Tintina Intercepts 8.32% Cu Over 17.23 Meters at Black Butte Copper Montana, USA
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 03/01/12 -- Editors note: There is one infographic associated with this press release.
Tintina Resources Inc. ('Tintina' or the 'Company') (TSX VENTURE: TAU)(OTCQX: TINTF) is pleased to announce that it has received assay results for thirteen (13) new drill holes, including eight (8) drill holes from the 2011 drill program and five (5) drill holes from the 2012 drill program all from the company's flagship Black Butte Copper Project, located in central Montana, USA (see Table 1). The five (5) 2012 drill holes are in-fill drill holes in the Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ). The additional eight (8) 2011 drill holes consist of six (6) drill holes in the Lowry Deposit (LD) and two (2) drill holes in the Strawberry West area. The six (6) 2011 drill holes from the Lowry Deposit (LD) will provide the basis for the forthcoming Lowry Deposit - Middle Zone (LD-MZ) resource estimate and two (2) mineralized holes in the Strawberry West area may be used to define a new resource in this promising area (see Figures 1-5).
To view Figures 1-5, please visit: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/tau301_Fig1-5.pdf.
Highlights of the 2012 in-fill drill program from the Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ):
-- Drill hole SC12-100 intersected 12.10 meters grading 8.54% Copper (Cu),
0.02% Cobalt (Co), 2.6 g/tonne Silver (Ag) and 0.55 g/tonne Gold (Au)
-- Drill hole SC12-101 intersected 14.80 meters grading 5.6% Copper (Cu),
0.03% Cobalt (Co), 2.5 g/tonne Silver (Ag), and 0.27 g/tonne Gold (Au)
-- Drill hole SC12-102 intersected 9.89 meters grading 7.9% Copper (Cu),
0.04% Cobalt (Co), 3.0 g/tonne Silver (Ag), and 0.37 g/tonne Gold (Au)
-- Drill hole SC12-103 intersected 2.65 meters grading 14.09% Copper (Cu),
0.01% Co, 2.7 g/tonne Silver (Ag) and 0.69 g/tonne Gold (Au).
-- Drill hole SC12-104 intersected 17.33 meters grading 8. 32% Copper (Cu),
0.04% Co, 7.8 g/tonne Silver (Ag) and 0.28 g/tonne Gold (Au).
Click here to see the infographic version of this release or visit: http://bit.ly/zKohbt.
The five (5) 2012 in-fill drill holes highlighted above are from the eastern part of the Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ) and continue to show exceptionally high grades over significant thicknesses. These results will be used in upgrading the current Inferred Resource at the Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ) to an Indicated Resource. The upgraded resource estimate is expected to be completed by mid-2012.
In addition to the five (5) 2012 drill holes highlighted above, new results are available from eight (8) drill holes from the 2011 drill program. Six (6) drill holes from the 2011 drill program are in the Lowry Deposit (LD) and will help provide the basis for a forthcoming Middle Zone (LD-MZ) resource estimate which is scheduled to be completed later in 2012. Furthermore, two (2) drill holes from the 2011 drill program tested the Strawberry West - Upper Sulfide Zone (SW-USZ) where, with further exploration, a new resource may potentially be outlined (see Map on Figure 4). The Strawberry West (SW) area lies approximately 2 km (1.24 miles) northwest of the Johnny Lee Deposit (JLD).
Jerry Zieg, Vice President of Exploration, said: 'We are very pleased to continue to report thick, high grade copper intersections from the Black Butte Copper project. In particular, the very high grades seen at the Johnny Lee Lower Zone are especially encouraging. Once all drill results are incorporated into updated resource estimates later this year, we expect to have achieved our corporate objective of defining in excess of a Billion pounds of contained copper metal.'
