Balmoral Intersects 273 g/t (8 oz/ton) Gold Over 3.88 Metres (12.7 Feet), Uncut, in New Discovery; Martiniere Property, Quebec
Includes 996 g/t (29 oz/ton) Gold Over 1.05 Metres (3.4 feet)VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 08/16/12 -- Balmoral Resources Ltd. ("Balmoral" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: BAR)(OTCQX: BALMF) reported today that the first of the ME-series holes completed as part of the summer drill program on its Martiniere Property has discovered a new bonanza grade, gold bearing structure in the footwall to the Bug Lake Gold Zone. The Footwall discovery returned, on an uncut basis, 272.39 g/t (8.0 oz/ton) gold over 3.88 metres (12.7 feet) across the width of the mineralized structure. Included in this interval are adjacent bonanza grade intercepts of 1,530 g/t (44.6 oz/ton) gold over 0.55 metres (1.8 feet) and 409 g/t gold (11.9 oz/ton) over 0.50 metres (1.6 feet). The Martiniere Property, located approximately 45 kilometres east of the Detour Lake gold deposit, is centrally located within Balmoral's 82 kilometre long Detour Trend Gold Project in Quebec, Canada.
The Bug Lake Zone and new Footwall discovery are located between the Company's high-grade West Zone and the ME-16 gold discovery, within the broader Martiniere Gold System (see Figure below or visit www.balmoralresources.com). The Bug Lake Zone is a broad interval of gold mineralization hosted by a NNW trending fault which separates the Martiniere East and West domains. The new bonanza grade Footwall discovery was intersected approximately 40 metres beneath the western contact of the Bug Lake Zone, at a vertical depth of approximately 120 metres. Follow-up drilling of this new discovery and the Bug Lake Zone is currently on-going.
"With two more shallow gold discoveries, including the broad Bug Lake Zone and our highest grade intercepts to date, the scale and potential of the gold system at Martiniere continues to rapidly expand," said Darin Wagner, President and CEO of Balmoral. "The presence of multiple high-grade zones of gold mineralization, which we have thus far intersected across 1,500 metres at Martiniere, is the principal hallmark of all of the large gold systems in the Abitibi region of Ontario and Quebec. These systems commonly host a number of individual gold deposits reaching to vertical depths of over 1,000 metres. Historically it has been extremely rare for one Company to control the entirety of a given system like Balmoral appears to at Martiniere. With the vast majority of our drill testing to date above the 150 to 200 metre vertical level, and the system remaining open in all directions, the potential for new discoveries and further growth of the Martiniere gold system is excellent."
Drill Results - Note ALL RESULTS ARE UNCAPPED
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Hole From To Interval(i) Gold Zone
Number (Metres) (Metres) (Metres) (g/t)
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MDE-12-29 97.30 152.00 54.70 0.85 Bug Lake (BL)
including 117.80 128.50 10.70 2.37 "
which includes 117.80 118.76 0.96 11.55 "
156.00 169.90 13.90 0.61 Footwall (FW)
169.90 173.78 3.88 272.79 "
including 169.90 170.40 0.50 409.00 "
and 170.40 170.95 0.55 1530.00 "
and 173.10 173.78 0.68 12.80 "
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MDE-12-30 125.50 179.00 53.50 0.63 Bug Lake
including 148.80 151.00 2.20 2.93 "
and 170.10 172.80 2.70 3.22 "
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(i) Reported drill intercepts are not true widths. At this time there is
insufficient data with respect to the shape of the mineralization to
calculate true orientations in space.
The higher grade intervals within both the Bug Lake Zone and the Footwall discovery are surrounded by wide intercepts of anomalous gold mineralization which combined, extend for 79.50 metres downhole between a depth of 97.30 and 176.80 metres. The Bug Lake Zone returned an average grade of 0.85 g/t gold over 54.70 metres from 97.30 metres to 152.00 metres. The higher grade core of the Footwall discovery is surrounded by a halo of anomalous mineralization which spans the interval between 156.00 metre and 176.80 metres.
Analytical results for holes MDE-12-29 and MDE-12-30 were obtained on a "rush" basis to provide information to direct additional drilling in the Bug Lake area. Hole MDE-12-30 was collared from the same site as MDE-12-29 and drilled toward the same azimuth at a steeper angle. It was, unfortunately, terminated well above the projected location of the Footwall discovery.
