Mr. Randy Rogers reports
SOLOMON COMPLETES SECOND PHASE OF DIAMOND DRILLING AT YUKON TEN MILE CREEK GOLD PROJECT
Solomon Resources Ltd. has completed the second phase of the diamond drilling program at the Ten Mile Creek gold project in the Yukon Territory. Solomon field crews have now completed the 2010 exploration program for this project and the camp is being demobilized for the winter season. Assay results from the diamond drill program are pending.
Background
The Ten Mile Creek gold project is located in Yukon Territory approximately 30 kilometres north-northwest of the White gold property of Kinross Gold Corp. and 60 kilometres north of the Coffee gold project of Kaminak Gold Corp. Solomon acquired an option from Radius Gold Inc. to earn a 51-per-cent interest in the Ten Mile Creek gold project as previously reported.
Solomons president and chief executive officer Randy Rogers reports: "The 2010 diamond drill program at Ten Mile Creek tested an historical soil geochemical anomaly that former operators of the property had identified as a priority drill target as well as a highly prospective new soil geochemical anomaly discovered this year by Solomon field crews south of the Jual vein system. A number of promising anomalies remain to be drilled in the 2011 field season."
The second phase of drilling targeted the newly discovered Skukum zone located on the Jual Val claim block. The Skukum zone, newly discovered by Solomon field exploration crews in the 2010 program, is a significant gold in soil geochemical anomaly approximately 900 metres by 700 metres in extent with values up to 1,436 parts per billion (ppb) gold and 4,630 parts per million (ppm) arsenic. The zone is located immediately south of the Jual vein system which former operator Teck Resources Ltd. mapped in its 2000 program as a system of northwesterly trending quartz veins, stockworks and fault zones. Historical trenching of peripheral gold soil geochemical anomalies yielded results of 1.6 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over 25 metres (including 11.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold over three metres) and 1.0 g/t gold over 19 metres (including 8.5 g/t over 1.5 metres).
Earlier drilling in the 2010 exploration program focused on the Klondike Kate zone, an east-west anomaly in the northern portion of the Ten Mile claim group four kilometres east of the Skukum zone measuring approximately 1,600 metres in length and 400 metres in width with gold-in-soil geochemical results as high as 698 ppb gold and 570 ppm arsenic.
Geological summary
The 2010 exploration program included surface soil geochemical surveys, surface geophysical surveys, geological mapping and prospecting traverses followed by late season diamond drilling. A paucity of outcrop made surficial mapping difficult, and geology and structure have been interpreted from field mapping, detailed mapping of trenches and examination of diamond drill core. Property-scale geology was observed to consist primarily of Permian metamorphic rocks locally exhibiting schistose to gneissic deformation. The schists are mainly silicic and micaceous and the gneiss appears to be of felsic intrusive origin. A large Jurassic-Cretaceous granitic to monzonitic intrusive body underlies a portion of the property and late stage feldspar porphyry dikes related to the Carmacks volcanic package are seen to cut through the country rock in a northerly trend. Geologists from the Yukon Geological Survey visited the property this season and have collected samples of dike and intrusive rock from outcrop and drill core for uranium-lead age dating and further petrographic examination.
Structurally, the Paleozoic rocks exhibit a regional foliation characterized by high strain transposition of layering in the gneiss and schist with abundant intrafolial isoclinal folding that appears to be rootless. The intensity of strain locally grades to mylonitic facies. Primary compositional layering in metasedimentary rocks, unit contacts and a pre-existing foliation can be traced around closures of the transposition folds, indicating they are at least S2 structures. Secondary deformation appears to accompany the regional metamorphism, which occurred during the mid-Permian.
The secondary folds are generally recumbent to shallowly inclined and nearly isoclinal long wavelength structures. They commonly lack an axial planar foliation and their axes parallel regional lineation. This relationship helps distinguish F3 and F3 folds which can have very similar style. The latter are open, moderately inclined but varying from shallow to steep, shallowly plunging structures, that have weak axial planar fabric where developed in schistose layers and have no associated extension lineation.
There appears to be a high degree of regional- and property-scale faulting and fracturing and it is apparent that there has been significant ground preparation for mineralizing fluids to penetrate the host rock. Assay results will determine to what extent the mineralizing fluids were auriferous.
Summary of diamond drill program
Six diamond drill holes were completed in the 2010 field season with a total of 800 metres of core recovered. Core recovery was excellent. A significant increase in exploration in the Dawson Range during the 2010 field season has stretched the capacity of analytical labs to the limit and assay results are now taking six to eight weeks to report. An operational decision was made in late September to terminate drilling at Ten Mile Creek after DDH2010-06 to allow the assay results from the analytical laboratories to catch up to the drill program; while highly prospective targets remain as yet undrilled the company believes it was prudent to have the results of the early diamond drill holes in hand prior to committing to further drilling as targeting decisions are to a large extent dependant on previous results.
DIAMOND DRILL SUMMARY -- TEN MILE CREEK GOLD PROJECTDDH2010-01 Length 125 metresDDH2010-02 Length 175 metresDDH2010-03 Length 125 metresDDH2010-04 Length 125 metresDDH2010-05 Length 125 metresDDH2010-06 Length 125 metres
A number of promising targets remain to be followed up in the 2011 exploration season.
The newly discovered Jack London zone is located one kilometre north of the Skukum zone and is a soil geochemical anomaly 1,600 metres by 600 metres in extent with a peak soil geochemical value of 260 ppb gold. This highly prospective target will be trenched early in the 2011 exploration season.
The Sourdough Joe zone is located one kilometre north-northeast of the Jack London zone and is an elongated east-west soil geochemical anomaly measuring 1,400 metres by 300. Permafrost on steep northern slopes prevented complete trenching of the more compelling soil geochemical anomalies in 2010 and the 2011 exploration program will include expanded soil geochemical surveys and diamond drilling in this zone early in the season.
The newly discovered Jack London zone and the adjacent Sourdough Joe zone are immediately upstream of the Ten Mile Creek placer gold camp, which was actively mined in the 2010 field season. As previously reported the placer gold being recovered in the 2010 season was observed to be coarse and angular and to a large extent carried relict quartz vein material which suggests that the gold has not travelled far from a bedrock source.
Solomon is still waiting for final soil geochemical results from the expanded survey grids, and assay results are pending from the current diamond drill program.
Quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC)
Solomon has implemented quality assurance and quality control measures in its exploration programs, including the following.
All field and data analysis work is carried out under the supervision of qualified Solomon geologists and geophysicists in accordance with procedures developed to conform to current best practices in mineral exploration.
Analytical work for this project was conducted by Acme Analytical Laboratories (Vancouver) Ltd., a certified analytical laboratory.
In addition to internal checks and standards provided by the labs, Solomon includes blind duplicate and blank samples. All analytical sample checks and standards are within reasonable limits of error.
Qualified person
Randy Rogers, MSc, PGeol, a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101, standards for disclosure for mineral projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators, and the president and chief executive officer of Solomon, has verified the data disclosed herein including sampling, analytical and test data and supervised the preparation of the information that forms the basis of the disclosure contained in this news release. He has also reviewed the data disclosed herein from records of previous owners and operators of the Ten Mile Creek gold project.