NWA News Release HALIFAX, Sept. 20, 2016 /CNW/ - Northwest Arm Capital Inc. ("NWA") (NWA-P.V), a capital pool company, is pleased to report the discovery by Altius Minerals Corporation ("Altius") of several new high grade gold occurrences in central Newfoundland on a property it refers to as the Wilding Lake Gold Project ("Project"). As announced on September 16, 2016, NWA has entered into an agreement with Altius Resources Inc. ("ARI"), a subsidiary of Altius, to obtain an option to earn a 100% interest in the Project, intended to be NWA's Qualifying Transaction. Following completion of the Qualifying Transaction, NWA intends to seek shareholder approval to change its name to Antler Gold.
The Project hosts high grade gold mineralization within shear-related orogenic style quartz veins and quartz stockworks underneath shallow overburden in an area that has not previously been systematically explored for gold. The Project, totaling 688 claims and 17,200 hectares, is located immediately northeast of and adjacent to Marathon Gold Corporation's Valentine Lake project. The Project covers more than 50 kilometres of strike length of the projected structure that is believed to control the regional gold mineralization such as at Valentine Lake and Wilding Lake.
The initial Wilding Lake discovery was made by local Newfoundland prospectors Brian Jones and Gary Rowsell along a recently constructed logging road, where metre-scale angular quartz vein float containing coarse visible gold returned a maximum value of 74.8 g/t gold in initial grab samples. Follow-up prospecting by ARI in 2016, subsequent to optioning the property from the prospectors in the past year, has located additional areas of similar gold bearing float and recent initial trenching has successfully exposed gold bearing quartz veins in bedrock at the Alder Zone of the Project.
Mineralization at the Alder Zone occurs as coarse, free gold in association with chalcopyrite, rare scheelite and gold-silver telluride, in association with tourmaline bearing quartz veins. One hundred and seven cut channel samples collected to date from outcrop in trenches have yielded uncut gold values ranging up to 13.9 g/t over 4.0 m, 5.4 g/t over 3.6 m, and 49.3 g/t over 4.6 m (including 279 g/t gold over 0.9 m). Several additional gold occurrences in outcrop and float have also been discovered by reconnaissance prospecting along trend up to 3.5 km away from the Alder Zone. Additionally, the newly discovered Birch Zone, located 450 metres south of Alder, has returned gold values of up to 36.4 g/t in grab samples and up to 5.5 g/t over 1.0 m in preliminary channel samples. Furthermore, two initial grab samples from a recently exposed pyrite-bearing shear zone occurrence named Jigger, located 15.2 km to the northeast, have returned results of 8.4 and 19.7 g/t gold in grab samples. Additional results and details on the exploration work completed by Altius are available in Altius' news release dated September 20, 2016.
Work to date on the Wilding Project remains early stage in nature and has only included prospecting near roads, limited soil sampling, trenching of the immediate Alder Zone, and a preliminary structural interpretation of the gold mineralization. Unaudited figures provided by Altius indicate expenditures to September 16, 2016 on the Project total $140,075.
A program for continued exploration will be agreed to by NWA and ARI and will commence as soon as possible. It is expected that the exploration program will involve more detailed trenching and channel sampling, systematic prospecting and mapping, soil sampling, structural analysis and other work required for design of an initial drilling program. ARI will be the operator of this work program. As well, an independent NI 43-101 report for the Project (the "Technical Report") is currently being prepared by ARI and is anticipated to be delivered by late September in support of NWA's Qualifying Transaction. Completion of NWA's Qualifying Transaction is subject to the satisfaction of a number of conditions, including approval by the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") on or before 35 days after acceptance of the Technical Report by the TSXV, completion of due diligence by NWA, completion of the planned private placement financing by NWA announced on September 16, 2016, ARI obtaining a 100% interest in the Project (subject to an underlying net smelter royalty of 1.5%) and NWA receiving from ARI an acceptable exploration program and budget for the Project.