Progress reportSPOKANE, WASHINGTON--(Marketwire - April 15, 2009) - Matthew Russell, President of Azteca Gold Corp. ("Azteca" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:AZG) announces drilling and geologic progress on the Company's 50% owned Two Mile Project near Osburn, Idaho in the historic Silver Valley.
"Azteca Gold continues to encounter Sullivan-style Precambrian sulfide beds in diamond drill hole DDH-006," said Mr. Russell. "Since we last reported progress on DDH-006 on April 2, 2009, the Company believes it has intersected very similar "upper sulfide beds" below the up-faulted block that was shown to contain significant pyrrhotite (iron sulfide) and anomalous copper sulfides." Mr. Russell commented further, "We feel we are beginning to intersect what we call the "lower or main sulfide beds" in which we believe we may, in the coming weeks, intercept high grade massive-type zinc-silver-lead-copper mineralization similar to that reported in mid-January in hole DDH-005A."
DDH-006
Since our last report April 2, 2009, DDH-006 has been progressed from 7427 FT to 8250 FT, encountering "upper sulfide beds" of significant pyrrhotite with minor chalcopyrite and a "lower sulfide bed" with diminishing pyrrhotite and increasing disseminated sphalerite and stock-work type veining.
Upper Sulfide Beds: The Company believes that the intercept from 7600 FT to approximately 7850 FT is visually very similar to the intercept within the up-faulted block from 5300 FT to approximately 5550 FT. Both intercepts contain moderately quartzitic mudstones with pyrrhotite as the most prevalent sulfide, accompanied by minor chalcopyrite. It is the belief of the Company that the sulfides in these intercepts represent the highest (least depth) recognizable beds of a stratiform mineralizing system hosted in quartzitic mudstones of the Prichard formation.
"The Company expects to bypass these upper beds in favor of higher grade beds further down in the system as it regards the development of a reportable mineral resource," said Mr. Russell. "But since we can recognize them and they appear to be quite consistent, they are very useful as an indicator of the presence of 'main or lower massive sulfide beds' below them. As we study them, they may also become useful predictors of the so-called strength of the system in a particular location, as well as the particular minerals that may be found in higher grades below."
Mr. Russell added, "As an example, the 'upper sulfide beds' at hole 006 contain anomalous copper, which we did not find as prevalently in the upper beds at hole 005A. Our studies suggest that the anomalous copper was derived from sulfides containing sphalerite. Thus, we expect that if found in this location, the lower main sulfide beds at hole 006 may contain economically significant copper."
"We are encouraged by the degree to which the pyrrhotite gangue appears to have migrated to the upper beds. We believe that the lower grades of the Sullivan ore body as compared to assays from hole 005A at Two Mile is due to dilution by pyrrhotite. It did not stratify out of the main ore beds in that system. If we are correct in our theory and we find the main beds at the hole 006 location, they may contain high grade mineralization," said Mr. Russell.
Lower or Main Sulfide Beds: At approximately 8100 FT the pyrrhotite has diminished significantly, giving way to increasing disseminated sulfides which the Company believes assays will confirm is primarily sphalerite (zinc sulfide) with minor galena (lead-silver sulfide). At 8150 FT stock-work veining has increased appreciably and appears to be oriented close to vertical. In DDH-005A, disseminated sphalerite and stock work veining were found to be good indicators of nearby massive sulfides. Additionally, the Prichard rock types appear favorable and very similar to those found at 005A, which combine to give the Company good reason to expect to intersect massive sulfides in DDH-006 within the next few weeks.
"Azteca has set a new target Total Depth for hole 006 for approximately 8750 FT, based on the expectation that the mineralizing system may have produced beds of massive sulfides at this location," said Mr. Russell. "The particular strata of quartzitic mudstones which contained the highest grade beds in hole-005A was found to extend from about 7500 FT to 8784 FT (which was the total depth attained in the hole)."
The Company wishes to stress that the purpose of hole DDH-006 is to develop a mineral resource on-strike with the massive zinc-silver-lead mineralization intersected in hole DDH-005A. However, the intersection of a similar mineralized stratigraphic sequence does not insure intersection of similar type zone of massive mineralization.
The information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Matthew Russell, President and CEO, the Company's Qualified Persons as defined in National Instrument 43-101.
WARNING: the Company relies upon litigation protection for "forward looking" statements. The information in this release may contain forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. This forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking information. Factors that may cause actual results to vary materially include, but are not limited to, changes in laws or regulations, the risks of obtaining final approval from necessary regulatory bodies in connection with the Private Placement, inaccurate assumptions concerning the exploration for and development of mineral deposits and timing related to receipt of the preliminary assays. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information. The Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update this forward-looking information after the date of this release or to revise such information to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
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