VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Aug. 23, 2011) - Timmins Gold Corp. (TSX:TMM) is pleased to announce that additional mineralized zones were intercepted during the month of July, 2011 from the ongoing drill program at its San Francisco mine open pit gold mine in the state of Sonora, Mexico.
During July the Company completed 95 drill holes totalling 20,103 meters of drilling. Drill results have confirmed that the mineralized zones continue both beneath the currently planned pit bottom and outside the perimeter of the currently planned pit limit. A series of holes drilled on the south wall of the pit confirmed the up dip continuity of the mineralized zones recently intersected beneath the currently planned pit bottom. For example, Hole TF-1312 drilled on the south wall intersected several mineralized zones including 12.19 meters with a grade of 2.631 gpt gold.
Drilling at the La Chicharra open pit which is two kilometers from the San Francisco pit also intersected gold mineralization. Results from the La Chicharra drilling will be released shortly.
The Company is completing an aggressive 100,000 meter exploration program which commenced at the beginning of July, 2011 and is expected to be completed at the end of the calendar year.
Highlights from selected drill holes from the July results at the San Francisco mine open pit are as follows:
Deep core drilling designed to find the main feeder system for the gold mineralization at the pit and regionally, intercepted mineralization starting at a depth of 178 meters and continuing to a depth of 835 meters.
For more detailed drill hole intersections and a drill hole plan map, please click on the following link; https://www.timminsgold.com/i/maps/2011-08-22_NR-Files2.pdf.
The size of the gold mineralization zone, its presence within large shear zones and the continuous nature of the gold within these zones form the basis of management's expectation that the ongoing drill program could lead to a significant increase in the mineral resource at San Francisco and could potentially also lead to the discovery of additional satellite deposits within the existing land package.
The samples collected during the drilling were prepared by the Company and assayed by IPL-Inspectorate Lab using fire assay and gravimetric finish. Strict sampling and QA-QC protocol were followed to ensure the best practices in sampling and analysis of the drill samples. Duplicates, standards and blanks were inserted into the sampling stream at intervals of 25 samples.
The Company has engaged independent consulting firm Micon International Inc. of Toronto to provide an updated NI 43-101 Reserve and Resource Estimate which will incorporate assay results obtained from over 85,000 metres of drilling conducted from June 30, 2010 to July 31, 2011.
About Timmins Gold
Timmins Gold Corp. is a gold production and development company. In April 2010, Timmins Gold commenced commercial production at its wholly owned San Francisco gold mine in Sonora, Mexico. Timmins Gold has projected production at a rate of approximately 100,000 ounces of gold per year at a life of mine cash cost of approximately $489 per ounce. (Micon International Preliminary Feasibility Study, November 2010).
This press release was reviewed and prepared by Lawrence A. Dick, Ph.D., P.Geo, a director of the Company, who is recognized as a Qualified Person under the guidelines of National Instrument 43-101 and by Miguel Soto, P. Geo., a director and the COO of the Company. For further information go to the website at www.timminsgold.com.