Table 1 - Drill Intersections from; Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ), Lowry Deposit - Middle Zone (LD-MZ) and Lowry Deposit - Lower Zone (LD-LZ), and Strawberry West - Upper Sulfide Zone (SW-USZ)
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Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ)
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From To Width Width Cu Co Ag Au
Drill Hole Zone (m) (m) (m) (ft) % % (g/t) (g/t)
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SC12-100 JLD-LZ 412.00 424.10 12.10 39.7 8.54 0.02 2.6 0.55
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SC12-101 JLD-LZ 382.95 397.75 14.80 48.6 5.60 0.03 2.5 0.27
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SC12-102 JLD-LZ 429.70 441.35 11.65 38.2 3.18 0.10 3.1 0.25
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SC12-103 JLD-LZ 445.50 447.15 2.65 8.69 14.09 0.01 2.7 0.69
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SC12-104 JLD-LZ 460.10 477.43 17.33 56.9 8.32 0.04 7.8 0.28
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Lowry Deposit - Middle Zone (LD-MZ), Lowry Deposit - Lower Zone (LD-LZ)
and Lowry Deposit - 0/1 Zone - (LD-0/IZ)
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From To Width Width Cu Co Ag
Drill Hole Zone (m) (m) (m) (ft) % % (g/t)
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SC11-083(i) LD-LZ 763.00 770.00 7.00 23.0 2.23 0.11 6.1
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(i)including 785.32 799.04 13.72 45.0 1.19 0.00 2.9
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SC11-084(i) LD-MZ 324.12 334.19 10.07 33.0 2.29 0.18 14.9
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(i)including 327.55 331.45 3.90 12.8 4.34 0.38 24.4
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(ii)and LD-LZ 510.43 511.25 0.82 2.7 1.76 0.00 0.3
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SC11-085 LD-MZ 659.98 668.13 8.15 26.7 3.31 0.11 12.6
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SC11-086 LD-LZ 548.00 552.00 4.00 13.1 1.98 0.04 3.6
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SC11-088 LD-0/I 497.22 512.35 15.13 49.6 1.02 0.05 4.7
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SC11-090(i) LD-MZ 671.60 685.00 13.40 44.0 1.05 0.09 16.2
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(i)including 675.00 678.00 3.00 9.8 2.33 0.15 22.1
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(ii)and 698.24 700.50 2.26 7.4 2.47 0.07 15.2
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Strawberry West - Upper Sulfide Zone - (SW-USZ)
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From To Width Width Cu Co Ag
Drill Hole Zone (m) (m) (m) (ft) % % (g/t)
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SC11-095(i) SW-USZ 407.84 411.40 3.56 11.7 1.83 0.06 45.9
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(i)including 455.53 462.32 6.79 22.3 1.77 0.08 20.9
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(i)and 455.53 458.06 2.53 8.3 2.75 0.09 19.8
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SC11-099 SW-USZ 364.37 368.31 3.94 12.9 1.20 0.05 36.9
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(For previous Tintina Resources and historic results at Black Butte please see News Releases dated October 20, 2010; October 27, 2010; January 6, 2011; April 26, 2011; May 4, 2011; June 21, 2011; June 28, 2011; July 28th, 2011; August 17, 2011; August 30, 2011; November 30, 2011; and January 19, 2012).
About the Johnny Lee Deposit
The Johnny Lee Deposit (JLD) lies 3.2 km (2 miles) west of U.S. Highway 89, and is comprised of the Johnny Lee Deposit - Upper Zone (JLD-UZ) and the Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ). Please refer to table summarizing resources below. The Johnny Lee Deposit (JLD) is the subject of an ongoing Preliminary Economic Assessment, (PEA) due for completion in mid-2012, which examines production from both the Johnny Lee Deposit - Upper Zone (JLD-UZ) and the Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ). Both copper zones consist of tabular layers of copper-cobalt-silver mineralization with bands of massive chalcopyrite concentrated within fine-grained massive pyritic sulfide layers hosted by shale and shale clast conglomerate. The Johnny Lee Deposit - Upper Zone (LD-UZ) deposit lies at depths ranging from 30 to 210 meters below the surface and is up to 13.1 meters thick. The Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ) lies at depths ranging from 340 to 500 meters below surface and is up to 21.85 meters thick. All drill hole intersections represent approximate true thicknesses in the gently dipping mineralized zones. Historic resources calculated by earlier operators are non-compliant with NI 43-101 standards and are not being relied upon for resource estimation purposes. There is potential for additional resource in the Johnny Lee Deposit and in the other targets identified on the property to date.
As disclosed in an NI 43-101 compliant technical report dated September 30, 2011, the Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ) deposit has an Inferred resource estimate at a copper cutoff grade of 1.5% as tabulated below:
Undiluted Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ) Inferred Resources
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Tonnes Ag Cu Lbs Co Lbs Ag Ozs
(000) Cu % Co % (g/t) (MM) (MM) (000)
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2,462 4.71 0.06 5.1 256 2.9 404
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In addition, as disclosed in an NI 43-101 compliant technical report dated January 13th, 2012, the Johnny Lee Deposit - Upper Zone (JLD-UZ) deposit has an Indicated and Inferred resource estimate at a copper cutoff grade of 1.6% as tabled below:
Undiluted Johnny Lee Deposit - Upper Zone (JLD-UZ) Indicated Resources
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Tonnes Ag Cu Lbs Co Lbs Ag Ozs
(000) Cu % Co % (g/t) (MM) (MM) (000)
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8,483 2.96 0.12 16.9 553 22.0 4,609
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Undiluted Johnny Lee Deposit-Upper Zone (JLD-UZ) Inferred Resources
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Tonnes Ag Cu Lbs Co Lbs Ag Ozs
(000) Cu % Co % (g/t) (MM) (MM) (000)
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1,257 2.64 0.10 16.4 73 3.0 663
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The Company has finished infill drilling on the Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ) and has gained enough additional data to upgrade the Inferred Resource estimate for the Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ) to an Indicated Resource. We expect to announce this updated estimate by end of Q2, 2012.
