Feb 23 2017
Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. ("Mineral Mountain" or the "Company") is pleased to report that the intensive database compilation and interpretation of both the proprietary Standby Mine database (news release dated October 3, 2016) combined with the Company's extensive comprehensive database acquired from the BHB Group (news release dated July 18, 2016) has been successful in generating two exceptional high priority gold targets in the Rochford District, the Standby Mine and the Cochrane South Trends, that occur in two separate deformed and thickened synclinal fold trends of iron formation, similar to the locally termed "Ore Ledges" at the Homestake Mine located 25 km to the north. Both trends are capable of hosting district-scale Tier 1 gold systems with extensive down plunge lengths of up to 3.0 kilometers. Forty eight (48) drill holes from sixteen sites totaling 20,000 m are planned to discover and build a resource in both drill targets, with the Standby Mine drilling planned to begin in Q2 2017 and the Cochrane South target to be tested in Q3 2017.
In September 2016, the Company engaged the professional services of FMG Engineering based in Rapid City, South Dakota, to handle the permitting process to allow drilling 20,000 meters of core drilling to test both targets.
Standby Target Trend
In October, 2016 the Company purchased a proprietary digital database, generated by Homestake Mining Company between 1967 and 1988 and, never released to the public, consisting of 71 diamond drill holes totaling 22,394 meters, of which 17 holes totaling 14,723 meters targeted an iron formation fold structure, similar in scale to Ledge-9 at the Homestake Mine, at the Standby Gold Mine Property (see September 12, 2016 release). A longitudinal section of the Standby Target Trend was generated by Homestake Mining Company and is posted on the Company's website www.mineralmtn.com, Richard Bachman, ex-VP of Exploration for Homestake Mining Corp. commented: "At Rochford, we used known Homestake Mine geologic principles and it worked! This major fold structure (synclinorium) was considered by Homestake to be large enough to host a district scale gold resource similar to the Homestake District and the Homestake Mine". At the Homestake Mine, eleven ore "ledges", a local term for plunging iron formation fold structures, contributed to over 40 million troy ounces of gold produced with Ledge-9 alone having produced 9.5 million ounces.
Between 1986 and 1988, Homestake drilled three separate "widely spaced step out" cross sections down plunge from the historic Standby Mine shaft. The "step out" drill hole cross sections were designed to intersect the major gold bearing fold structure at 750-meter intervals down plunge. Remarkably, in 1987, Homestake SM87-3A, located 1500 meters laterally, and about 560 meters vertically, down plunge from the Standby Mine deposit intersected a broad interval of gold mineralization within a thick unit of iron formation including a high grade interval grading 10.29 g/t Au across 3.1 m. Near the Standby Mine workings, an underground drill hole, designed to test the down plunge extension of the historic gold mineralization extracted from the mine intersected 4.61 g/t Au across 12.19 m in the Standby Syncline fold structure. This intersection cut the Standby Target 100 m laterally and 75 meters vertically, down plunge from the mine. Another fence of drill holes completed by Homestake in 1986, designed to intersect 750 meters down plunge from the Standby Mine, intersected six significant gold intersections with a broad mineralized system. The widest gold intersection was recorded in SM86-1 which cut 2.02 grams per tonne across 14.0 meters. The Company is planning to drill 10,000 meters specifically to target the 1500 meter long untested plunge potential between the high grade gold intersection in SM87-3A up-plunge toward the Standby Mine mineralization.
- Standby Mine Trend, Highlights of Key Historical Gold Intercepts :
- SM87-3A, 10.29 g/t Au/3.05 m, located 1500 m laterally and 560 m vertically, down plunge from the Standby Mine
- BLG-UG3, 4.61 g/t Au/12.19 m, located 100 m laterally and 75 m vertically, down plunge from the Standby Mine
- SM86-1, 2.02 g/t Au/14.0 m, located 750 m laterally and 400 m vertically, down plunge from the Standby Mine
Cochrane South Trend
The Cochrane Gold Deposit and Mineral Mountain's adjoining Cochrane South Property claims occur within a 3 km long major structural corridor of a fold-thickened iron formation that hosts near surface Homestake-style Ledge-style gold mineralization. The most advanced gold zone, at the up plunge surface expression of this trend is the Cochrane Deposit which is estimated to host, based on drilling by Noranda, Getty, Newmont and Naneco Resources, an in-house non-compliant NI43-101 resource estimate of 68,000 ounces of gold in the indicated category and 200,000 ounces of gold in the inferred category grading a combined 6.3 g/t Au to a depth of 165 meters. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the above historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves, and Mineral Mountain is not treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral reserves. The Ledge-style gold mineralization in Cochrane Deposit is open at depth and, based on a number of high grade intersections within a 30 m wide thick unit of altered iron formation drilled 100 meters from the common boundary between the Cochrane patents and the Company's Cochrane South Property, the gold-bearing structural corridor that hosts the near surface deposit plunges onto the Company's property.
