Alaska Corp. ("OCPA") (a subsidiary of OCP), with OCPA having the right to earn a 51% interest by incurring USD 20M in exploration expenditures over a 5 year period, thereby providing Corvus with a no-cost assessment of this belt. OCPA may earn an additional 19% by producing a bankable feasibility that delineates a mining project on the Chisna property that produces at least 300,000 gold equivalent ounces per year.
About the North Bullfrog Project, Nevada
Corvus, through Corvus Gold Nevada, Inc., controls 100% of its North Bullfrog Project, which covers approximately 43 km2 in southern Nevada just north of the historic Bullfrog gold mine formerly operated by Barrick Gold Corp. The property package is made up of a number of leased patented federal mining claims and 461 federal unpatented mining claims. The project has excellent infrastructure, being adjacent to a major highway and power corridor. The Company and its independent consultants completed a robust positive Preliminary Economic Assessment on the existing resource in February 2012.
The project currently includes numerous prospective gold targets with four (Mayflower, Sierra Blanca, Jolly Jane and Connection) containing an NI 43-101 estimated Indicated resource of 15 Mt at an average grade of 0.37 g/t gold for 182,577 ounces of gold and an Inferred resource of 156 Mt at 0.28 g/t gold for 1,410,096 ounces of gold (both at a 0.2 g/t cutoff), with appreciable silver credits. Mineralization occurs in two primary forms: (1) broad stratabound bulk-tonnage gold zones such as the Sierra Blanca and Jolly Jane systems; and (2) moderately thick zones of high-grade gold and silver mineralization hosted in structural feeder zones with breccias and quartz-sulphide vein stockworks such as the Mayflower and Yellowjacket targets. The Company is actively pursuing both types of mineralization.
A video of the North Bullfrog project showing location, infrastructure access and 2010 winter drilling is available on the Company's website at http://www.corvusgold.com/investors/video/.
Qualified Person and Quality Control/Quality Assurance
Jeffrey A. Pontius (CPG 11044), a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical information (other than the Terra and North Bullfrog resource estimates) that form the basis for this news release and has approved the disclosure herein. Mr. Pontius is not independent of Corvus, as he is the CEO and holds common shares and incentive stock options.
Mr. Gary Giroux, M.Sc., P. Eng (B.C.), a consulting geological engineer employed by Giroux Consultants Ltd., has acted as the Qualified Person, as defined in NI 43-101, for the Giroux Consultants Ltd. mineral resource estimates at both Terra and North Bullfrog. He has over 30 years of experience in all stages of mineral exploration, development and production. Mr. Giroux specializes in computer applications in ore reserve estimation, and has consulted both nationally and internationally in this field. He has authored many papers on geostatistics and ore reserve estimation and has practiced as a Geological Engineer since 1970 and provided geostatistical services to the industry since 1976. Both Mr. Giroux and Giroux Consultants Ltd. are independent of the Company under NI 43-101.
The Company's assay QA/QC program at North Bullfrog was designed and is supervised by Russell Myers (CPG 11433), President of Corvus. On-site personnel at the project log and track all samples prior to sealing and shipping. Quality control is monitored by the insertion of blind certified standard reference materials and blanks into each sample shipment. All resource sample shipments are sealed and shipped to ALS Chemex in Reno, Nevada, for preparation and then on to ALS Chemex in Reno, Nevada, or Vancouver, B.C., for assaying. ALS Chemex's quality system complies with the requirements for the International Standards ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 17025:1999. Analytical accuracy and precision are monitored by the analysis of reagent blanks, reference material and replicate samples. Finally, representative blind duplicate samples are forwarded to ALS Chemex and an ISO compliant third party laboratory for additional quality control.
About Corvus Gold Inc.
