Austin Gold Corp. ("Austin" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a mineral lease and option agreement with Bull Mountain Resources LLC ("BMR") to lease a 100% interest in the Stockade Property located in southeastern Oregon.
The Stockade Property consists of 261 unpatented lode mining claims that cover an area of over 6,790 acres, located in Malheur County, Oregon, approximately 85 kilometers southeast of Burns, Oregon, or 150 kilometers southwest of Boise, Idaho.
The property is a classic large epithermal/hot springs alteration system associated with rhyolite intrusions and doming focused along a major NW-trending structural corridor. Exploration programs conducted by BHP, Phelps Dodge and Placer Dome in the 1980s and 1990s included shallow exploration holes targeting bulk tonnage potential, with no efforts to target deeper high-grade gold/silver vein deposits. Many of these short holes returned significant lengths of strongly anomalous gold mineralization, with the best intercept being 79.2 m (260 ft) averaging 0.937 g/t gold from 45.7 - 125 m (150 - 410 ft). Within that interval is 24 m averaging 1.560 g/t gold from 58 to 82.3 m (190 - 270 ft). Numerous other holes returned long intercepts of >0.2 g/t gold, including:
- 3 m (10 ft) averaging 1.1 g/t gold;
- 1.5 m (5 ft) @1.14 g/t gold;
- 4.6 m (15 ft) averaging 1.1 g/t gold; and
- 4.6 m (15 ft) that averaged 1.385 g/t gold.
The Company plans to initiate a systematic exploration program to include drilling beneath the known high-level gold/silver-bearing stockworks mineralization that will target high grade vein deposits formed deeper in the hydrothermal boiling zone along feeder conduits.
Mineral Lease and Option Agreement Terms
Under the terms of the mineral lease and option agreement, the Company has the right to use the property for exploration and mining for a minimum of 50 years provided it continues to make pre-production payments and satisfies the work and royalty commitments. The term of the agreement may continue after 50 years provided active mining operations are being conducted on the property.
Robert M. Hatch, the Qualified Person for Austin Gold as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has approved the scientific and technical information in this news release.