Geological Details
The Bug Lake Gold Zone occurs within a north-northwest striking, shallowly east-dipping (35 to 40 degrees) fault zone which separates mafic volcanic rocks in the Martiniere East area from the West Zone Gabbro complex. Centered approximately 700 metres east of the high-grade Martiniere West Zone and 300 metres west of the ME-16 discovery (see Figure below), the Bug Lake Zone has thus far demonstrated drill indicated thicknesses of 30 to 70 metres and is open in all directions.
The mineralized fault structure is characterized by intervals of moderate to strong silica alteration and quartz-carbonate veining, cementing previously brecciated lithologies. Sulphide mineralization - typically pyrite with minor chalcopyrite and arsenopyrite - ranges from 2-10% along the Zone. Visible gold mineralization is rare.
The Footwall discovery is hosted by the West Zone Gabbro in the footwall to the Bug Lake Fault. The orientation of this new discovery remains uncertain. Readily discernible, texturally destructive shearing and chlorite alteration spans an interval between 168.00 and 176.80 metres (8.80 metres) downhole. The high grade core of the intercept, 169.90 to 173.78 (3.88 metres), is characterized by an increase in shear intensity which hosts quartz-sulphide (pyritegreater than greater than chalcopyrite) +/- carbonate veining and abundant visible gold mineralization.
Guidance
With the assays for holes MDE-12-29 and MDE-12-30 having been completed on a "rush" basis, the Company expects that the next round of results to be published will be from a series of exploration drill holes on the Company's Detour East and Martiniere Properties. These exploration series holes tested targets outside the previously known areas of gold mineralization.
Drilling is on-going, with a series of additional holes testing each of the Martiniere West, ME-16, Bug Lake, ME-23 and new Footwall discovery having been completed or planned. Results are expected to be available over the next 6-12 weeks.
Quality Control
Mr. Darin Wagner (P.Geo.), President and CEO of the Company, is the non-independent qualified person for the technical disclosure contained in this news release. Mr. Wagner has supervised the work programs on the Martiniere Property, visited the property on multiple occasions, examined the drill core from the holes summarized in this release and reviewed the available analytical and quality control results.
Balmoral has implemented a quality control program for all of its drill programs, to ensure best practice in the sampling and analysis of the drill core, which includes the insertion of blind blanks, duplicates and certified standards into sample stream. NQ sized drill core is saw cut with half of the drill core sampled at intervals based on geological criteria including lithology, visual mineralization and alteration. The remaining half of the core is stored on-site at the Company's Martiniere field camp in Central Quebec. Drill core samples are transported in sealed bags to ALS Minerals Val d'Or, Quebec analytical facilities. Gold analyses are obtained via industry standard fire assay with atomic absorption finish using 30 g aliquots. For samples returning greater than 5.00 g/t gold follow-up fire assay analysis with a gravimetric finish is completed. The Company has also requested that any samples returning greater than 10.00 g/t gold undergo screen metallic fire assay. Following receipt of assays, visual analysis of mineralized intercepts is conducted and additional analysis may be requested to ensure the accurate representation of mineralized zones. ALS Minerals is ISO 9001:2008 certified and the Val d'Or facilities are ISO 17025 certified for gold analysis.
About Balmoral Resources Ltd. - www.balmoralresources.com
Balmoral is a Vancouver-based precious metal exploration and development company focused on district scale gold opportunities in North America. With a philosophy of creating value through the drill bit and with a focus on proven productive precious metal belts, Balmoral is following an established formula with a goal of maximizing shareholder value through discovery.
To view figure, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/MartiniereGoldSystem.jpg
On behalf of the board of directors of BALMORAL RESOURCES LTD.
Darin Wagner, President and CEO
This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including statements regarding the anticipated content, commencement, duration and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program results, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, the timing of the receipt of assay results, and business and financing plans and trends, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions or are those which, by their nature, refer to future events. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, 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. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include those related to weather, equipment and staff availability; performance of third parties; risks related to the exploration stage of the Company's projects; market fluctuations in prices for securities of exploration stage companies and in commodity prices; and uncertainties about the availability of additional financing; risks related to the Company's ability to identify one or more economic deposits on the properties, and variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located on the properties; risks related to the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities on the properties; and risks related to the Company's ability to produce minerals from the properties successfully or profitably. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. All of the Company's public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including the latest technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.
This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.
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 press release.
Contacts:
Balmoral Resources Ltd.
John Toporowski
Manager, Corporate Development
(604) 638-5815 / Toll Free: (877) 838-3664
jtoporowski@balmoralresources.com
www.balmoralresources.com