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b3grooveson May 29, 2006 12:53pm
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Pacifica Resources marshals eight drills for
Pacifica Resources marshals eight drills for Pacifica Resources marshals eight drills for Selwyn
Pacifica Resources Ltd (C:PAX)
Shares Issued 88,791,500
Last Close 5/26/2006 $0.85
Monday May 29 2006 - News Release
Dr. Harlan Meade reports
PACIFICA RESOURCES MOBILIZES EIGHT DIAMOND DRILLS FOR SELWYN PROJECT PROGRAM
Pacifica Resources Ltd.'s field crews have mobilized to the Yukon and the diamond drilling program will commence shortly on the Selwyn project that encompasses the very large Howard's Pass zinc-lead deposit. Two of the eight diamond drills contracted for the first phase of drilling in the Howard's Pass district are now on-site with a third diamond drill arriving early this week. The remaining five diamond drills will be staged over the next two to three weeks. The program consists of a minimum 25,000 metres of diamond drilling that will include testing of regional stratigraphic drilling and definition drilling on the defined zones. The drilling is a major component of a minimum $8-million budget that includes preliminary engineering and environmental studies.
In 2005, Pacifica successfully completed 8,317 metres in 53 drill holes that resulted in two significant new discoveries, the Brodel and Don Valley zones. These new discoveries are located in large gaps in the drilling between historical Anniv and XY drill areas that provide a multitude of targets for more detailed drilling to define specific location of the favourable strata, and thickness and grade of mineralization. Former operators have completed a total of 36,359 metres of diamond drilling in 218 drill holes on the Howard's Pass property mostly in the Anniv and XY deposits. The regional stratigraphic drilling will test the large areas around these deposits where the favourable stratigraphy, where preserved, has been shown to be continuously mineralized over a distance of at least 30 kilometres.
Detailed drilling has defined indicated mineral resources for the Howard's Pass deposits totalling 33.5 million tonnes grading 5.52 per cent zinc and 2.1 per cent lead that contain 4.08 billion pounds of zinc and 1.55 billion pounds of lead. The inferred mineral resources are 112.9 million tonnes grading 5.4 per cent zinc and 2.14 per cent lead that contain 13.44 billion pounds of zinc and 5.31 billion pounds of lead and are immediately adjacent the indicated resources (see Stockwatch news dated Feb. 9, 2006).
Pacifica plans to focus the initial diamond drilling on stratigraphic targets thought to hold extensions of known mineralization, as well as infill drilling on the Anniv deposit. The stratigraphic drilling is designed to test areas with potential for shallow mineralization amenable for open-pit mining. The infill drilling is targeted to increase the confidence in both the known inferred mineral resources and adjacent areas of mineral potential. The goal for this year's definition drilling is to identify an additional 100 million tonnes of inferred mineral resources from the mineral potential areas that are at a shallow depth and convert previously defined inferred resources into indicated resources.
The stratigraphic drilling is focused to define areas of significant near-surface mineralization that could lead to development of an additional 300 million tonnes of shallow mineralization and to explore for centres of higher-grade mineralization such as was previously defined in the XY zone. These higher grad zones could form the basis of defining resources for large-scale underground mining. There can be no assurance that such new resources will be defined; however, the exceptional continuity of the mineralization within the favourable active member indicates a reasonable probability of doing so.
The Howard's Pass district exploration program is being reviewed by qualified person Jason Dunning, MSc, PGeo, under the meaning of National Instrument 43-101. The on-site qualified person for the Selwyn project is John J. O'Donnell, PGeo, under the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.
The initial $8-million program consists of drilling, an environmental baseline study and additional metallurgical testing. This work is intended to provide a base for evaluating exploration and development strategy.