Tarsis Resources Ltd. (“Tarsis” and “the Company”) is pleased to announce that it has begun exploration at the newly acquired BP property, located 60 km south of Carlin, Nevada. The BP property is being explored for Carlin-style gold mineralization along the Rain Trend.
The BP claim block was acquired from Almaden Minerals Ltd. (TSX: AMM, AMEX: AAU) (“Almaden”) along with six other projects located in Nevada and Mexico (see press release dated March 4, 2013). A final agreement for the acquisition of these projects has now been completed as contemplated in the Letter of Intent.
BP Property Exploration Progress
The BP property is the more advanced of the two claim blocks acquired in Nevada and features stratigraphy, structure and geochemistry the Company believes to be prospective for Carlin-style gold mineralization. Some of the prospective attributes include outcropping jasperoid breccias in the vicinity of interpreted structural corridors, anomalous gold plus arsenic-thallium-antimony-mercury pathfinder geochemistry and permissive stratigraphy.
Widely spaced preliminary soil geochemistry from the property features anomalous Carlin-style pathfinder responses including gold (below detection to 34.9 ppb), thallium (0.46 to 4.42 ppm), arsenic (7.3 to 130 ppm), antimony (1.42 to 18 ppm) and mercury (0.01 to 1.03 ppm). No evidence of modern gold exploration is visible on the property apart from the soil geochemistry referenced here.
Work on the property during 2013 will include expanded grid-controlled soil sampling, prospecting and detailed mapping. Tarsis’ geological team were on the ground and started carrying out this work in May.
Results from this exploration will be announced once the data has been received and compiled.
Almaden Property Acquisition
The Company has signed a final agreement for the acquisition of seven projects from Almaden in Nevada and Mexico.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Tarsis will own a 100% interest in the following gold projects:
- Mexico: Yago, Gallo de Oro, Mezquites, San Pedro and Llano Grande
- Nevada: BP, BJS
Tarsis will pay Almaden 4 million common shares and grant a 2% net smelter returns (NSR) royalty on any production from the projects.
In addition, areas of influence have been outlined in Nevada and Mexico, where Almaden will provide its proprietary data and concepts to Tarsis. In return, Tarsis will issue 200,000 shares to Almaden for each new property acquired within the area of influence. Tarsis will issue a further 800,000 shares to Almaden upon the first time disclosure of a mineral resource on each and any of the new properties.
The acquisition is subject to acceptance for filing by the TSX Venture Exchange.
Tarsis President & CEO Marc Blythe states “This acquisition will help to increase Tarsis’ exposure in Mexico and Nevada, both of which are considered favourable mining jurisdictions. We look forward to providing detailed information on each of these projects as exploration advances.”
The Properties
The Nevada properties are prospective for gold and feature Carlin-style pathfinder elements and geological settings believed to be supportive of this model.
The road-accessible BP property is located between the Rain Mine (Newmont Mining Corporation) and the Bald Mountain Mine (Barrick Gold Corporation).
Each of the properties located in Mexico feature epithermal style mineralization and is prospective for gold and silver.
The technical information contained in this press release was prepared by Mr. Marc G. Blythe, P.Eng., the President and CEO of Tarsis Resources Ltd. Mr. Blythe is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.