drilling plans --
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Dec 16, 2010 (Marketwire via COMTEX News Network) --
Pitchstone Exploration Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:PXP) -
-- Contracts Finalized for 1st Quarter 2011 Drilling -- 28 DrillHoles at Calcrete Targets in Namibia -- 4,500 meters of Drilling atAthabasca Basin Targets
Pitchstone Exploration Ltd. ("Pitchstone" or the "Company") has finalized plansfor the next phase of exploration in Namibia and the Athabasca Basin,Saskatchewan. Drilling programs will begin early in 2011 at the Domeproperty in Namibia, and at the Gumboot and Johnston Lake properties inthe Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan. Dome is part of a uranium explorationjoint venture between Pitchstone (69%) and private company ManicaMinerals Ltd. (31%) through Manica's wholly-owned subsidiary CheetahMinerals Exploration Ltd. Gumboot is 100% owned and Johnston Lake hasbeen optioned from Denison Mines Corp.
Namibia Drilling
Pitchstonehas finalized a contract with RC Drilling Services Namibia (Pty) Ltd.for the completion of 28 reverse circulation drill holes at the Domeproperty. This drilling campaign will start in early February and willfocus on extending calcrete hosted uranium and vanadium mineralizationat the Marble Ridge zone which is open in several directions. Resultsfrom the 2010 drilling at the Marble Ridge zone include 365 ppm U3O8 and205 ppm V2O5 over 1.0 meter, at a depth of 7 meters. Maps of theproperty are available at www.pitchstone.net.
Athabasca Basin Drilling
Pitchstonehas started preparation of the winter access road to the Gumboot andJohnston Lake properties, 20 kilometers northwest of Cameco's Cigar Lakeuranium deposit.Bryson Drilling of Archerwill, Saskatchewan has been contracted for thework and the camp is in place. Pitchstone will complete approximately4,500 meters of core drilling to test three targets on each of theseproperties during the period January to March, 2011. Drilling willtarget uranium at the altered and mineralized portions of the 5kilometer long conductor system at Gumboot and the 10 kilometer longconductor system at Johnston Lake. Previous drilling on the Gumbootproperty has returned 0.66% U3O8, 11.10% Ni and 0.57% Co over 0.3 meterand 2.06% U3O8, 1.15% Ni and 0.23% Co over 0.1 meter (see Sept. 9, 2009news release). Previous drilling on the Johnston Lake property hasreturned 0.48% U3O8 over 0.25 meter (see July 14, 2010 news release).
StevenJ. Blower, P.Geo., President and CEO of Pitchstone, is the QualifiedPerson for the purposes of NI 43-101 with respect to the technicalinformation in this news release. Sample preparation and analyses onPitchstone's Athabasca Basin samples were done by SRC GeoanalyticalLaboratories, Saskatoon. A partial digestion with fluorimetric analysiswas used for initial uranium determinations, and then all samplescontaining greater than 100 ppm uranium were re-analyzed with ICP.Sample preparation and analyses on Pitchstone's Namibia samples weredone by Bureau Veritas Mineral Laboratories, Swakopmund, Namibia. Amixed acid digestion was followed by ICP-OES and ICP-MS analysis.Pitchstone utilizes internally and externally submitted standardreference materials for quality assuranceand quality control of the sample preparation and analyses. The lengthsof intersections of calcrete mineralization in Namibia areapproximately equal to the true width. Insufficient information isavailable to estimate the true width of mineralized intersections in theAthabasca Basin.
About Pitchstone
Pitchstone is exploring for uranium in three proven districts in Canada and Namibia. The property portfoliofeatures 11 projects in the eastern Athabasca Basin, Saskatchewan,three of which are 100% owned. In addition, there is a joint venture ontwo projects in Namibia and several joint venture projects in the HornbyBay Basin, Nunavut. Pitchstone benefits from the collaboration of aunique group of geologists with extensive uranium exploration andproduction experience.
On behalf of the Board,
Steven J. Blower, President and CEO