Crosshair starts 13,000-metre drilling at CMB
Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corp (C:CXX) Shares Issued 72,840,825 Last Close 1/14/2008 $1.82 Tuesday January 15 2008 - News Release
Mr. Mark Morabito reports
CROSSHAIR BEGINS WINTER DRILL CAMPAIGN ON CMB URANIUM PROJECT, LABRADOR
Crosshair Exploration & Mining Corp. has started its 2008 winter drilling program on its Central Mineral Belt (CMB) uranium project in Labrador. The planned 13,000-metre program will include three active drills on the property, conducting phase 2 drilling at the B zone, Area 3, Area 1 and targets in the Armstrong area. Crosshair will also continue to define and expand the C zone resource, which will include drilling between the C zone and Area 1 in an effort to link the zones. Area 1, which has a defined strike length of 600 metres, is located 1.5 kilometres along strike to the southwest of the C zone. Linking the two zones could potentially add two kilometres strike length to the C zone deposit. In addition, Crosshair will test priority gravity and IP targets along the entire Armstrong-B zone corridor for IOCG-type mineralization at depth.
Successful phase 1 drill programs at the B zone, Area 3, Area 1 and Armstrong targets have demonstrated the potential to host multiple uranium deposits on the CMB property. A combination of ground geophysical, geochemical and geological mapping surveys carried out in 2007 have helped to better define each of these zones, as well as identify new areas of mineralization within them.
B zone/Area 3
The B zone, located 3.5 km northeast of the C zone, contains uranium mineralization predominantly hosted by strongly altered and hematized sandstone, particularly where cut by altered mafic dikes. A total of 62 rock samples from the B zone produced an average grade of 0.72 per cent U3O8, to a maximum of 3.97 per cent U3O8. Drilling by Crosshair in 2006 intersected mineralization grading up to 0.27 per cent U3O8 over 7.6 metres.
The B zone also exhibits many of the geological and geochemical characteristics of IOCG-type mineralization, akin to the world-class Olympic Dam deposit. These characteristics include locally elevated copper, silver and gold values as well as a spatial association with a large gravity anomaly. Crosshair plans to drill over 1,200 metres at the B zone and Area 3 in order to test the down-dip and along-strike extensions of mineralization intersected by previous drilling.
Armstrong
Armstrong, located approximately three km southwest of the C zone, anchors the southwest end of the same 4.5-km-long trend that hosts the C zone and Area 1. Uranium mineralization that is intermittently exposed along a 300-metre strike length predominantly occurs in sheared, chloritized mafic volcanic rocks. Follow-up ground work in 2007 resulted in the discovery of two new zones of mineralization, one located 80 metres northeast and another located 300 metres southwest, of the original Armstrong discovery. Eight separate one-metre channel samples from the new showing to the southwest returned an average grade of 0.14 per cent U3O8, while scintillometer readings over the new showing to the northeast are off-scale over an exposed three- to four-metre-wide by 10-metre-long area. Both of these new zones will be drill tested during the current winter program.
Area 1
At Area 1, located 1.5 km southwest of the C zone, continuity of mineralization has been confirmed by drilling along a 600-metre strike length, returning intercepts up to 0.11 per cent U3O8 over 11.5 metres, including 0.32 per cent U3O8 over three metres. The geological setting and style of mineralization strongly resembles that of the C zone and it is believed that Area 1 potentially represents the southwest extension of the C zone mineralization. Crosshair's 2007 program successfully extended the C zone an additional 300 metres to the southwest toward Area 1. As part of the current winter program, Crosshair plans to drill over 2,200 metres in order to define the mineralized zone at Area 1 and to test select targets along the C zone-Area 1 corridor. One of the company's main goals for 2008 will be to link the two zones with an aggressive diamond drilling campaign.
C zone
Drilling at the C zone in 2007 returned the best intercepts to date from the CMB uranium property and successfully added 400 metres of strike length to the currently defined resource. Three-dimensional modelling of the existing drill hole data as well as new structural interpretations of the deposit have greatly helped to advance Crosshair's understanding of the C zone geology and controls on mineralization, allowing Crosshair geologists to more successfully target and define the zone.
As part of the winter program, Crosshair will continue to test the down-dip and along-strike extensions of several mineralized intercepts at the C zone in order to upgrade and expand the current resource. The C zone currently contains an NI 43-101-compliant indicated resource of 3.19 million pounds of U3O8 (3.75 million tonnes at 0.04 per cent) and an additional NI 43-101 inferred resource of 4.59 million pounds of U3O8 (6.32 million tonnes at 0.03 per cent). Crosshair plans to update this resource estimate in 2008.
The complete resource estimate can be found on SEDAR on Sept. 10, 2007, as well as on the company's website.
IOCG targets
In late January, Crosshair will activate a third rig on the CMB uranium property that is capable of deep drilling in order to test several targets for IOCG-type mineralization associated with a large gravity anomaly along the Armstrong-B zone corridor. In 2007, Crosshair carried out additional ground geophysics, including gravity and IP/resistivity surveys, in order to better define the IOCG targets. A number of targets have been identified and are currently being prioritized for drill testing.
Additional information and maps for priority target areas on the CMB uranium property can be found on the company website.