Dec 14 2010
Rainy River Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:RR) and Northern Superior Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SUP) has announces the discovery of significant gold bearing mineralization intersected during the Companies initial diamond drilling program on Target 3 of their TPK Joint Venture project, 190 km northeast of Pickle Lake in Northern Ontario.
The diamond drilling is being conducted with the cooperation of Neskantaga First Nation ("Neskantaga"), which recently passed a community resolution supporting the agreement between Rainy River and Northern Superior, and affirming their support for the TPK project.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Coarse-grained visible gold was noted in drill hole TPK-10-004
- TPK-10-004 returns 25.9 g/t Au over 13.5 metres from 149.3 – 162.8 metres
- incl. 46.0 g/t Au over 0.5 metres from 153.0 – 153.5 metres
- incl. 139.4 g/t Au over 1.7 metres from 156.8 – 158.5 metres
- incl. 749.0 g/t Au over 0.3 metres from 157.2 – 157.5 metres
- and 127.0 g/t Au over 0.7 metres from 162.0 – 162.7 metres
- The high-grade shear zone intersected in TPK-10-004 is open both along strike and down dip
- TPK-10-005 intersects 3.8 g/t gold over 1.2 metres from 49.6 metres - 50.8 metres
2010 Diamond Drilling Program – Target 3
To date, ten holes totaling 1,945.0 metres have been drilled on Target 3, with one hole abandoned due to bad ground conditions. Final assays have been received for seven of the nine completed holes, and assays for the two remaining holes on Target 3 will be available in the new year. All reported holes have intersected variably mineralized shears in quartz monzonite, containing disseminated pyrite, arsenopyrite and / or coarse grained visible gold. Shear thicknesses are variable, ranging from 0.1 metres – 13.5 metres. Shear orientations and true thicknesses are not readily apparent, and will be determined by follow up drilling, however the high-grade shear zone intersected in TPK-10-004 is open both along strike and down dip.
Target 3 encompasses a 400 metre-long by 200 metre-wide segment of a 5 km long shear zone that splays west-northwest from the Stull-Wunnummin Fault, a major, gold-fertile structure that extends into Manitoba. Reverse circulation (RC) drilling has shown that the glacial till section immediately south of and glacially down-ice from the shear corridor consistently averages 100 to 1000 gold grains per 10 kg sample whereas till sampled 200 metres to the north (up-ice) contains negligible gold. The gold grains are accompanied by abundant arsenopyrite, ranging up to millions of grains per sample, which may contain significant additional gold. The 1.5 metre bedrock intercepts immediately beneath the till, in two of the four holes drilled on the southern edge of the shear corridor, are mylonitized and returned gold assays of 0.3 to 0.4 g/t. Sheared, arsenopyrite-bearing boulders measuring up to 2 metres in diameter and grading up to 94.2 g/t gold are scattered along the central axis of the shear corridor. Significant gold diamond-drill intercepts to date (TPK-10-004) are associated dominantly with disseminated pyrite-bearing mineralization. Arsenopyrite-rich mineralization, similar to that observed in most of the high-grade surface boulders, has not yet been encountered in drill core.
2010 Diamond Drilling Program – Target 2
The diamond drill has already moved to Target 2 to obtain a preliminary test of this partially lake-covered target prior to winter drilling from the ice. It is anticipated that two diamond drill holes will be completed prior to demobilization for the Christmas break on the 18th of December.
Target 2 is the largest of four diamond drill targets identified by RC drilling. It is defined by a distinct gold grain in-till anomaly that outlines a dispersion train of at least 3 kilometers trending in a NE-SW direction. The till anomaly is also associated with anomalous arsenic and zinc, and overlies a broad shear fractured leucogranite of the "contact stock". The leucogranite contains both spessartine garnet and fluorite alteration. Prospecting during the autumn produced 41 mineralized boulders, of which 33 boulders (or 80%) were found to be anomalous in gold. Five of the boulders yielded assays between 5-10 g/t gold, while one boulder yielded an assay of 42 g/t gold.
Geophysical program initiated
In an effort to aid targeting for the 2011 winter diamond drill program, Abitibi Geophysics of Val-D'Or, Quebec, has been mobilized to TPK to carry out an 80 line-kilometre Induced Polarization (IP) / Resistivity Geophysical Survey. This survey will cover diamond drill Targets 1–4, with a 100-metre line spacing.
Line cutting crews have also been mobilized to site, to expand the current grid in order to facilitate the ground geophysical survey. Neskantaga crews are assisting in grid re-establishment. IP and line-cutting will break for Christmas, and resume in the first week of January, 2011.
2011 Winter Diamond Drill Program
Diamond drilling crews are scheduled to re-mobilize to site on January 17th, 2011. Diamond drilling will continue to test targets previously identified by RC drilling and boulder prospecting (as announced in a joint news release on September 15, 2010). The projected drilling will also continue to test Target 3 for extensions to the newly discovered gold zone, as well as new targets that are being developed by RC drilling and the IP geophysical surveys.
Commentary
"We are very excited about the high grade discovery at TPK," commented Raymond Threlkeld, President & CEO of Rainy River. "The discovery hole is open along strike and at depth, and is just part of what we view as a very large gold mineralized system. We will be aggressively exploring the extensions of the discovery and the larger target areas with our partners, Northern Superior Resources and Neskantaga First Nation, and are proud that they are involved in this exciting project."
Dr. Thomas Morris, President and CEO of Northern Superior, stated: "Obviously, Northern Superior Resources is extremely pleased to see results that just begin to validate our belief in the presence of significant gold mineralization on the TPK property, bearing in mind of course that the mineralization being reported here, at a depth of 149 metres, does not explain the exceptional and extensive surface distribution of the gold grain-in-till dispersal apron and mineralized boulders previously reported." Northern Superior is thrilled at the potential that these results indicate and are so looking forward to the future exploration on this property with Rainy River and Neskantaga First Nation."
Qualified persons
Rainy River is the operator of the TPK Joint Venture and the current exploration program is being supervised by Kerry Sparkes, P.Geo. Vice-President Exploration, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Sparkes is the person responsible for the content of this news release. Rainy River has implemented a rigorous QA/QC program to ensure best practices in sampling and analysis of drill core. All drill core is marked for sampling and then split in half with a diamond saw blade. Samples are placed in sealed bags with security tags. All samples were assayed using a standard fire assay, 30 gram nominal sample weight with an AA finish. Over-limit samples were re-assayed with a gravimetric finish. Samples with visible gold were automatically analyzed for Ore Grade by 1000g screen fire assay, with coarse and fine fractions being combined proportionately and the fine fraction being assayed twice. Standards, blanks and duplicates are inserted every 25 metres. ALS Canada Ltd. performed primary assaying, with duplicates being analyzed at Activation Laboratories Ltd. ALS Canada Ltd. and Activation Laboratories Ltd. implements independent QA/QC protocols that include the insertion of certified blanks and standards as part of their routine analysis.
Source: Rainy River Resources Ltd.