Premium Announces Filing of New Technical and First Pit-Constrained Resource Estimate for the Friday-Petsite Gold Deposit, Idaho Gold Project, USA
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 08/16/12 -- Premium Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE: PEM)(OTCQX: PMMEF) ("Premium" or the "Company") announces that it has filed on SEDAR a new technical report entitled "Technical Report, Idaho Gold Project" for its gold project in Idaho (the "New Technical Report"). The New Technical Report was prepared by independent consultant, GeoSim Services Inc. (Ronald G. Simpson, P.Geo.) and is dated August 15th, 2012 with effective date of May 31, 2012.
The New Technical Report addresses concerns raised by the British Columbia Securities Commission (the "BCSC") as disclosed in the Company's news release of March 14, 2012. The New Technical Report provides an update on the Idaho gold project and a current mineral resource estimate under National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") for the Friday Zone. As previously noted in Premium's March 14, 2012 news release, the resource estimate disclosed in the Company's technical report on the Idaho gold project filed on September 30, 2011 should not be relied upon.
The New Technical Report provides the first economically driven pit-constrained resource estimate for the Friday-Petsite gold deposit is based on legacy data and Premium Exploration 2009-2010 drilling.
The new indicated and inferred mineral resource estimates reported herein are contained within a resource-limiting open-pit shell along 1000 meters of strike in two zones; Main Zone and North Zone.
Mineralization delineated by Premium in between the North and Main Zones as well as directly adjacent to the north, south, and beneath the pit shell remains as a quantity and grade of a potential mineral deposit and should not be considered a mineral resource. The potential mineral deposit may be included in future resource estimates if additional drilling proves such estimates in accordance with NI 43-101.
Mineral Resource Estimate for the Friday-Petsite Deposit Reported within a
Lerchs-Grossman Pit (effective date May 31, 2012)
Indicated: 629,000 oz in 21.5 Mt averaging 0.91 g/t Au with a 0.4 g/t Au
cut-off
Inferred: 146,000 oz in 5.9 Mt averaging 0.77 g/t Au with a 0.4 g/t Au
cut-off
Additional step-out drilling completed in 2011 along the Friday zone extends the mineralization to the north, south, and at depth of the mineral resources reported herein for a total mineralized strike length of 1700 meters and continues to remain open along strike and depth. The drill holes, being widely spaced, were not included in this resource estimation.
Later in 2012, Premium Exploration plans to conduct an infill drill program. Subject to financing and permitting, drilling will also focus in areas where prior drilling has indicated the potential for extension of mineralization which is supported by airborne geophysical and gold-in-soil anomalies.
Quality Assurance/Quality Control, Mineral Resource Estimation Parameters and Qualified Persons
Premium Exploration maintains a QA/QC program using best industry practices at the Friday-Petsite Property. The program includes chain of custody of samples, drill core sawn in half and shipped in sealed bags, blind duplicates, blank samples and certified standards are inserted in the sample stream. The samples are then boxed and couriered to Acme Analytical Laboratories of Vancouver, B.C. a lab certified for the provision of assays and geochemical analyses (ISO 9001:2008). Samples with gold values greater than 10 g/t are re-analyzed via the metallic screen procedure. Samples with visible gold were also analyzed initially using the metallic screen analysis, as were the samples immediately preceding and following the sample with visible gold. ALS Chemex is the check laboratory for the program.
The mineral resource estimate is based on a geologic block model consisting of four mineralized domains and one domain representing an unmineralized dacite dyke. Gold grade estimation was carried out by the ordinary kriging method using 3 metre downhole drill composites. Gold grades were capped prior to compositing at levels ranging from 10 to 20 g/t according to domain. Classified blocks have been constrained by a Lerch-Grossman optimized pit shell using a gold price of $1,400 per ounce. Block dimensions were 10 x 20 x 10 metres with the longest dimension oriented N-S. Density values assigned to the domains are based on 637 bulk density measurements of drill core. The mineral resource is reported at a base case lower cut-off of 0.4 g/t gold. The resource is also presented at a range of cut-offs from 0.3 to 0.7 g/t gold to provide additional information of resource sensitivity to changing cut-off.
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Idaho Gold Project May 2012 Mineral Resource Estimate
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Indicated Pit Resource Inferred Pit Resource
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Cut-off Tonnes Cut-off Tonnes
g/t Au (000's) Au g/t oz Au g/t Au (000's) Au g/t oz Au
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
0.30 25,635 0.82 675,000 0.30 8,044 0.66 170,000
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
0.35 23,755 0.86 655,000 0.35 6,877 0.71 157,000
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
0.40 21,545 0.91 629,000 0.40 5,923 0.77 146,000
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0.45 19,862 0.95 605,000 0.45 5,282 0.81 137,000
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
0.50 18,078 1.00 578,000 0.50 4,586 0.86 127,000
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0.55 16,214 1.05 547,000 0.55 4,029 0.91 117,000
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
0.60 14,736 1.10 520,000 0.60 3,670 0.94 111,000
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0.65 13,441 1.14 494,000 0.65 3,381 0.97 105,000
------------------------------------ ------------------------------------
0.70 12,205 1.19 467,000 0.70 3,054 1.00 98,000
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(1) Mineral resources are reported in relation to a conceptual pit shell.
Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated
economic viability. All figures are rounded to reflect the relative accuracy
of the estimate. All composites have been capped where appropriate.
(2) Mineral resources are reported at a cut-off grade of 0.40 g/t Au. Cut-
off grades are based on a price of US$1,400 per ounce of gold and a number
of operating cost and recovery assumptions.
The May 2012 mineral resource estimate has been prepared by Mr. Ronald Simpson, P.Geo, President of Geosim Services Inc. and independent "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") who has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.
About Premium Exploration Inc.
Premium is focused on the exploration and development of its district-sized Orogrande Shear Zone "OSZ" to fulfill its vision of developing a new mining district in North America. The OSZ is a 30 km-plus regionally-significant trending structure that correlates with multiple known zones of mineralization and has structural control to its gold mineralization, characteristics similar to many large gold belts, such as the Carlin Trend of Nevada. Development is ongoing at the bulk-tonnage Friday-Petsite deposit, the most advanced of several known mineralized zones located along the OSZ and represents 4% of the OSZ under Premium's control. For additional information, please visit us at www.premiumexploration.com.
This press release contains certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of Section 21E of the United States Security Exchange Act of 1934, and involves a number of risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time with the TSX Venture Exchange and the British Columbia Securities Commission. All statements, other than of historical fact, included herein are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. 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.
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:
Premium Exploration Inc.
Mr. Del Steiner
President & Chief Executive Officer
(604) 682-0243
(604) 682-2499 (FAX)
dsteiner@premiumexploration.com, info@premiumexploration.com
www.premiumexploration.com
Opes Capital Inc.
Ms. Christine Kopr
Corporate Communications
(604) 682-0243
(604) 682-2499 (FAX)
ckopr@opescapitalinc.com
www.opescapitalinc.com