Initial Inferred Resource of 257,300 Ounces (oz) of Gold (Au) and Indicated Resource of 138,100 oz Au Grading 2.09 grams/tonne (g/t) Au and 2.12 g/t Au Respectively, at Preview SW Deposit
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 12/03/12 -- La Ronge Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: LAR) is pleased to report an initial mineral resource for the Preview SW deposit located in north-central Saskatchewan. The resource estimate outlines inferred resources containing 257,300 ounces of gold (3.71 million tonnes grading 2.09 g/t Au) and indicated resources containing 138,100 ounces of gold (1.96 million tonnes grading 2.12 g/t Au) based on a 0.50 g/t Au cut-off grade. The estimate was based on a total of 22,137 m of drilling in 142 holes completed by both La Ronge Gold in 2012 and by Cameco in the late 1980's. The core of the deposit was drilled on a line spacing of 15 m, and the remainder of the zone was drilled at 30 m line spacing. Drill holes were collared at 5 to 20 m spacing along these lines. The indicated and inferred mineral resource estimates reported herein are contained within a resource-limiting open-pit shell (based on a $1300/oz gold price) along 400 metres (m) of strike and to a depth of 200 m.
Rasool Mohammad the Company's President and CEO, comments "Our initial resource estimate gives the Company an excellent foundation to build from. The open pit resource grades have met our expectations and the Preview SW deposit remains open along strike and to depth, providing excellent resource growth opportunities for the future. "
Mineral resources base case estimate at a gold cut-off grade (COG) of 0.5 grams/tonne gold (g/t Au) follows:
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Preview SW Gold Resources
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Category COG g/t Au Tonnes Au g/t Contained oz Au
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INDICATED 0.5 1,958,400 2.12 138,100
INFERRED 0.5 3,714,600 2.09 257,300
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Sensitivity estimates around this base case to show the sensitivity of the mineral resource estimate to changes in cut-off grades are summarized in the table below.
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Preview SW Gold Resources
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Category COG g/t Au Tonnes Au g/t Contained oz Au
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INDICATED 0.3 2,027,300 2.07 139,000
INFERRED 0.3 3,880,600 2.01 259,600
INDICATED 0.4 2,004,400 2.08 138,800
INFERRED 0.4 3,825,600 2.04 258,900
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INDICATED 0.5 1,958,400 2.12 138,100
INFERRED 0.5 3,714,600 2.09 257,300
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INDICATED 0.6 1,902,800 2.17 137,100
INFERRED 0.6 3,613,300 2.13 255,400
INDICATED 0.7 1,834,100 2.23 135,600
INFERRED 0.7 3,478,700 2.19 252,500
Mineral resources are mainly constrained by 3D wireframes representing zones of high shear intensity and grade continuity. Beyond these zones a restricted search was utilized to estimate some blocks within the surrounding diorite intrusive. An indicator kriging interpolation was used to identify blocks with greater than 50% probability of containing significant Au mineralization exceeding an indicator threshold of 0.25 g/t. All other blocks were excluded from the final grade estimation and assigned a 0 grade.
Drill hole data was composited on 1 m down-hole intervals, and composites were capped at levels of 28 g/t within the mineral zones and at 20 g/t within the surrounding diorite. Final gold grades were estimated using the inverse distance method to the 3rd power (ID3).
Mineral resources are amenable to open pit mining methods and have been constrained using a Lerchs-Grossmann optimized pit. Assumptions used in the pit optimization include US$1,300/oz Au, 90% Au recovery, $2.50/tonne mining cost, $2.00/tonne waste mining cost, $15.50/tonne process and G&A cost. No allowances have been made for mining losses and dilution. A pit slope angle of 45 degrees was used.
Mineral resources have been classified using the definitions set out in CIM (2010). Mineral resources have an effective date of December 03, 2012. The Qualified Person is Ronald G. Simpson P.Geo.
Analyzed samples consisting of sawn drill core were analyzed by TSL Laboratories in Saskatoon with fire assay techniques. A representative suite of historical drill core was re-logged and re-sampled using identical sample preparation and assay techniques at TSL Laboratories in order that historical data could be reliably used in the estimation of this resource. La Ronge Gold has implemented an industry standard QA/QC program consisting of randomly inserting standards, blanks and duplicates into the sample stream to ensure assay accuracy and repeatability.
The Preview SW deposit was discovered by SMDC, the predecessor company of Cameco Corp., in the late 1980's. Structurally controlled mesothermal lode gold is hosted in silicified zones spatially related to quartz veins in a sheared dioritic-gabbroic intrusion and is associated with sulphides. The zone of sheared diorite-gabbro sills extends for 5200 m in a northeast-southwest direction across the property and reaches approximately 200 m in width, and a number of zones of gold mineralization including the Preview SW deposit are hosted in this setting. Several sub-parallel northeast-trending shear zones, totalling 150 m in width, make up the Preview SW deposit, and these zones contain swarms of narrow quartz veins that bifurcate and merge. The en echelon 1 to 10 m-wide shear structures are persistent at depth and often merge in that direction too. The results of Cameco's and the most recent drilling indicate that gold mineralization is open in both directions along strike and down dip. The Company's recent drilling also indicates that high grade gold mineralization is also locally present in felsic volcanic rocks that surround the diorite intrusion.
The initial resource estimate was conducted by GeoSim Services Inc. Ronald G. Simpson, P. Geo., of GeoSim is the Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101 responsible for the resource estimates. Gordon Davidson, P. Geol., VP Exploration for La Ronge Gold is a "Qualified Person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 and has verified the non-resource information disclosed in this News Release. The technical report discussing this resource estimation will be filed with SEDAR shortly and will be available for viewing.
About La Ronge Gold Corp.
La Ronge Gold is a Vancouver-based rapidly advancing gold-resource growth and development company, focused on the expansion of high-grade gold deposits in one of Canada's emerging gold producing regions, the La Ronge Gold Belt, northern Saskatchewan. The Company has significant land positions (52,932 Ha. or 131,000 acres) in the region. The Company also holds other gold projects located in Ontario, Canada.
FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
This News Release includes forward-looking information and statements, which may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding or inferring the future business, operations, financial performance, prospects and other plans, intentions, expectations, estimates, and beliefs of the Company. Information and statements which are not purely historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein. Although the Company believes that any forward-looking information and statements herein are reasonable, in light of the use of assumptions and the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in such information and statements, there can be no assurance that any such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance upon such forward-looking information and statements. Any forward-looking information and statements herein are made as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation and disclaims any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information and statements herein, or to update the reasons that actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in any forward-looking information and statements herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise.
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Contacts:
La Ronge Gold Corp.
Rasool Mohammad, B.Sc. (Mining)
President & CEO
(604) 639-4533
info@larongegold.com
www.larongegold.com