Corvus Gold Inc. is a North American focused gold exploration and development company with projects in Nevada, Alaska and Quebec. The Company's projects represent a spectrum of early-stage to advanced exploration and development gold opportunities. Corvus is committed to building shareholder value through a rapidly advancing gold project in Nevada and new growth discoveries on its other assets. The Company looks to advance its earlier and more risky discoveries via partner funded exploration work into carried and or royalty interests that provide shareholders with exposure to low financial risk potential gold production.
On behalf of Corvus Gold Inc.
Jeffrey A. Pontius, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding the anticipated content, commencement and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program results, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, the potential for the identification of a higher grade zone or zones at North Bullfrog, the potential for any mining or production at North Bullfrog or Terra, the potential for the identification of multiple deposits at North Bullfrog, the potential for the existence or location of additional high-grade veins, the potential for additional resources to be located between certain of the existing deposits, the potential for the Company to secure or receive any royalties in the future, business and financing plans and business trends, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. In addition, information with respect to the proposed activities of Ocean Park on the Chisna property, the proposed activities of Alix on the West Pogo property and the proposed activities of WIA on the Terra property, have been provided by the respective joint venture partners, who are each the operator of the respective joint ventures and, as such activities are not within the control of the Company, the Company takes no responsibility for the accuracy of such statements.
Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company or any of its joint venture partners are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, variations in the market price of any mineral products the Company or its joint venture partners may produce or plan to produce, the inability of the Company or any of its joint venture partners to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its or their activities, the inability of the Company or any of its joint venture partners to produce minerals from their properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected growth, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement their respective business strategies, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's latest Annual Information Form filed with certain securities commissions in Canada. All of the Company's Canadian public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.
Cautionary Note Regarding References to Resources and Reserves
National Instrument 43 101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators which establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. Unless otherwise indicated, all resource estimates contained in or incorporated by reference in this press release have been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 and the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the "CIM") Standards on Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council on November 14, 2004 (the "CIM Standards") as they may be amended from time to time by the CIM.
United States shareholders are cautioned that the requirements and terminology of NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards differ significantly from the requirements and terminology of the SEC set forth in the SEC's Industry Guide 7 ("SEC Industry Guide 7"). Accordingly, the Company's disclosures regarding mineralization may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by companies subject to SEC Industry Guide 7. Without limiting the foregoing, while the terms "mineral resources", "inferred mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" and "measured mineral resources" are recognized and required by NI 43-101 and the CIM Standards, they are not recognized by the SEC and are not permitted to be used in documents filed with the SEC by companies subject to SEC Industry Guide 7. Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability, and US investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of a mineral resource will ever be converted into reserves. Further, inferred resources have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and as to whether they can be mined legally or economically. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of the inferred resources will ever be upgraded to a higher resource category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of inferred mineral resources may not form the basis of a feasibility study or prefeasibility study, except in rare cases. The SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute SEC Industry Guide 7 compliant "reserves" as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit amounts. The term "contained ounces" is not permitted under the rules of SEC Industry Guide 7. In addition, the NI 43-101 and CIM Standards definition of a "reserve" differs from the definition in SEC Industry Guide 7. In SEC Industry Guide 7, a mineral reserve is defined as a part of a mineral deposit which could be economically and legally extracted or produced at the time the mineral reserve determination is made, and a "final" or "bankable" feasibility study is required to report reserves, the three-year historical price is used in any reserve or cash flow analysis of designated reserves and the primary environmental analysis or report must be filed with the appropriate governmental authority.
Caution Regarding Adjacent or Similar Mineral Properties
This news release contains information with respect to adjacent or similar mineral properties in respect of which the Company has no interest or rights to explore or mine. The Company advises US investors that the mining guidelines of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") set forth in the SEC's Industry Guide 7 ("SEC Industry Guide 7") strictly prohibit information of this type in documents filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned that the Company has no interest in or right to acquire any interest in any such properties, and that mineral deposits on adjacent or similar properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on the Company's properties.
This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.
Contacts:
Corvus Gold Inc.
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www.corvusgold.com