Highlights:
- Titan survey identifies a large (2.5 km by 800 m), mostly
untested, easterly plunging chargeability anomaly associated with a
sulphide-bearing zone within an extensive hydrothermal alteration
system;
- Soil survey delineated an 800 m long and up to 750 m wide
gold anomaly over the portion of the Titan anomaly that extends to
surface;
- Soil data and previous drilling indicate that the
sulphide-bearing zone contains anomalous Au, Cu, Mo and Ag
;
- Airborne magnetic survey identifies a strong structure
coincident with the known strike extent of the alteration
system;
- Reconnaissance mapping and prospecting is planned for May to
firm up drill targets;
- Drill hole planning is ongoing for a summer
start-up
VANCOUVER, May 9 /PRNewswire/ - TerraX Minerals Inc. (TSXV:
TXR) (Frankfurt: TX0) has received results from Titan IP, soil
geochemistry, and airborne magnetic surveys conducted earlier in
2011 on its wholly-owned Stewart gold-copper property in
Newfoundland. The property
features an east-northeast striking, 6 km long by up to 1.4 km wide
epithermal to porphyry style alteration zone with extensive
low-grade gold-copper mineralization of which less than 15% has
been drill and trench tested. Quantec Geosciences completed Titan
24 ground geophysics (deep penetration IP) across 2.5 km of strike
length on the 6 km long alteration zone. Three separate
chargeability anomalies were identified, collectively defining a
zone of anomalous chargeability which spans the entire length of
the survey area (2.5 km).
One Titan 24 chargeability anomaly intersects
the surface in the western portion of the surveyed area where the
previous shallow drilling and trenching is coincident with the
anomaly. Here the anomaly is shallow, restricted to 250 m of
dip length (possibly has had a portion removed by erosion). A much
larger buried zone of mineralization is potentially indicated by a
significantly thicker and longer strike length anomaly of similar
amplitude that is concealed by sulphide-poor altered rocks as it
plunges to the northeast. The maximum width of the larger
anomaly is 800 m and its vertical extent reaches more than 500 m,
plunging deeper towards the northeast. The defined anomalous
chargeability is open along strike to the southwest and northeast.
Maps showing the results of the Titan 24 IP survey are available on
our web site at www.terraxminerals.com.
As part of Terrax's exploration strategy for
defining potential drill targets, 609 soil samples were collected
in January/February over an area similar to the area surveyed by
Titan and over the Forty Creek area. Gold values from this
survey ranged from below detection to 334 ppb, with 54 of the
samples containing >20 ppb gold. Data was combined with
results from the 39 orientation soil samples collected in 2010 and
the combined data defines a gold anomaly (>20 ppb Au) 800 m long
and up to 750 m wide, open to the southwest, where the alteration
zone is covered by a lake. The gold anomaly is mostly
coincident with a coherent but more areally restricted copper
anomaly and a diffuse molybdenum anomaly as defined by the ninety
percentile values of both latter elements. All three
elemental anomalies, particularly copper, are strongly coincident
with the near-surface chargeability anomaly. In addition, TerraX
discovered the Forty Creek showing (grab sample of 59 g/t Au and
2290 g/t Ag - see news release of December
20, 2010) 1.4 km to the northeast of the mapped alteration
zone in 2010, further expanding the exploration area. The Forty
Creek showing has a strong, three-line (450 m wide) arsenic anomaly
associated with it.
An airborne magnetic survey was flown over the
entire property by Geo Data Solutions Inc. The major
geological contact on the property between granite in the north and
volcanics in the bulk of the property is reflected in the magnetic
signature - the volcanics having a higher and more complex magnetic
response. The data shows a series of northeast structures
offset by east-southeast structures, and importantly, a structural
connection between the mapped alteration zone and the Forty Creek
showing. One of these northeast structures is coincident with
the known alteration system.
The interpretation from the work conducted early
in 2011 is that the large hydrothermal system defined by surface
mapping contains significant sulphides over a strike length of at
least 3 km, and that the sulphide-bearing portion of the system
plunges to the east. This ties in well with the soil
geochemistry, which shows anomalous gold-copper-molybdenum at
surface in the western part of the alteration system, with the
anomalies diminishing to the east. The implication is that
metal anomalism plunges to the east, coincident with sulphide
concentration. This theory is corroborated by the limited
historical drilling, which tested the upper portions of a shallow
chargeability zone and returned anomalous gold, copper and
molybdenum. The majority of the hydrothermal system has not
been tested by drilling. In the porphyry gold-copper scenario that
is emerging at Stewart, the best grades need not correlate with the
highest chargeability (likely abundant pyrite), but may be
associated with low to moderate chargeability (lower sulphide
content but dominated by chalcopyrite) adjacent to or underneath
the strongest chargeability. Multiple drill targets are
evident from this line of thinking. Joe Campbell, president of TerraX states, "Our
initial target type for the Stewart property was for a mineralized
system similar to Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia, and the IP anomalies we've defined
exceed, both in size and intensity, our most optimistic
expectations. We are proceeding as quickly as possible to drill
test these exciting targets."
The high grade Forty Creek showing represents a
second target on the property. Soil sampling has identified
an arsenic anomaly proximal to the showing, and the airborne
magnetic survey has shown a structural connection between Forty
Creek and the main alteration zone.
Additional fieldwork will take place on the
property in May. The objectives will be to conduct additional
prospecting in the Forty Creek area and on structures deduced from
the new magnetic data; conduct a thorough structural evaluation of
the central part of the property; obtain additional geological
information over the main alteration zone to understand its
relationship to the Forty Creek area; and firm up drill targets
apparent from the geophysical information. Following this
work a campaign of deep drilling on the property is scheduled for
mid-year.
For more information on TerraX's properties,
please visit our website at www.terraxminerals.com.
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: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 (approximately 6.7 million ounces of gold). The
Brett Resources Technical Report on this deposit 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.
The Stewart property is comprised of 242 claims
totaling 60.5 sq. km, located 30 km north-northeast of the town of
Marystown on the Burin Peninsula. The property 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, presently being explored by Castillian
Resources Corp.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
"JOSEPH CAMPBELL"
Joseph Campbell,
P.Geo
President
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its
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policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This news release contains forward-looking
information, which involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors that may cause actual events to differ materially
from current expectation. Important factors - including the
availability of funds, the results of financing efforts, the
results of exploration activities -- that could cause actual
results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are
disclosed in the Company's documents filed from time to time on
SEDAR (see www.sedar.com). Readers are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking
statements, which speak only as of the date of this press
release. The company disclaims any intention or obligation,
except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
SOURCE TerraX Minerals Inc.