About the Lowry Deposit (LD)
The Lowry Deposit (LD) lies 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles) west of U.S. Highway 89 and consists of at least five mineralized copper zones. These are the Lowry Deposit - Lower Zone (LD-LZ), Lowry Deposit - Middle Zone (LD-MZ), Lowry Deposit - Upper Zone (LD-UZ), Lowry Deposit - 0/I Zone (LD-0/1Z), and Lowry Deposit - II Zone (LD-IIZ). Most work has focused on the Lowry Deposit - Middle Zone (LD-MZ) deposit, which is a tabular layer of copper-cobalt-silver mineralization with high concentrations of chalcopyrite (copper-iron sulfide) concentrated within fragmental, silicified and dolomitized shale and carbonate. The deposit, hosted by the lower Newland formation shale, lies at depths ranging from 300 to 670 meters below surface and reaches thicknesses of over 52 meters. So far, the Lower Deposit - Middle Zone (LD-MZ) measures 500 meters by 300 meters in plan. A northeast trending fault down drops the southeast portion of the zone, where holes SC11-085 and SC11-090 (see new results above) extend the zone by about 100 meters to the southeast. These holes have not been offset further east and south. A resource estimate is underway for the shallower portion of the Lowry Deposit - Middle Zone (LD-MZ) west of the fault, and is expected to bring the combined resources of the Black Butte project to over one billion pounds of copper.
Drilling has also partially outlined the extent of the Lowry Deposit - Lower Zone (LD-LZ) which lies at the base of the Newland Formation in the same stratigraphic position as the Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ). The Johnny Lee Deposit - Lower Zone (JLD-LZ) ranges in depth from 450 meters to 800 meters. Although the system is still open and considered a good exploration target, no further drilling is planned at this time.
Jerry Zieg, Vice President of Exploration for the Company, is a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the information of a scientific nature contained in this news release. Assays for this program have been completed by ALS Chemex including duplicates, standards, and blanks for QA/QC purposes.
About Tintina Resources
Tintina Resources Inc. is a growth company focused on the exploration and development of base and precious metal properties around the world. The Company's experienced Board of Directors and Management Team are focused on advancing the Black Butte Project (Cu-Co-Ag) in Montana towards a production decision. The Company is also exploring an impressive portfolio of gold and base metal projects in Alaska, including the Colorado Creek gold project located in southwest Alaska in the same region as the 40 million ounce Donlin Creek project.
About Black Butte Copper
The Black Butte Copper project is located approximately 17 miles north of White Sulphur Springs within two miles of U.S. Highway 89 along a well-maintained gravel road. The Black Butte property consists of approximately 12,225 acres of fee simple lands and mining claims in central Montana. The property contains sediment-hosted zones of massive sulfide mineralization originally explored by Cominco American Inc. and BHP during the 1980s and early 1990s. Historical drilling encountered significant zones of strata-bound copper sulfide with associated cobalt and silver mineralization in multiple, bedded massive pyrite horizons in the lower part of the Precambrian Belt Supergroup. This same stratigraphic unit hosts the famous Sullivan zinc-lead-silver deposit in southeastern B.C. In a short period of time the Company has been able to establish Indicated and Inferred Resources on the Johnny Lee Deposit Upper & Lower Copper Zones (please see Company News Releases dated January 6, 2011, August 17, 2011, September 21, 2011; November 30, 2011; and January 13, 2012). The Company continues to evaluate several tabular mineralized zones along a four kilometer strike length. The Company has two drill rigs on site and will continue drilling over the course of 2012. Tintina is preparing an advanced underground exploration proposal which includes an exploration decline and ancillary facilities, all located on private land in Meagher County, for presentation to the State's appropriate authorities.
About Mining in Montana
Montana has been a mining state for a well over 100 years. Today, more than two dozen mining operations are active making mining a cornerstone contributor to the State's GDP. Tintina has met with State regulators and looks forward to presenting the Black Butte Copper project as an underground mine with a small footprint located on private land. The project continues to benefit from broad local community support.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Raj Chowdhry, CA, Executive Vice-Chairman & CEO
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain disclosure in this release, including statements regarding the Company's plans for and intentions with respect to exploration of the Company's Sheep Creek property, constitutes 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian securities legislation. In making the forward-looking statements in this release, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable, including that the Company is able to obtain any government or other regulatory approvals and any financing required to complete the Company's planned exploration activities, that the Company is able to procure equipment and supplies in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis, that the Company's exploration activities on the Sheep Creek property will not be affected by actions of environmental activists or other special interest groups, and that actual results of exploration activities are consistent with management's expectations. However, the forward-looking statements in this release are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors relating to Tintina Resource's operation as a mineral exploration company and the Sheep Creek property that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and risks include, among others, actual results of the Company's exploration activities being different than those expected by management, uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and geological tests, delays in obtaining or inability to obtain required government or other regulatory approvals or financing, interference with Tintina Resource's exploration activities by environmental activists or other special interest groups, inability to procure equipment and supplies in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis, equipment breakdowns and bad weather. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Tintina Resources does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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.
Contacts:
Tintina Resources Inc.
Philippe Van Nieuwenhuyse
Investor Relations
Phone: 604-628-1162
(604) 628-1163 (FAX)
philvann@tintinaresources.com
www.tintinaresources.com
Tintina Resources Inc.
Karen Nestoruk
Executive Assistant
Phone: 604-628-1162
604-628-1163 (FAX)
knestoruk@tintinaresources.com
www.tintinaresources.com