VANCOUVER, April 12 /PRNewswire/ - TerraX Minerals Inc. (TSXV:
TXR) (Frankfurt: TX0) has received assay results from the final
five holes of its February/March 2011 drilling campaign on the
AL198 and Roy zones within its wholly-owned Sunbeam-Pettigrew gold
property near Atikokan, Ontario. All holes intersected
coherent alteration zones with anomalous gold. Hole
SP11-12 at the Roy Zone had an interval of 14.70 m @ 0.67 g/t
Au, including a higher grade interval of 1.85 m @ 4.01 g/t
Au, at a vertical depth of 35 m. Hole SP11-11 at the
AL198 Zone intercepted 5.63 m of 0.98 g/t Au, including
0.8 m of 6.12 g/t Au, at a vertical depth of 45 meters.
The Sunbeam-Pettigrew property consists of
thirty-six claims totaling 425 claim units (~67 sq km) within the
Archean Marmion Batholith, in a similar geological environment to
the nearby Hammond Reef gold deposit, presently being explored by
Osisko Mining Corporation.
The Roy Zone occurs along the Roy
lineament defined by TerraX in 2009, and known to contain anomalous
gold intermittently over a strike length of at least 8.5 km.
The Roy Zone contains several historical shafts. TerraX
drilled two holes 70 m apart proximal to the shafts. Both
holes passed through a 12 to 14 m wide zone of moderately
sericitized and chloritized tonalite, with thin mafic dikes and
quartz ± ankerite veins up to 50 cm across. The veins locally
contain pyrite, galena, and fine-grained visible gold. In
hole SP11-12, this zone ran 14.70 m @ 0.67 g/t Au, including
a higher grade interval of 1.85 m @ 4.01 g/t Au (see Table
1). In hole SP11-13, the Roy Zone assayed 12.28 m @ 0.43
g/t Au, with a core of 3.78 m @ 1.05 g/t Au.
The AL198 Zone occurs on the Sunbeam
lineament defined by TerraX in 2009, which contains the
past-producing Sunbeam gold deposit, and is known to be
intermittently mineralized over at least 5 km. The zone
contains anomalous gold in grab samples over a 220 m strike length,
with a high value of 16.2 g/t Au. TerraX drilled three holes
totaling 336.0 m at AL 198, testing a 150 m strike length of the
zone. Each hole intersected the same 6 to 10 m wide
alteration zone, consisting of moderately sericitized rock with
hematite, quartz-ankerite veining, pyrite and minor amounts of
fuchsite and pyrrhotite. In hole SP11-11, this zone contained
an intersection of 5.63 m of 0.98 g/t Au, including 0.8 m
of 6.12 g/t Au. The alteration zone in hole SP11-10 ran
10.25 m @ 303 ppb Au, and in hole SP11-09 it ran 6.16 m @
70 ppb Au (Table 1). These three holes collectively provide the
first information on the shallow portion of a coherent alteration
zone that, at least locally, contains mineralization of similar
grade to the resource at Hammond Reef. The intersection in
hole SP11-11 is at a higher grade than the average grade at Hammond
Reef.
The alteration zone intersected at AL198 is
visually identical to that intersected at the Road Zone, 2 km to
the northeast (see map on web site). Combining results from
the two areas, TerraX thus interprets the existence of a coherent
northeast-trending alteration zone at least 2 km long, from AL198
in the southwest to the Road Zone in the northeast. The Road
Zone features a TerraX intersection of 13.90 m @ 1.11 g/t Au
(Table 1; see our press release of March 16, 2011). The
extended alteration zone has been tested by six TerraX drill holes,
all of which intersected at least 5 m intervals of anomalous
gold. The central part of the alteration zone has supported
underground mining on the Sunbeam patent, wherein at least 1,000
ounces of gold were mined in the early 1900's. The alteration
zone is open along strike in all directions as well as
down-dip. Approximately 800 m of untested strike length occur
between TerraX drilling at AL198 and the Sunbeam patent; no
outcrops occur in this area. Likewise, 450 m of strike length
occur between TerraX drilling at the Road Zone and the Sunbeam
patent. Intermittent drilling along this part of the zone by
Nahanni Mines in 1982 was mostly ineffective due to a combination
of drill placement and core recovery issues, although the one hole
to definitively intersect the alteration zone produced an
intersection of 8.5 m @ 4.8 g/t Au.
