St. Elias Mines Ltd. - Update on Chance E Property, Peru

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Sept. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Lori McClenahan, President of St. Elias Mines Ltd. (SLI – TSX:V) (Frankfurt Exchange: EKL) (U.S. Clearing Symbol: SELSF) ("St. Elias" or the "Company") and Intigold Mines Ltd. (TSX-IGD) (U.S. OTCQX: IDMNF) ("Intigold") announced today the following update regarding the status of ongoing exploration at the Chance E mineral concession, which adjoins St. Elias' wholly owned Tesoro Gold Project located in southwestern Peru.  The Chance E is owned 100% by St. Elias with Intigold having an option, subject to regulatory approval, to acquire a 60% interest in the Chance E.

Exploration work, consisting of geological mapping and sampling, prospecting, satellite imagery and control grid emplacement, is ongoing.

To date, two major geological domains have been identified within the Chance E.  In the eastern and southeastern sections, the main exposed unit is Tertiary-age lithic/ash and volcanic tuff.   In the western half, the rocks are Cretaceous-age diorite and quartz diorite, identical to the intrusive rocks in the northern part of St. Elias' Tesoro project.  The volcanic tuff covers 40-50% if of the Chance E concession.

In the eastern and southeastern sector there are numerous erosional "windows" in the Tertiary cover where the intrusive basement complex is exposed.  The intrusives include diorite, quartz diorite, monzonite and quartz-feldspar pegmatite that are often altered to epidote and quartz.  These resistant basement rocks are exposed only in the deepest stream canyons.  Typically the windows are only one to five hectares in area and are completely encompassed by volcanic tuff.

The western part of the Chance E is virtually free of volcanic cover, because it is relatively mountainous and the cover rocks have been eroded away.

The Chance E is bisected by a major northeast-striking fault and by at least three secondary east-striking splay faults.  These faults have a "Letter Z" shaped geometry, with the regional fault represented by the diagonal.  These faults are in the intrusive complex and are much older than the overlying Tertiary tuff.

Geochemical Sampling

Forty samples have been collected to date; 36 rock chip or channel samples and four stream sediment samples.

Three of these samples assayed more than 0.3g/t Au.  Sample CN-52, a 3-cm channel sample taken from a weakly oxidized quartz vein, returned 0.31g/t Au.  Sample CH-54, a 10-cm channel sample taken from a 10-cm (true width) quartz vein containing minor tourmaline, assayed 8.27g/t Au.  Sample CN-57, a grab sample of localized quartz vein float, graded 0.618g/t Au.

Current Status

The entire western half of the Chance E has not been geologically mapped or prospected in detail.  Exploration work on the Chance E concession remains ongoing.

The majority of the basement windows in the eastern sector have yet to be located.  There are approximately 150km of deep stream channels within this area.  To date approximately 25km of these have been walked out (geologically mapped, prospected and sampled).

There are three important samples obtained to date, that prove the presence of gold adjacent to a major east-west fault in the north-central sector of the Chance E concession.  Management is encouraged by the results obtained to date. 

Chance E Concession

The Chance E concession is contiguous with the southern part of St. Elias' Tesoro Gold Project where St. Elias recently carried out a preliminary drilling program to explore for gold-bearing structures with the potential to host gold resources.  Geological information, together with Titan 24 geophysical data and satellite imagery, confirms that structural lineaments which are coincident with gold mineralization on the Tesoro project extend onto the Chance E concession.

The initial exploration program on the Chance E concession will include geological mapping, geochemical sampling, careful prospecting and interpretation of the most recent high resolution satellite imagery.

"Intigold and St. Elias are excited to continue exploring the Chance E concession, which is on strike to the numerous gold-bearing veins occurring on the adjoining Tesoro property," stated Lori McClenahan, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been verified by George Sivertz, PGeo, a Canadian geologist with extensive experience in Peru who is a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, standards of disclosure for mineral projects.

For additional information on St. Elias and its projects, please visit us at www.steliasmines.com or call 1-888-895-5522 (toll free US and Canada) or contact:

St. Elias Mines Ltd. U.S. Investor Relations Consultant

Herbert Haft
The Haft Group, Inc.
Tel:  (212) 759-8865
Email:  [email protected]
            [email protected]

ST. ELIAS MINES LTD. & INTIGOLD MINES LTD.

(signed "Lori McClenahan")

Lori McClenahan, President

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This News Release may contain forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statement

SOURCE St. Elias Mines Ltd.; Intigold Mines Ltd.