ICS acquires 100% of Excelsior Springs Gold property (Nevada)
ABBOTSFORD, BC, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - ICS Copper Systems Ltd. (ICX:TSX.V) is pleased to announce that it has signed a lease agreement with Timberwolf Minerals Ltd to acquire the lease rights over 100% of the Excelsior Springs Gold property in Esmeralda County, Nevada, USA.
History
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The Excelsior Springs Gold Prospect, including the Buster Mine, is located in west-central Esmeralda County, NV, approximately 50 miles WSW of Goldfield, Nevada. The prospect is located within a belt of Pre-Cambrian to Cambrian meta-sediments sandwiched between the Sylvania and Palmetto lobes of a suspected composite pluton. The pluton and intruded meta-sediments host many small gold mines, placers, prospects and anomalous gold in rock that define a regional gold-rich belt of at least 700 sq. miles. Excelsior Springs is centrally located within this gold belt. The Goldfield District, with a past production of +10 million ounces gold, lies approx. 45 miles east-northeast of the property. The Tonopah District, with a past production of 2 million ounces gold and 100 million ounces silver, lies approx. 65 miles northeast.
The Buster Mine, the main past producing mine on the patented claims, was discovered in 1872. Past production has been estimated at 18,000 tons at 1.2 opt gold. The Buster Shaft is 235 ft. deep, with workings on the 75 ft., 125 ft., and 175 ft. levels. The mine has 1540 ft. of accessible drift, mostly on the 75 ft. and 125 ft. levels. The Upper Shaft, located 750 ft. east of the Buster, is 155 ft. deep with at least 320 ft. of drift on the 130 ft. and 150 ft. levels.
A 1986 evaluation estimated the volume of material removed from the underground workings on the Buster to be at least 36,000 tons. A detailed calculation of the Buster dump completed in 1986 indicates some of this tonnage still remains on the dump.
Recovery from the stamp mill that treated the Buster production was reportedly in the 80-90% range, leaving unrecovered gold still in the mill tailings.
Two phases of exploration drilling of 22 holes (9700ft) by Walker Lane Gold LLC in 2006-2007, identified the near-surface Buster Mine gold zone, occurring primarily on patented claims, that is approx. 150-200 ft wide and +1,000 ft. long, apparently dipping to the south. The zone has only been tested to a depth of approx. 200-250 ft. Evolving Gold acquired the property in 2008 and completed a first round of drilling in the early summer, 2009. (8 holes - 4320ft).
Including prior unsubstantiated drill results, the zone now has over a dozen intercepts of 50-200 ft. of .01 to .08 opt Au. The best intercepts are 110' @ .07, 90' @ .08, 175' @ .03, and 215' @ .02 opt Au, and 160' @ .04 opt. No barren holes have been drilled within the zone. Silver is generally less than 0.5 opt, but can run as high as 2-3 opt.
In total, 53 RC drill holes have been completed to date.
Results are as follows:
Total Holes Drilled = 53
Mineralized Holes 62% = 33 with (greater than or equal to) 10 ft. of .01
opt Au
Higher Grade Holes 32% = 17 with 50-215 ft. of .015-.08 opt Au.
BUSTER ZONE - Total drilling to date suggests a potential mineral deposit with a potential range of approximately 800,000 to 1,000,000 tons with a potential grade ranging approximately .020 to .03 opt Au, for a potential estimate deposit ranging between of 16,000 - 30,000 oz Au that is to be the target of further exploration. The estimated deposit starts at the surface, and is thoroughly shattered and oxidized. 43-101 disclosure- "The potential quantity and grade is conceptual in nature, there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in the target being delineated as a mineral resource".
Future drill programs
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ICS is considering two additional drilling programs to seek additional zones of near surface oxidized gold mineralization similar to the Buster Zone.
The first drill program would be to find near surface material amenable to a heap leach or agitated leach process that could be quickly put into production. This would be added to the existing surface material in and around the Buster and Upper shafts and the tailings from the Pigeon Springs mill located 5ks off the property. A preliminary economic analysis will be undertaken to ascertain the viability of leaching, refining and electrowinning this product.
