TORONTO, June 21, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red Pine Exploration Inc. (TSX-V: RPX) ("Red Pine" or the "Company") announced last week a Mineral Resource estimate conducted by Golder Associates Ltd. (“Golder”) for the Company’s Surluga Deposit at the Wawa Gold Project located near Wawa, Ontario. The Mineral Resource estimate was evaluated for an underground mining scenario, considering the requirement for reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction, and is reported at a 2.7 g/t cut-off within a 2 g/t envelope, and now stands at 1,202,000 tonnes at 5.31 g/t for 205,000 ounces gold in the Indicated category and 2,362,000 tonnes at 5.22 g/t for 396,000 ounces gold in the Inferred category.
Mechanized stripping is currently underway on the Cooper Shear System, Grace Deformation Zone and the southern extension of the Jubilee Shear Zone. Diamond drilling will begin mid-July to test priority targets in the Cooper Shear System and prove the continuation of Surluga Deposit to depth (>350 metres). Drilling is expected to continue until the end of 2019.
To date the Company has identified an additional six (6) gold-bearing structures on the property (Figure 1):
- the newly discovered Cooper Shear System
- the Grace Deformation Zone
- the Hornblende Shear Zone
- the southern extension of the Jubilee Shear Zone
- the Minto B Shear Zone,
- the Minto Lower/Parkhill #4 Shear Zone.
Figure 1 is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d3da13c7-488a-404a-9b3f-7dce2a9fa582
Quentin Yarie, Red Pine’s President and CEO commented, “We were successful in upgrading the Surluga Deposit, considering the requirement for reasonable prospects of eventual economic extraction, from a pit constrained model to an underground resource model that is accessible utilizing the existing underground mining infrastructure. Our strategy moving forward will be to continue to define shallow, high-grade deposits, on the property and prove the extension of the Surluga and Minto Mine South deposits beyond the relatively shallow footprints of the current mineral resources.”
Block Model Comparison – 2015-2019
Due to the significant differences in modeling and estimation parameters, a tonnage and grade sensitivity comparison was completed to compare the 2015 block model, at a cut-off of 2.7 g/t gold, with the current 2018 Minto Mine South and 2019 Surluga block models. To account for the differences in volume between the 2015 and the 2019 block models, the resource blocks classified as inferred in the 2015 block model that are located in the resource envelopes of Golder’s 2018 and 2019 Mineral Resources were compared to the resource blocks of the 2019 resources from the same resource envelopes. The 2015 mineral resource estimate has been superseded by the 2018/19 mineral resource estimate.
Table 1: Comparison of the 2015 and 2019 Block Models
| Resource classification | Indicated | Inferred | |||||||
| Tonnes (000) | Gold (g/t) | Gold Ounces (000) | Tonnes (000) | Gold (g/t) | Gold Ounces (000) | ||||
| Wawa Gold 2015 | 3,403 | 4.32 | 473 | ||||||
| Minto 2018 | 105 | 7.5 | 25 | 354 | 6.60 | 75 | |||
| Surluga 2019 | 1,231 | 5.26 | 208 | 2,463 | 5.17 | 409 | |||
| Total Wawa Gold 2019 | 1,336 | 5.43 | 233 | 2,817 | 5.35 | 484 | |||
| Difference from 2015 | +1,336 | +233 | -586 | +1.03 | +11 | ||||
| % Differences from 2015 | ∞ | ∞ | -17 | % | +24 | % | +2.3 | % | |
| Notes: | |||||||||
| 1) This comparison is conducted on a 2.7 g/t cut-off basis for the Surluga Deposit and on a 3.5 g/t gold cut-off basis for the Minto Deposit and excludes the use of reporting envelopes that account for mining continuity. | |||||||||
| 2) The 2015 mineral resource estimate has been superseded by the 2018/19 mineral resource estimate. | |||||||||
Exploration potential of the Wawa Gold Project
Table 2 below provides a summary of the 6 exploration targets identified at the Wawa Gold Project. All the exploration targets were estimated for geological structures that show a strike length continuity that exceeds 500 metres. The exploration target estimation for each structure is supported by various factors including:
- adjacent mineral resource estimation
- historic mining
- diamond drilling and/or channel sampling.
The Reader is cautioned that the potential tonnages and grades of the Exploration Target are conceptual in nature, that there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource and that it is uncertain if further exploration will result in any of the Exploration Targets being delineated as a mineral resource.
