Reno, NV, March 09, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dakota Territory Resource Corp (OTCQB: DTRC) ("Dakota Territory" or the "Company"), a gold exploration company with a portfolio of properties near the legendary Homestake Mine in the Black Hills of South Dakota, is pleased to announce the results of new research performed by the Company related to the geomorphology and gold deposition processes on the Company’s 100% owned Homestake Paleoplacer Project. Across approximately 125 years of production, the Homestake Mine produced in excess of 40 million ounces of gold from the Homestake lode. Research conducted by Dakota Territory and others suggest that millions of years prior to mining, some 10 million ounces of gold eroded from the Homestake lode, flowing northward into a wide, shallow basin in what is now Dakota Territory’s Homestake Paleoplacer Project.
“The latest analysis of the geology of the Homestake Paleoplacer Project, supports our thesis that the Homestake Mine "derivative paleoplacer" exists on the Company’s Property,” commented Richard Bachman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dakota Territory. “The property is permitted for drilling with targets identified to validate and expand upon historic data. Currently finalizing the details, we anticipate our new drill program to commence in the coming months.”
The Geology
The paleo-landscape in the Homestake District during the erosion of the Homestake lode 570 million years ago was a gently undulating, subdued relief surface broken by a U-shaped Ellison Quartzite highland. These units directed drainage to the north and into a broad shallow basin 3 kilometers wide and greater than 7 kilometers in length. Yates Member Greenstone ridges controlled the internal path of the drainage patterns within the basin. The location of the richest gold ore bodies occurs at major drainage deflections caused by the Greenstone Ridges. The Greenstone landforms, being more resistive to weathering, eroded more slowing than other rock. Their higher elevation consequently deflected and otherwise controlled the flow direction of paleo-drainages as well as the location of paleoplacer gold deposits. These Greenstone landforms generally trend in a northerly direction.
The gold in the Paleoplacer deposits in the Homestake District is derived from the erosion of the 40 million ounce Homestake Lode which eroded from a low relief lateritic plateau on a regolith surface similar to the erosional regolith surface in the Kalgoorlie area of Western Australia (BMR Journal of Australian Geology & Geophysics, 10, 309- 321). Work on the erosional section in the Homestake District in the area underneath the lode shows partial preservation of a deep weathering profile, which includes saprolite. Gold in the lode deposit prior to erosion into the paleoplacer was likely upgraded, possibly by a factor of 3, by lateritic processes.
Dr. Ross R. Grunwald authored a technical report for the Homestake Mining Company in 1973. The report states that the first 330 vertical meters of the Homestake Deposit yielded approximately 30,000 ounces of gold per vertical meter. Given the demonstrated symmetry of the various ore ledges of the Homestake deposit, Dr. Grunwald concluded that some 10 million ounces of gold was eroded from the lode during the erosional event and deposited into ancient drainages on the regolith surface. The extensions of these drainages, which are hidden under cover of younger sedimentary and igneous rocks, is the first target of Dakota Territory’s 2016 exploration program. Historic core and reverse circulation holes drilled in 1980’s under the leadership of Dakota Territory CEO Richard Bachman during his tenure at Homestake Mining Company were drilled into the erosion surface intersectiong the gold mineralization in debris flow and fluvial conglomerate facies (gold values up to 14.9 grams of gold per tonne). These gold-bearing conglomerate facies extend from the Homestake Lode over a distance of 2 kilometers to Dakota Territory’s Homestake Paleoplacer Property.
About Dakota Territory Resource Corp
Dakota Territory Resource Corp. is a Nevada Corporation with offices located at Reno, Nevada. Dakota Territory is committed to creating shareholder value through the acquisition and responsible exploration and development of high caliber gold properties in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
In terms of total historic US gold production, the Black Hills ranks second only to the Carlin District of northeast Nevada, with the gold production of the Black Hills concentrated in a 100 square mile area known as the Homestake District. Dakota Territory maintains 100% ownership of three mineral properties including the Blind Gold, City Creek and Homestake Paleoplacer Properties, all of which are located in the heart of the Homestake District and cover a total of approximately 3,057 acres. The Blind Gold Property is located approximately 4 miles northwest and on structural trend with the historic Homestake Gold Mine. Through its 125-year production history, the Homestake Gold Mine produced approximately 40 million ounces of gold and is the largest iron-formation-hosted gold deposit in the world.
In the 1980′s and 1990′s Homestake Mining Company undertook a $70 million exploration program managed by Richard Bachman, President and CEO of Dakota Territory that was focused primarily on the search for a repeat of the Homestake Mine. This program successfully discovered significant new gold mineralization beyond the confines of the producing mine, demonstrating repeatability and the potential for additional gold deposits in the Homestake iron-formation host. This program also proved the continuous extension of the Homestake iron-formation to a distance of approximately 4 miles from the producing mine and under the Blind Gold Property.
Dakota Territory Resource Corp is uniquely positioned to leverage Management’s extensive exploration and mining experience in the Black Hills of South Dakota with Homestake Mining Company. For more information on Dakota Territory, please visit the Company's website at http://DakotaTRC.com/.
Investor Relations
Investor Relations Contact: For more information, please contact Dakota Territory Resource Corp (775) 747-0667
Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) limits disclosure for U.S. reporting purposes to mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. Our property currently does not contain any known proven or probable ore reserves under SEC reporting standards. Our reference above to the various formations and mineralization believed to exist in our property as compared to historical results and estimates from other property in the district is illustrative only for comparative purposes and is no indication that similar results will be obtained with respect to our property. U.S. investors are urged to consider closely the disclosure in our latest reports filed with the SEC. You can review and obtain copies of these filings at http://www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.
Safe Harbor Statement
This release contains forward-looking statements that are based upon current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct. Forward-looking statements are generally identifiable by the use of words like "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "believe," "intend," or "project" or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology. The reader is cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, as these statements are subject to numerous factors and uncertainties, including but not limited to: adverse economic conditions, competition, adverse federal, state and local government regulation, inadequate capital, inability to carry out research, development and commercialization plans, loss or retirement of key executives and other specific risks. To the extent that statements in this press release are not strictly historical, including statements as to revenue projections, business strategy, outlook, objectives, future milestones, plans, intentions, goals, future financial conditions, events conditioned on stockholder or other approval, or otherwise as to future events, such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. Readers are advised to review our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that can be accessed over the Internet at the SEC's website located at http://www.sec.gov.