VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - March 1, 2012) - Sanatana Resources Inc. ("Sanatana" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:STA) is pleased to provide assay results from two more holes (SR-11-04 and SR-11-05), supplementing its news release of February 9, 2012, which reported on the results of the first three holes of the nine-hole drill program.
Hole SR-11-04 was designed to test the primary IP target on line 14 in the central northern area of claim 3011820. Hole SR-11-05 was drilled on line 15 approximately 150 metres south along the line from Hole SR-11-03 (previously reported) to test the interpreted up-dip occurrence of mineralization observed towards the end of Hole SR-11-03 at greater depth.
Gold mineralized downhole intervals are provided in Table 1 using a 0.3 g/t Au lower cut-off and details of collar locations can be seen in Table 2 below.
Based on the observations and assay results from the five drillholes reported on to date, gold mineralization is present as a lower grade disseminated zone hosted in an intensely silicified breccia. Within and immediately peripheral to these lower grade zones, high grade gold occurs variously associated with quartz veins, structures, and areas of the most intense alteration.
Quartz lode vein gold has been mined in the region in the past at operations such as Young-Shannon 2 km northeast of the mineral claim. The wider alteration system exhibits textures and mineralogy similar to that described by Trelawney Mining and Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE:TRR) ("Trelawney") at the Cote Lake deposit on Trelawney's adjacent property.
Based on assay results from these first five drillholes, the Company has defined a zone of gold mineralization with a lateral extent up to 250 metres wide in the north-south direction. Along strike the mineralization extends from the Trewlawney claim boundary in the east, to the shores of Clam Lake in the west, a length of 200 metres and is open in both directions. The drilling has shown the mineralization extending to a vertical depth of approximately 400 metres and this also remains open at depth. The most probable conclusion is that this zone of gold mineralization is an extension of the Cote Lake gold deposit, based both on our results and observations of the drill core, and the fact Trelawney drill hole E11-82 has now been included in the Cote Lake deposit NI 43-101 resource estimate update (Trelawney News Release February 24, 2011 and website updates since) located on the adjacent property only 250 metres due east of the boundary of the Watershed mineral claim 3011820.
| Table 1: Gold Assay Results |
| |
| Hole | From | To | Length | Uncut Au | Cut Au |
| | m | m | m | g/t | g/t |
| SR-11-04 | 37.5 | 38.6 | 1.1 | 2.31 | |
| SR-11-04 | 91.0 | 92.0 | 1.0 | 0.37 | |
| SR-11-04 | 114.5 | 129.5 | 15.0 | 0.42 | |
| SR-11-04 | 153.0 | 203.0 | 50.0 | 1.33 | 1.23 |
| Including | | | | | |
| SR-11-04 | 156.0 | 160.0 | 4.0 | 14.2 | 13.0 |
| SR-11-04 | 252.5 | 273.0 | 20.5 | 0.87 | |
| Including | | | | | |
| SR-11-04 | 252.5 | 253.5 | 1.0 | 16.7 | |
| SR-11-04 | 390.0 | 393.0 | 3.0 | 0.58 | |
| SR-11-04 | 400.0 | 401.0 | 1.0 | 0.37 | |
| SR-11-04 | 408.0 | 409.0 | 1.0 | 1.10 | |
| SR-11-04 | 451.0 | 454.9 | 3.9 | 16.2 | 10.4 |
| SR-11-04 | 498.0 | 499.0 | 1.0 | 1.83 | |
| | | | | | |
| SR-11-05 | 21.0 | 23.0 | 2.0 | 0.62 | |
| SR-11-05 | 166.0 | 225.0 | 59.0 | 0.30 | |
| SR-11-05 | 239.0 | 240.0 | 1.0 | 0.36 | |
| SR-11-05 | 241.0 | 242.0 | 1.0 | 0.30 | |
| SR-11-05 | 259.0 | 274.0 | 15.0 | 0.48 | |
| SR-11-05 | 321.0 | 359.0 | 38.0 | 0.48 | |
| | |
| Notes: | |
| 1. | True widths of intersections are unknown at this time. |
| 2. | Mineralized intervals are calculated using the weighted Au average based on length of sample, a lower cut-off of 0.3 g/t Au and an upper cut of 25.0 g/t Au, including low grade zones no greater than 20 metres in length. |
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| Table 2: Drill Collar Locations and Orientation |
| |
| Hole | Line | East | North | Projection | Dip | Azimuth | Depth |
| SR-11-01 | L16 | 428,665 | 5,266,760 | UTM Zone 17 | -60° | 160° | 575m |
| SR-11-02 | L16 | 428,665 | 5,266,760 | UTM Zone 17 | -70° | 160° | 674m |
| SR-11-03 | L15 | 428,565 | 5,266,750 | UTM Zone 17 | -60° | 160° | 491m |
| SR-11-04 | L14 | 428,479 | 5,266,762 | UTM Zone 17 | -60° | 160° | 560m |
| SR-11-05 | L15 | 428,626 | 5,266,615 | UTM Zone 17 | -60° | 160° | 401m |
| SR-12-01 | L13 | 428,465 | 5,266,602 | UTM Zone 17 | -60° | 160° | 392m |
| SR-12-02 | L14 | 428,522 | 5,266,608 | UTM Zone 17 | -60° | 160° | 401m |
| SR-12-03 | L16 | 428,720 | 5,266,615 | UTM Zone 17 | -60° | 160° | 401m |
| SR-12-04 | L15 | 428,585 | 5,266,705 | UTM Zone 17 | -60° | 160° | 300m |
Peter Miles, Chief Executive Officer stated, "We are encouraged by these results. We have now intersected mineralization in all five drill holes for which we have received assay results. Based on these results and information publically available on the Trelawney website and on SEDAR, we believe that we have either encountered the western-most extension of Trelawney's Cote Lake Deposit or a separate mineralized zone. If we encountered the western-most extension of the Cote Lake Deposit these results potentially expand the known length of the Cote Lake Deposit approximately 500 metres to the west of Trelawney's Hole E11-82."