Table 2. Summary of Exploration Targets at the Wawa Gold Project
| Structure | Tonnes (million) | Gold (g/t) | Gold Ounces (000) | Comments |
| Jubilee Shear Zone (Surluga Deposit) | 3 to 4 | 4.5 to 6 | 435 to 772 | Between surface and 800 m below surface Adjacent to the boundary of the current resource estimate over the same 1.7 km strike length Supported by adjacent mineral resource estimation, historic mining, diamond drilling |
| Cooper Shear Zone | 0.35 to 0.5 | 5 to 8 | 56 to 130 | Shear zone like the Minto Mine South Deposit In the extension of the historic Cooper Mine Between surface and 250 m below surface over a 750 m strike length Supported by adjacent historic mining in the Cooper Mine, channel sampling, and diamond drilling |
| Grace Deformation Zone | 0.3 to 0.5 | 5 to 8 | 48 to 130 | Adjacent to the historic Darwin-Grace Mine Between surface and 250 m below surface Supported by adjacent historic mining in the Grace Mine, channel sampling at surface and diamond drilling |
| Hornblende Shear Zone | 0.5 to 4.0 | 4 to 6 | 64 to 750 | Over a strike length of 500 to 1,000 m, between surface and 300m below surface Supported by diamond drilling, underground panel sampling, channel sampling at surface |
| Minto B Shear Zone | 0.26 to 0.5 | 3 to 5 | 25 to 80 | Between surface and 230 m below surface at its contact with the Jubilee Shear Zone hanging wall and over a strike length of 400 m Supported by diamond drilling and channel sampling at surface |
| Minto Mine South and Minto Lower/ Parkhill #4 | 0.6 to 1.2 | 5 to 8 | 96 to 309 | In the Minto Mine South structure, adjacent to the boundary of the current resource over the same 0.75 km strike length In the up-plunge extension of the mined areas in the Minto Lower / Parkhill # 4 structure Supported by historic mining, adjacent mineral resource estimated, diamond drilling |
Jubilee Shear Zone
The Jubilee Shear Zone is the largest zone of mineralization traced so far on the Wawa Gold Property. The known strike length of the Jubilee Shear Zone extends over at least 5.5 kilometres and the interpretation of Red Pine’s 2017 magneto-telluric survey shows that the structure extends beyond 2 kilometres below surface.
The current resource in the Jubilee Shear Zone is entirely from surface and 350 metres below surface over a strike length of approximately 1.7 kilometres. Channel sampling and diamond drilling has shown that the southern extension of the Jubilee Shear Zone is gold-bearing and has a good exploration potential.
Hornblende Shear Zone
The Hornblende Shear Zone is located below the Jubilee Shear Zone and was accessed in the seventh level of the historic Surluga Mine. Structurally is it similar to the Jubilee Shear Zone parallels its trace. Red Pine’s work and historic mapping indicate that the Hornblende Shear Zone is an important structure on the property and was traced north of the Parkhill fault over at least 2 kilometres. The thickness of the Hornblende Shear Zone varies from 4 to 40 metres.
Minto B Shear Zone
The Minto B Shear Zone is located above the Jubilee Shear Zone. This structure is currently traced over a strike length of 1km and exhibit a variable thickness ranging from 4 to 20 m. It is sub-vertical and intersects the Jubilee Shear Zone approximately 225 to 250m below surface. It is locally accessible by the underground development of the historic Surluga Mine.
Minto Shear System
The Minto Mine South Shear Zone, host of the Minto Mine South Deposit, is part of a network of gold-bearing shear zones, named the Minto Shear system, of which two were mined in the past - the Minto Mine South Shear Zone in the Minto Mine and the Minto Lower/Parkhill #4 Shear Zone in the Parkhill Mine. So far, Red Pine has confirmed the strike length of both structures over approximately 1.5 kilometres and deeper drilling supports the extension of the Minto Mine South Shear Zone beyond 500 metres below surface.
The Minto Lower/Parkhill #4 Shear Zone was mined in the Parkhill Mine in the 1930s and was successfully intersected by Red Pine’s exploratory diamond drilling. Red Pine also discovered in the summer of 2018, the surface extension of the Minto Lower/Parkhill #4 Shear Zone near Minto Lake, 1.1 kilometres north-west of the Parkhill Mine.
Cooper Shear System
The Cooper Shear System comprises two known gold-bearing structures, the Cooper Shear Zone and the Ganley Shear Zone. The gold-bearing structures of the Cooper Shear Zone system are structurally and mineralogically similar to the structures of the Minto Shear System. Diamond drilling and channel sampling by previous operators of the property show that the Cooper Shear Zone extends at depth and remains mineralized beyond the footprint of the historic Cooper Mine.
Administration
Red Pine announces that on June 20, 2019, its Board of Directors granted an aggregate of 6,812,500 stock options (the “Options”) to officers, directors, and consultants of the Company. Each Option is exercisable into one common share of the Company at a price of $0.06 per common share, vests immediately upon grant and expires three years from the date of grant. The grant of options is subject to regulatory approval, including approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.
On-site Quality Assurance/Quality Control (“QA/QC”) Measures
Drill core samples were transported in security-sealed bags for analyses to Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Ancaster, Ontario. Individual samples are labeled, placed in plastic sample bags and sealed. Groups of samples are then placed into durable rice bags and then shipped. The remaining coarse reject portions of the samples remain in storage if further work or verification is needed.
Red Pine has implemented a quality-control program to comply with best practices in the sampling and analysis of drill core. As part of its QA/QC program, Red Pine inserts external gold standards (low to high grade) and blanks every 20 samples in addition to random standards, blanks, and duplicates.
Qualified Person
Quentin Yarie, P Geo. is the qualified person responsible for preparing, supervising and approving the scientific and technical content of this news release.
About Red Pine Exploration Inc.
Red Pine Exploration Inc. is a gold and base-metals exploration company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Company's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "RPX".
Red Pine has a 60% interest in the Wawa Gold Project with Citabar LP. holding the remaining 40% interest. Red Pine is the Operating Manager of the Project and is focused on expanding the existing gold resource on the property.
For more information about the Company visit www.redpineexp.com
Or contact:
Quentin Yarie, President & CEO, (416) 364-7024, qyarie@redpineexp.com
Or Mia Boiridy, Investor Relations, (416) 364-7024, mboiridy@redpineexp.com
Neither 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 contains forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may”, “should”, “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimates”, “predicts”, “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our or our industry’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.