Two drill holes completed by Newmont, between 1996 and 1997, intersected the down plunge extension of the Cochrane Deposit between the lower limits of the non-compliant near surface resource and within 100 meters from the South Cochrane Property boundary. Drill hole NM96-5 intersected 9.86 g/t Au over 2.74 m and three separate high grade mineralized intervals were cut NM96-7 grading 10.04 g/t Au/5.03 m, 10.25 g/t Au/2.44 m, and 10.87 g/t Au/2.74 m. The latter drill hole, NM-96-7, is only 100 m up plunge from the Cochrane Deposit/Mineral Mountain Cochrane South property common boundary. Near surface within the Cochrane Deposit, two drill holes, CR88-2 and CR88-7 each intersected two separate gold zones grading 7.99 g/t Au/10.67 m and 6.97 g/t Au/13.72 m (CR88-2) and 8.26 g/t Au/7.16 m and 6.24 g/t Au/7.74 m (CR88-7).
- Cochrane Trend, Highlights of Key Historical Gold Intercepts:
- NM-96-5, 9.86 g/t Au/2.74 m
- NM-96-7, 10.04 g/t Au/5.03 m, 10.25 g/t Au/2.44 m, and 10.87 g/t Au/2.74 m (3 parallel Au zones), 175 m down plunge from surface
- CR88-2, 7.99 g/t Au/10.67 m, 6.96 g/t Au/13.72 m (2 parallel Au zones)
- CR88-7, 8.26 g/t Au/7.16 m, 6.24 g/t Au/7.74 m (2 parallel Au zones)
Mineral Mountain's technical team has interpreted the shallow, near surface Cochrane Deposit mineralization to be comparable to an "upper tail" position in comparison to the central portions, or "Centroids", of Ledge-type gold mineralization at the Homestake Mine. The goal is to trace the gold mineralization down plunge from the known Cochrane Deposit gold mineralization, to discover a Ledge-type ore centroid. A 10,000 m drill program has been planned for this exceptional gold target.
The Rochford Gold District is located approximately 25 kilometers south of the world's largest iron formation hosted gold deposit, the Homestake Mine, which produced over 40,000,000 ounces of gold from 150 M tonnes of ore averaging approximately 8.4 g/t Au (0.245 opt) over the life of the mine from 1876 to 2001.
The geology of the Rochford District is remarkably similar to that at the Homestake Mine, with gold in both districts hosted in multiply deformed Proterozoic carbonate facies and local sulfide-facies iron formation that has typically been metamorphosed to cummingtonite/grunerite/pyrrhotite and chlorite schists. There are numerous, relatively shallow, high-grade past producing gold mines and prospects in the Rochford District that were developed in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Mineral Mountain's property package covers 7516 acres (30.4 km²) within the approximately 9 km long by 5 km wide core of the district, hosting multiple trends of locally structurally thickened and sheared auriferous iron formation, and are considered to have many geological and mineralogical aspects in common with the Homestake Mine 25 km to the northwest.
The Rochford Gold Belt has been explored intermittently in the past as fragmented properties, but never comprehensively nor systematically to depth, by a number of major companies including Getty, Cominco, Newmont, Noranda, Western Mining and Homestake Mining in the 20th century. Despite gold prices hitting $1,900 US per ounce in 2011, the last diamond drilling in the Rochford District was completed in 1997. Importantly, Mineral Mountain's current Rochford project represents the first time in the history of the Rochford District that one company controls the majority of the District, and the first time virtually all of the relatively modern (1980's through 1990's) historical drilling and surface exploration data has been assembled in modern 3D and GIS formats, to facilitate district scale interpretation and drill targeting.
Qualified Persons
The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed and approved by Nelson W. Baker, P.Eng., the President and CEO of Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd. and a Qualified Person for this project. All exploration activities at the Rochford Project are carried out under the supervision of Kevin Leonard, P.Geo., also a Qualified Person for this project.
About Mineral Mountain Resources and the Rochford Gold Project
Mineral Mountain Resources Ltd., through its wholly owned subsidiary Mineral Mountain Resources (SD) Inc., is focused on the exploration and, if warranted, development of its 100%-owned Rochford Gold Project situated along the highly prospective Homestake Gold Belt in the Black Hills of South Dakota, U.S.A. The Rochford Project covers approximately 7,500 acres and straddles at least five major trends of structurally thickened auriferous iron formation that host ledge-type gold mineralization.
Since 2013, the Company has continued to expand its land position in the Rochford Gold District by professional claim staking and also by purchasing strategically located private properties that fall along two of the major sub-parallel structural trends that host Ledge-type gold mineralization. The Company now owns the largest land position in the Rochford Gold Belt and now possesses by far the largest and most comprehensive database for the district in modern day exploration history. The Rochford Project is vastly under-explored and has the potential to host several district scale gold discoveries.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
MINERAL MOUNTAIN RESOURCES LTD.
Nelson W. Baker, President and CEO