Future Plans
Drilling on mineral claim 3011820 is now complete and the Company will report assays results on the remaining four holes as soon as they are received. Sanatana initially focused its work program on coincident geophysical and geochemical anomalies within mineral claim 3011820 due to its proximity to the Cote Lake deposit. Sanatana will now focus its exploration efforts on the balance of the claims that comprise the Watershed project prioritizing areas where IP anomalies are coincident with anomalous surface samples. Drilling will now target a significant IP anomaly, located approximately 1,500 metres west of mineral claim 3011820, where, late last year, a 25.1 g/t Au grab sample was collected from the Company's outcrop stripping program. The Company has recently signed a 5,000-metre drilling contract and is in the process of mobilizing the drill to the new target.
About the Watershed Property
Sanatana entered into the option and joint venture agreement for the Watershed Property with Augen Gold Corp. (as then was) on February 14, 2011 (the "Option and JV Agreement"). Augen Gold Corp. was subsequently acquired by Trelawney and renamed Trelawney Augen Acquisition Corp. ("TAAC"). The mineral claims comprising the Watershed Property are located within the Townships of Yeo, Chester, Neville and Benneweis in Ontario and total approximately 19,006 acres (the "Mineral Claims"). As summarized in the Company's news release of February 16, 2011, Sanatana has the option to earn a 50% undivided interest in the Claims (the "50% Interest") by paying to TAAC (formerly Augen Gold Corp.): (i) $150,000 in cash, (ii) issuing 5,000,000 common shares over a two year period and (iii) incurring $5,000,000 in exploration expenditures over a three year period. Sanatana has the right to accelerate the above payments and expects to do so by the December 31, 2012. To date, Sanatana has (i) paid TAAC $150,000 in cash, (ii) issued TAAC 2,000,000 common shares and (iii) has incurred $2,300,000 in work costs as defined in the Option and JV Agreement.
Pursuant to the terms of the Option and JV Agreement, if Santana earns the 50% Interest in accordance with the provisions set forth above, it will have the right to earn a further 1% interest in the Mineral Claims for a total undivided interest of 51% by completing and delivering to TAAC a pre-feasibility study on or before March 23, 2016. The parties will enter into a joint venture agreement for the Mineral Claims in accordance with the terms of the Option and JV Agreement upon the earlier of the date that (i) Sanatana vested the 50% Interest but has elected by notice to TAAC not to proceed to earn the 51% Interest and (ii) Sanatana earned the 51% Interest.
About the Sampling
Samples were collected from split NQ2 drill core at a nominal 1 metre interval breaking at major geological boundaries such that no sample interval was less than 0.5 metres or greater than 1.5 metres. The samples were submitted to AGAT Laboratories (AGAT), Sudbury, ON for drying, crushing and pulverization in preparation for analysis of gold by Fire Assay and a suite of trace elements by ICP methods at the Mississauga ON facility. Gold assay results measuring over 10 g/t are re-analyzed by Fire Assay using a gravimetric finish.
AGAT is accredited by the Standards Council of Canada, the Canadian Association for Laboratory Accreditation and QMI-SAI Global and is an ISO 9001 and 17025 certified analytical laboratory.
A rigorous QA/QC program was implemented as part of the sampling procedures throughout the drill program. Duplicate, standard and blank samples were inserted into the sample stream prior to being sent to the laboratory and the adherence of results to strict parameters was monitored.
Now that a significant number of QA/QC samples have been submitted and assay results received, review of the duplicate sample data has revealed significant variation in gold values above 0.1 g/t. This is indicative of coarse gold having an effect on collecting a representative aliquot of the crushed and pulverized sample. To gain a representative assay result, samples that return greater than 0.1 g/t Au will be re-submitted for "Pulp Metallic" analysis. This method involves pulverizing the entire coarse residue of the original sample down to 95% passing through the 75-micron screen. The entire plus size fraction is then analyzed by Fire Assay with a gravimetric finish and two aliquots of the minus sized fraction are analyzed by Fire Assay - ICP/MS finish. The resultant gold value is the weighted average of all three sub-samples. The company will be re-submitting the coarse residues from all previously received drill sample assay results with gold greater than 0.1 g/t to obtain more accurate gold values of mineralized drillhole intervals.
About the Company
Sanatana Resources Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company with interests in Ontario, Yukon and the NWT. Sanatana has entered into an option and joint venture agreement with Trelawney Augen Acquisition Corp. (formerly Augen Gold Corp.) that grants Sanatana an option to acquire up to 51% of the Watershed property. With an experienced management team and board of directors, the Company has the ability required to identify, develop and fund economic mineral properties. Sanatana is based in Vancouver and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSX VENTURE:STA).
The technical portions of this news release were reviewed and approved by Troy Gill, Exploration Manager for the Company, a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
SANATANA RESOURCES INC.
Peter Miles, President and Chief Executive Officer
Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information
Some of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "intends", "is expected", "potential", "suggests" or variations of such words or phrases, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements and information are not historical facts and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties beyond Sanatana's control. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this news release. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking statements, except as may be required by law.
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