The second goal would be to drill several deeper vertical holes to test several domal features for potential gold mineralization at depth. The main zone of gold identified to date suggests a porphyry scenario in that at least 60% of all intrusion-related gold deposits occur in major structural zones.
The company has requested a geological review of the Excelsior Springs gold prospect, the related project data, and has requested the preparation of a technical summary of the Excelsior Springs property. This report would be prepared under the guidelines of National Instrument 43-101 for submission as a Technical Report to the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX") and the BC Securities Commission ("BCSC") in support of the property acquisition and for annual information filing requirements. This report will be provided in due course.
Subsequent to the above report a resource estimate would be conducted.
Geological overview
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At Excelsior Springs, a structurally uplifted window of lower Cambrian to Pre-Cambrian metasediments is exposed through overthrusts of Ordovician Palmetto limestone. The uplift exposed the major E-W Excelsior Springs structural zone. Superimposed in this structural zone is a 10,000 - 12,000 ft. E-W zone of alteration, structural shearing and brecciation, and locally highly anomalous (2-20 g/t) gold mineralization. The altered zone varies from 1,000 ft. to 1,800 ft. wide.
Previous drilling in the 1980's suggested a shallow area of mineralization centrally located on the two patented claims. Down-dip and E-W extensions were, at that time, not tested, drill tested or at best poorly tested, due to a lack of geologic input into the drilling programs. The zone of mineralization appears to extend eastward beneath a shallow thrust sheet of Harkless shale that exhibits intense alteration and moderate to strong quartz breccia development, associated base metal mineralization, and limited weak gold geochemistry. Similarly, to the west of the area of concentrated prior drilling, a second untested zone of quartz-gold-base metal mineralization, with 5-15 g/t Au anomalies, from rock chip samples, has been identified.
The gold mineralization indicated by prior un-substantiated drilling in the 1980's, occurs within a structural zone approximately 8,000 ft. long E-W, possibly extending under shallow pediment cover to the west. Selection of drill holes as follows:
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Hole # From To True Width Total Gold Total Gold
(ft) (ft) Interval (ft) Opt g/t
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EX-30 including 235 395 160 .04 1.37
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EX-34 including 275 300 25 .023 .80
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EX-25 including 70 125 55 .026 .89
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EX-2 including 230 340 110 .07 2.40
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EX-4 including 120 260 140 .015 .51
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EX-12 including 0 55 55 .025 .86
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EX-13 including 0 50 50 .07 2.40
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EX-14 including 10 155 145 .011 .377
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EX-15 including 0 215 215 .02 .685
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EX-17 including 90 145 55 .02 .685
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EX-18 including 90 265 175 .03 1.02
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TA-1 including 75 175 100 .017 .58
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TA-3 including 5 60 55 .043 1.47
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TA-4 including 30 70 40 .026 .89
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TA-11 including 0 50 50 .049 1.68
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88-06 including 0 90 90 .08 2.74
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88-08 including 0 125 125 .03 1.02
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President and CEO Graham Chisholm comments: "The Excelsior Springs gold prospect presents an interesting opportunity for ICS because of its past production of gold, the possibility of quickly defining an inferred resource from updating past drilling, and the potential it has for a significant gold discovery along strike and down dip. There is also significant blue sky potential as we test the central Wyman domes for a potential porphyry gold deposit at depth."
Robert Thomas, CPG. a qualified person (QP) as defined by National Instrument 43-101, supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.
ICS COPPER SYSTEMS LTD.
"Graham Chisholm"
Graham Chisholm, President & CEO
This release includes certain statements that are "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts that address future exploration, development and production activities, and other circumstances, events and developments that the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, events and developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The occurrence of certain risk factors, the probability of which is unknown, may also affect actual results, events and developments expected by the Company.
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 ICS Copper Systems Ltd.
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