Oct 11 2012
Lori McClenahan, President of St. Elias Mines Ltd. and Intigold Mines Ltd. provides the following update with respect to the Cueva Blanca gold property located in northwest Peru. The property is owned 100% by St. Elias Mines Ltd ("St. Elias"). Intigold Mines Ltd. ("Intigold") has an option to acquire a 60% interest in the property.
As previously reported, St. Elias and Intigold have initiated field studies in the Cueva Blanca area in preparation for diamond drilling. This work has primarily consisted of community relations activities to re-establish the strong community connection (participation and support) that St. Elias enjoyed during its previous exploration programs at Cueva Blanca. Other activities include data compilation and re-interpretation as well as other required preparatory studies. At this time, it is anticipated that very little fieldwork will be required prior to mobilizing drilling equipment and crews to the site. The initial drilling targets include the Cruz Vein, the Cruz breccia bodies and a stratiform silicified zone that has anomalous bismuth-mercury geochemistry. The economic targets at the Cueva Blanca Property are gold and silver.
The first phase drilling program is budgeted at $2.5-million. This program will consist of approximately 10,000 metres of drilling. The primary target of the drill program will be the gold-silver-bearing Cruz Vein System. The target areas are along strike and downdip from the previously drilled area of the vein. Infill and confirmation holes will also be completed in certain sections of the previously drilled areas of the vein system. In these areas, detailed information is lacking because rough terrain prevented the construction of drill platforms at the desired 50-metre spacing along strike. The planned program will utilize man-portable drills that can be sited almost anywhere, whereas all previous drilling was done with a Longyear LF-70 skid-mounted drill that required road access.