Table 1: Significant Intersections from February/March
2011 Drilling
Hole |
From
(m) |
To (m) |
Length
(m) |
Gold
(ppb) |
Zone |
SP11-06 |
64.30 |
78.20 |
13.90 |
1112 |
Road |
SP11-07 |
62.88 |
71.35 |
8.47 |
67 |
Road |
SP11-08 |
63.11 |
69.03 |
5.92 |
102 |
Road |
SP11-09 |
63.80 |
69.96 |
6.16 |
70 |
AL198 |
SP11-10 |
63.31 |
73.56 |
10.25 |
303 |
AL198 |
SP11-11 |
59.80 |
65.43 |
5.63 |
983 |
AL198 |
incl |
60.45 |
61.25 |
0.80 |
6117 |
AL198 |
SP11-12 |
38.21 |
53.00 |
14.79 |
666 |
Roy |
incl |
49.15 |
51.00 |
1.85 |
4014 |
Roy |
SP11-13 |
41.02 |
53.30 |
12.28 |
429 |
Roy |
inc |
44.22 |
48.00 |
3.78 |
1047 |
Roy |
TerraX is encouraged by the three
alteration/mineralization zones intersected by the 2011
drilling. All zones are open along strike and down-dip, and
drill testing to date of these zones has been restricted to the
upper 60 vertical m; it is worth noting that mineralization at
Hammond Reef tends to improve with depth. TerraX's drilling
has provided firm information on the location of the prospective
alteration zones, so as to enable more effective prospecting and
drilling in the future. All three zones merit further
drilling consisting of step-out holes to trace and assess the known
alteration zones. In addition, stripping and drilling should
be conducted along the 2 km strike length between the Road and
AL198 zones. This work is planned for the summer/fall of
2011.
All drill core from the 2011 drill program was
logged, split and sampled at a secure core facility in Atikokan.
Samples were delivered by TerraX personnel to the Activation
Laboratories ("Actlabs") facility in Thunder Bay. Actlabs is
an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited analytical
laboratory. Analysis was by fire assay with AA finish.
Samples with visible gold were assayed by the metallic screen with
fire assay process. Analytical accuracy and precision are
monitored at the laboratory by the analysis of reagent blanks,
reference material and replicate samples. Quality control is
further assured by the use of international and in-house standards.
TerraX routinely inserted blanks and certified standards into the
sample stream in order to independently assess analytical
accuracy.
The technical information contained in this news release has
been verified by Dr. Tom Setterfield, P.Geo., who is a Qualified
Person as defined in "National Instrument 43-101, Standards of
Disclosure for Mineral Properties."
About TerraX Minerals
TerraX Minerals Inc. is one of the major
landholders of prospective ground in the burgeoning Marmion
Batholith gold district near Atikokan, Ontario, host to Osisko
Mining Corporation's (TSX-V: OSK) Hammond Reef gold deposit which
contains a National Instrument 43-101-compliant inferred resource
of 259.4 million tonnes at 0.8 grams per tonne Au. The Brett
Resources Technical Report on this project is available on SEDAR.
TerraX is actively exploring three wholly-owned gold exploration
projects, the Sunbeam-Pettigrew, Blackfly and Central Canada
properties, all of which are located within 20 km of the town of
Atikokan, 180 km west of Thunder Bay, and are within 19 km of the
Hammond Reef gold deposit.
TerraX is also actively exploring the 60.5 sq km
Stewart property in the Burin Peninsula, which is part of the
Avalon terrane, a geologic structure which can be traced from
eastern Newfoundland through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into New
England, the Carolinas and northern Georgia. The Avalon terrane
hosts several epithermal/porphyry gold-copper deposits, including
the past-producing Hope Brook deposit in Newfoundland.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
"JOSEPH CAMPBELL"
Joseph Campbell, P.Geo
President
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its
Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the
policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SOURCE TerraX Minerals Inc.