CA:NL(the "Company" or "Northern Lion") announces the commencement of the Phase I drill program and provides an update on the Company's exploration projects in Cyprus.
Hy-Tech Drilling Ltd. has shipped a Tech 5000 rig to the island and drilling commenced on June 5, 2010. Drill targets have been selected on the Red Hill, Red Rock, Pitha and Philani projects based on the Companys' grid based mapping, soil and rock sampling programs in conjunction with historical data.
Red Hill Project
At Red Hill a series of drill holes from the 1950's and 60's were completed to test the gold and base metal potential of the old gold workings. The property was mined for gold during the pre WWII period, when high grade gold was recovered from two open cuts at the top of the hill. No production records are available; however chip sampling by Northern Lion crews has returned highly significant gold and silver values from the walls of the excavations as shown in the following table. Of the 44 chip and grab samples for which complete assays have been received, 18 assayed over 0.5 grams per tonne ("g/t") Au. An additional 38 samples are in process.
SAMPLE Width Au Ag Cu Pb Zn
Number metres ppm ppm ppm ppm ppm
11651 4 4.41 28.1 31 358 43
11652 grab 4.79 36.4 21 73 8
11653 grab 1.06 16.7 19 1010 5
11654 3.5 3.66 17.1 19 387 7
11655 3 2.53 51.1 8 58 3
11657 5 0.90 8.2 73 132 12
11658 5 0.88 6.7 47 126 9
11659 grab 1.49 9.8 113 47 14
11663 5 2.93 31.1 59 796 47
11664 5 2.76 19.5 161 1450 58
11667 grab 0.51 9.7 14 861 12
11690 grab 0.74 23.5 12 954 5
11758 0.2 1.55 9.6 26 41 11
11760 2 0.96 96.6 13 11 15
11761 2.2 2.85 17.6 43 410 15
11765 1.6 5.26 17.5 34 604 11
11766 0.3 6.64 19.1 23 154 13
11772 1.2 0.99 less 836 3 290
than 0.2
The Phase I drill program is designed to test the gold zone at Red Hill, to determine the depth, attitude, grade and the true width of the mineralized zone. Sampling of chips from five rotary holes in the 1950's indicated in excess of 1 g/t gold over 125 metres ("m") strike length north-south and 30m east-west, to a maximum depth of 50m. Soil sampling of the dump areas has returned values of up to 11.5 g/t gold.
Results of the grid soil sampling program show a strong correlation between gold, copper and silver values. The soil anomalies track a northerly trending structure which is visible in the open cuts, and sporadically through the covered areas to the north. This structure can be traced for an additional 1 kilometre ("km") to the north before it is covered by recent sediments. Mapping to date indicates that the stratigraphic section is down-dropped to the north, protecting the potential extension from erosion. Follow-up geophysical surveys are planned to test these deeper targets during the next phase of exploration.
Red Rock Project
At the Red Rock project, located over a kilometre to the northwest of Red Hill three historical drill holes encountered a massive sulphide body, one of which assayed 1% copper over 40m. The massive sulphides were fault bounded in all three holes. This sulphide body has not been fully delineated and gold was not analyzed. A hole is planned during this phase of drilling to test the gold content of these massive sulphides.
Pitha Project
The Pitha project forms part of the Kambia Exploration Permits, which incorporates the Pitha and Peristerka massive sulphide bodies. Peristerka which consisted of two adjacent vertical massive sulphide bodies, and was mined in the 1970's for pyrite, and contained 1.12 million tones at an average of 0.8% copper, with an unknown gold grade.
At Pitha (1km to the west of Peristerka) the area was partially pre-striped preparing for the extraction of pyrite when the Turkish invasion of 1974 halted activities. Historical drill data indicates a vertically oriented massive sulphide body in excess of 500,000 tons. No gold assays were carried out during the period when the massive sulphide was drilled, and no overall copper grade is available.
In order to determine the gold potential of this area a chip sampling program was carried out over the exposed benches, and any exposures of massive sulphide visible in the pit. The Pitha massive sulphide body is located in the Basal Group rocks within 200m of the contact with the overlying Pillow Lava Series. Dykes within the Basal Group in this area trend north northeasterly and have a near vertical dip, as do the major structural trends.
A total of 132 chip and grab samples were collected from all prospective exposures of altered and mineralized rocks, along with a suite of samples from fresh outcrop for reference material. The results of this work show an excellent clustering of gold and copper values at the west end of the pit, such as; 2.64 g/t gold and 62.1 g/t silver over 3.2 m and 4.67 g/t gold, 3.91% copper, 33.6 g/t silver. For full results see news release dated May 13, 2010. The anomalous gold and copper values cover an area of 75m by 60m, and remain open. Two drill holes are planned to test this gold - copper enriched area.
Philani Project
There are two drill holes planned for this phase at Philani. The first target is a partially defined orebody of high grade copper and zinc massive sulphide mineralization with significant gold values (this resource predates National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and was not prepared in accordance with its requirements). The second hole will test Northern Lion's previous surface sampling that returned over 4g/t gold from a gossan located peripheral to the massive sulphide body. The current mapping has shown the anomalous gossan to be one of a series located along a 310 degree trend, none of which had been previously tested.
Research within the files of the Cyprus Geological Survey has uncovered historical drill data that indicates a hole located to the west of the massive sulphide body appears to intersect a feeder zone. This hole encountered 24m of 0.4% copper, but was not analysed for gold. It is also proximal to the 4g/t gold assay from the surface gossan