VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Sep 14, 2011 (Marketwire via COMTEX News Network) --
Strategic Metals Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:SMD) ("Strategic" or the "Company") is pleased to provide the following update of exploration activities at its wholly owned Midas Touch Project located in east-central Yukon.
Regional Summary
The Midas Touch Project is located within the Rackla Gold District, where ATAC Resources Ltd. has discovered Carlin-type gold mineralization at its Osiris prospect. Strategic is exploring a very large land package immediately south (up-section) of the Osiris prospect. Strategic's claims lie within a belt of carbonate-bearing off-shelf stratigraphy that is more than 225 km long and up to 20 km wide.
Highlights
-- Initial results from more than 12,500 soil and silt geochemical samples
have returned sizeable pathfinder +/- gold geochemical anomalies in a
number of areas;
-- Preliminary prospecting has followed up only a few of the many
geochemical anomalies and has already discovered three new zones of
strong orpiment/realgar mineralization (see photos at the Company's
website at www.strategicmetalsltd.com);
-- Expansion of the properties to encompass more than 980 sq km of
prospective stratigraphy for Carlin-style mineralization;
-- Results to date from drilling at the Crag and newly-discovered Crag East
areas are consistent with the upper portions of sizeable Carlin-style
systems, with further drilling required to depth;
-- Initial drilling at the Rod prospect has returned silver-lead-zinc
mineralization grading 101.91 g/t silver, 4.76% lead and 4.44% zinc over
8.31m.
Crag Property
At the Crag Property, located 40 km west of ATAC's Osiris discovery, assay results have been received for 11 holes (2,836 m) completed earlier this summer. These holes tested a 400 m strike length of the Trent Zone to a maximum depth of 230 m below surface (see maps at www.strategicmetalsltd.com).
The Trent Zone was previously drilled as a lead-zinc prospect in the 1970s. Drill hole logs from the historical drilling noted the presence of realgar and orpiment, arsenic sulphide minerals that are often associated with Carlin-style gold deposits and are key indicator minerals at ATAC's Osiris discovery.
Drilling by Strategic in 2011 confirmed the presence of realgar and orpiment on fractures throughout a 200 m thick section of brecciated dolomite, with increasing abundance immediately below an argillite interbed. Analyses of drill core returned many elevated to very high values for pathfinder elements such as mercury (2 to greater than 100 ppm), thallium (2 to 60.9 ppm), arsenic (1,000 to 15,300 ppm) and antimony (50 to 3,010 ppm), with occasional concentrations of zinc (1 to 33%), lead (1 to 5.8%) and silver (20 to 153 g/t). The highest gold value obtained to date - 1.33 g/t gold across 3.19 m - came from hole C11-05, the deepest hole to date into the prospective stratigraphy.
Preliminary results confirm that the Crag hydrothermal system is gold-bearing and large in extent. The pathfinder element signatures are consistent with the upper portions of a Carlin system. Topography in the area of interest is subdued and bedrock exposures are rare, which limits the effectiveness of surface exploration techniques. The Company has mobilized a drill back to the Crag property to complete additional holes that will target stronger gold mineralization at depth. The Company anticipates that a substantial follow-up drill program will be completed next year, utilizing larger capacity drill rigs capable of testing the Crag hydrothermal system further to depth.
Rod Property
At the Rod property, located 35 km west of Crag, 12 drill holes (2213 m) have been completed. Assays have only been received for the first two holes and the upper part of the third hole. Sulphide-rich veinlets and laminations intersected in drill hole R11-03 averaged 101.91 g/t silver, 4.76% lead and 4.44% zinc over 8.31m.
The first ten holes at the Rod property tested recessive fracture zones located within a previously-defined 1500 by 500 m zone of anomalous gold soil results, accompanied by very high silver, antimony, arsenic, mercury and lead values. The last two holes were collared 3 to 5 km to the west, within extensions to the multielement geochemical anomaly outlined through 2011 sampling. Results for the remaining Rod drill holes are pending.
Reconnaissance Geochemistry and New Orpiment-Realgar Discoveries
Reconnaissance geochemical surveys at the Midas Touch Project in summer 2011 collected more than 12,500 soil and silt samples. Preliminary results have outlined several sizeable pathfinder geochemical anomalies, some with gold values in the 30 to 100 ppb range. Geochemical results from approximately 40% of the soil and sediment samples are pending.
Preliminary prospecting at the Midas Touch Project has only evaluated a few of the geochemical anomalies but has already been very successful, having discovered three new zones of strong orpiment/realgar mineralization. At one of the new zones ("Crag East"), mineralized boulders have been collected for a distance of 600 m along strike. Hand trenches have exposed a strongly clay altered structure, several metres in width. The realgar and orpiment occurs in a variety of forms including fracture filling, pervasive disseminations and massive pods. A drill was mobilized to this zone in early August and completed four widely spaced holes (1,015 m). Assays from a 37.57 m interval in the first drill hole at the Crag East yielded extremely high levels for pathfinder elements averaging 33.88 ppm thallium, 7898 ppm arsenic and more than 45.24 ppm mercury (exact mercury values could not be calculated as some samples exceeded the analytical detection limit). While gold values in this intercept were low, the thick section of very high pathfinder element values and strong clay alteration suggest that this showing is located on a major structure near the top, or on the periphery, of a Carlin-style system. Assay results from the remaining three holes completed at Crag East are pending.
Two diamond drill holes (384 m) were also completed to test beneath a strong arsenic anomaly (greater than 10,000 ppm) associated with a large gossanous seep, located about 4.5 km east-northeast of Crag East. No realgar or orpiment has been identified in either of these holes but both contain sections of strongly silicified limestone and one of the holes cut pyrite-rich intervals. Assays for both holes are pending.