Radius Gold Acquires Copper-Gold Target in Idaho
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - May 28, 2014) -
Radius Gold Inc. (TSX-VENTURE:RDU) (OTCBB:RDUFF) is pleased to
announce that it has entered into an agreement with renowned
prospector, Merrill Palmer, to lease a 100% interest in the Mineral
Property which consists of a series of 78 federal mining claims
covering approximately 562 hectares in the historic Mineral Mining
District, Washington County, Idaho.
The Mineral Mining District was so-named after prospectors
discovered silver-bearing base metal veins in the area during the
1870s. A town site was established and small-scale silver mining of
high-grade veins began in the 1880s and continued in earnest until
the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act by President
Cleveland in 1893, which caused a collapse in the silver price and
decimated the silver mining industry. The mines and smelters at
Mineral shut down at that time, and subsequent mining was very
sporadic and at a small scale from then through to 1950. The
District has been essentially dormant since then apart from a few
years of exploration in the late 1960s and 1970s, and has escaped
modern exploration efforts altogether.
Cyprus Mines Corporation acquired a land position in the area in
1968 after reconnaissance work indicated the presence of two types
of deposits: silver-bearing base-metals veins in a package of
volcanic and sedimentary rocks, and porphyry-type copper hosted in
a diorite and quartz diorite intrusion. Their exploration program,
undertaken between April of 1968 and February of 1970, consisted of
geological mapping, geochemical soil surveys, a 17 line-mile
IP-resistivity geophysical survey, and a 40 hole program of reverse
circulation, churn, and diamond drilling.
Cyprus's exploration efforts were focused on establishing the
presence of a low-grade, near-surface silver deposit amenable to
bulk mining methods. Although they intersected narrow high-grade
Ag-bearing veins in the historically mined area, they considered
the near-surface deposit model to be a failure and terminated the
project before completion of the secondary objective of evaluating
the copper potential within the intrusions. Radius has been able to
obtain the 1968 through 1970 results from the Cyprus programs.
As part of its due diligence work on the Mineral Property,
Radius selectively sampled and spot-checked the soil grid,
confirming the Cyprus results. In addition, the Company digitized
and inverted the raw 1969 geophysical data to obtain modern 2D
inversions of both resistivity and IP effect, something Cyprus
would not have been able to accomplish at the time of the
survey.
The 1968 soil survey outlined a broad > 400 ppm Cu-in-soil
anomaly with an area of approximately 1.5 km by 3 km, associated
with the diorite and quartz diorite intrusions. Coincident with the
soil anomaly is a broad zone of anomalous IP effect, potentially
caused by the presence of disseminated sulphides. Whereas the
Cu-in-soil anomaly terminates abruptly on the northern contact of
the intrusion with overlying sedimentary and volcanic rocks, the IP
effect is observed to dive off to the north under the north-dipping
overlying rocks, suggesting that the zone of potential copper
mineralization may be larger than indicated by the soil
geochemistry.
Cyprus drilled four drill holes into the copper target. Holes
MDD-1 and MDD-2 were both drilled into coincident soil and IP
anomalies. MDD-2 assayed 266 m of 0.165% Cu from 5 m to end-of-hole
at 271 m. Hole MDD-1 assayed 52.1 m of 0.126% Cu from 70.1 m to
122.2 m, and 150.9 m of 0.11% Cu from 150.9 m to end-of-hole at
301.8 m. Holes B-2 and MDD-3 are not in zones of significant IP
effect. B-2 returned six intervals, ranging from 2.9 m to 8.7 m in
thickness, grading > 0.2% Cu. MDD-3 returned only slightly
anomalous Cu concentrations. Cyprus historical drill log summaries
describe the mineralization in the diorite as hosted by
propylitically altered veins and breccias within the intrusion.
Radius's research indicates that Cyprus rarely assayed for gold in
its work program at Mineral, and where it did the assay methodology
is questionable; the Au potential of the target has likely never
been evaluated.
The drill results presented here are quoted from the
following historical reports:
- Mineral District Final Report - Exploration. Cyprus Mines
Corporation, May 1969.
- The Mineral Project: Current Status and Potential, Cyprus
Mines Corporation, March 1970.
Radius believes the work was performed to a professional
standard, and has verified the locations of the probable drill
collars, but has not independently confirmed the drill logs or
results.
More recently, prospecting work undertaken by Mr. Palmer has
demonstrated the existence of sheeted 0.1 to 1 m thick
quartz-tourmaline veins within the intrusion that grade up to 30
ppm Au and 5% Cu. Neither these sheeted veins nor the vast majority
of the IP and soil anomaly has been tested.
Radius believes it has uncovered a promising Cu-Au target in a
mining-friendly jurisdiction that has been completely overlooked by
modern exploration, and intends to start work immediately on the
Property to bring it to drill-ready stage.
The
Agreement
The Company has been granted a lease of 100% of the Property
(subject to a 3.0% net smelter return royalty) of up to 99 years
which the Company may keep in good standing by making annual
advance royalty payments to Mr. Palmer of US$50,000 for the first
year and increasing US$10,000 each subsequent year, for a total of
US$1,100,000 over the first ten years. Annual payments after the
tenth year of US$150,000 will be required until commercial
production has commenced. During the first five years of the lease,
the Company may reduce the NSR royalty to 1.5% by paying US$2.0
million to Mr. Palmer.
Quality Assurance and Quality Control
As part of its due diligence program on the Property, the
Company submitted soil and rock chip samples for analysis to Acme
Analytical Laboratories. The soils were prepared with an aqua regia
digestion and analyzed by ICP-MS (Acme AQ251). Rock chip samples
were pulverized to 200 mesh, and prepared with an aqua regia
digestion, followed by ICE-ES (AQ300), or digested by 4-acid
digestion (Acme MA370), and analyzed by fire assay fusion and
ICP-ES (FA330-Au and FA530).
Qualified Person
Mr. David Clark, M.Sc., P.Geo., a member of the Association of
Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia, is
the Company's Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument
43-101, and has approved the disclosure of technical information
contained in this news release.
About Radius
Radius has been exploring for gold in Latin America for over a
decade. The Company has a strong treasury as a result of
exploration asset sales and is looking for project acquisition
opportunities across the globe. Please call toll free
1-888-627-9378 or visit our web site (www.radiusgold.com) for more
information.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
Simon Ridgway, President and CEO
Symbols: TSXV-RDU; OTCBB-RDUFF
Neither the
TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory
Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statement
Some of the
statements in this news release contain forward-looking information
that involves inherent risk and uncertainty affecting the business
of Radius Gold Inc. Actual results may differ materially from those
currently anticipated in such statement.
Radius Gold Inc.Simon RidgwayPresident and CEO604-801-5432 or
Toll Free: 1-888-627-9378604-662-8829Radius Gold Inc.200 Burrard
Street, Suite 650Vancouver, BC V6C
3L6info@goldgroup.comwww.radiusgold.com
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