Sep 13 2016
Rockcliff Copper Corporation ("Rockcliff "or the "Company") today announced that the Company has acquired an option to earn a 100% interest in the Laguna Gold Property which hosts the high grade Laguna gold mine. The gold property is strategically located 20km southeast of Snow Lake, Manitoba and near Rockcliff's existing high grade copper-rich Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) deposits.
The Laguna gold mine is the highest grade former gold mine in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake mining camp. Historical intermittent gold mining from the Laguna vein between 1916 and 1939 from approximately 101,012 tonnes averaged 18.5 g/t gold (0.54 opt) and produced over 60,000 ounces of gold. The vein remains open along strike and at depth and the property has additional surface high grade lode gold-rich quartz veins for exploration.
President & CEO of Rockcliff, Ken Lapierre commented, "The Laguna Gold property was the highest grade lode-gold producer in the Flin Flon-Snow Lake greenstone belt. Laguna is part of a unique list of gold deposits with grades above 10g/t that make up less than 5% of all deposits globally and is part of Snow Lake's rich history of gold and VMS mining. It complements our goal of acquiring the highest grade metal deposits in the Snow Lake camp. With multiple high grade gold-rich quartz veins throughout the property and no diamond drilling since the 1940s, our exploration program will begin immediately and include geology, geophysics and a planned first phase drill program during the first quarter of 2017 or earlier."
Preliminary due diligence grab sampling by Rockcliff at Laguna confirmed the presence of high grade lode-gold mineralization throughout the property from at least six gold-rich quartz veins. Grab samples ranged from trace to 264.65g/t gold. Visible gold was observed in outcrop.
Table 1: A total of 28 due diligence grab samples by Rockcliff are tabulated below.
The Laguna Property includes 15 contiguous mining claims totalling 920 hectares and is located approximately 20 km southeast of the Town of Snow Lake. The Laguna gold mine infrastructure consists of a three compartment vertical shaft to 381 meters and 8 levels totalling over 3.0 km of underground drift and stope development. The property is strategically near Snow Lake, home to a former million ounce lode-gold producer and a fully functional non-operating 2,150 tonne per day gold mill facility.
The gold mineralization on the Laguna property is metallogenically controlled by subsidiary thrust faults attributed to the major Crowduck Bay Fault which crosses the entire length of the property a distance of 3.5 km. The gold-rich quartz veining along the northwest limb of the Herb Lake Syncline typically occurs where the subsidiary faults intersect quartz-feldspar and biotite porphryry stocks that intrude Missi Group sedimentary and volcanic rocks. Quartz-iron carbonate-albite-sericite alteration commonly overprint peak regional metamorphic assemblages within auriferous vein margins. Mineralization in quartz and surrounding wall rock consists of pyrite, arsenopyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, pyrrhotite, native gold and telluride. Gangue mineralization is in the form of tourmaline and fuchsite.
Rockcliff can acquire a 100% interest in the Laguna Gold Property by paying an aggregate of $200,000 cash and issuing 750,000 shares over a four (4) year period. Expenditures over five (5) years total $1,000,000 with a minimum $100,000 in expenditures in any year. The vendor will retain a 2.5% NSR on the property of which one 1.5% NSR can be purchased at any time for $500,000 per 0.5% NSR. The vendor's remaining NSR will be subject to a first right of refusal in favour of Rockcliff from 0.5% NSR up to 1.0% NSR on certain claims of the property. An advance royalty payment of $35,000/year to the vendor begins after year five (5) of the option and is capped at $175,000. The advanced royalty payment will be repaid from production on the property.
Rock samples are taken in the field, packaged and shipped directly from Rockcliff's field office to TSL Laboratories (TSL), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. TSL is a Canadian assay laboratory and is accredited under ISO/IEC 17025. Each bagged rock sample is dried, crushed to 70% passing 10 mesh and a 250g pulp is pulverized to 95% passing 150 mesh for assaying. A 0.5g cut is taken from each pulp for base metal analysis (if needed) and leached in a multi acid (total) digestion and then analyzed for copper, lead, zinc and silver by atomic absorption. Gold concentrations are determined by fire assay using a 30g charge followed by fire assay gravimetric an atomic absorption finish. Samples greater than an upper detection limit (3000 ppb) are reanalyzed using a 1 AT charge. Rockcliff inserted certified blanks and standards in the sample stream to ensure lab integrity.
Ken Lapierre P.Geo., President and CEO of Rockcliff., a Qualified Person in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements as set out in NI 43-101, has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this press release.
The transaction is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.
Please visit our website at www.rockcliffcoppercorp.com for additional information.