GWMGFNEWS ON RED WINE PROPERTY
GREAT WESTERN MINERALS GROUP RELEASES RED WINE PROPERTY EXPLORATION RESULTS
March 7, 2011 - Saskatoon, Canada: Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. ("GWMG" or the "Company", TSX:V – GWG) announces exploration results from the first phase drill program at the Red Wine property located in Labrador, Canada.
The exploration program was funded by Great Western Minerals Group as part of its option agreement whereby GWMG can earn a 50% working interest in the Red Wine property (See GWMG media release of April 12, 2010: Alterra Resources Inc. and Great West Minerals Group to Explore Labrador Rare Earth Property).
Highlights of the drill program were as follows:
• Total Rare Earth Elements (“TREE’) / Total Rare Earth Oxides (“TREO”) values of 1.59%/1.92% over 4 metres; 1.12%/1.36% over 5.6 metres; 1.39%/1.68% over 4.3 metres;
• Consistent Heavy Rare Earth Elements (“HREE”) / Heavy Rare Earth Oxides (“HREO”) enrichment in all samples of between 35% and 40%;
• Consistent Dysprosium (“Dy”) / Dy2O3 enrichment in all samples of between 3% and 4% by proportion;
• Completed 1,906 meter NQ drilling program on the Red Wine Rare Earth Element (“REE”) property;
• Additional drill holes planned for 2011; and
• Three REE metallurgical/mineralogical samples have been collected.
Cabernet Showing
Five exploration holes (-45° angle) were drilled at the Cabernet REE - Zirconium (“Zr”) –Yttrium (Y”) showing. Two types of mineralization were observed in drill core and analytical results for some mineralized core intervals are listed in the table that follows. Overall, the results at Cabernet were considered to be better than those at Pinot Rose´.
Type 1 mineralization comprises disseminated eudialyte and eudialyte pods and veins in syenitic and pyroxenitic gneisses.
Type 2 mineralization is characterized by an absence of eudialyte, and the mineralization present comprises disseminated, unidentified REE minerals in amphibole-pyroxene-nepheline gneiss.
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Notes:
TREE/TREO include all the lanthanides, Lanthanum (La”) through Lutetium (“LU”) plus Y.
Light Rare Earth Elements (“LREE”) / Light Rare Earth Oxides (“LREO”) include the lanthanides La through Samarium (“Sm”).
HREE/HREO include the lanthanides Europium (“Eu”) through Lu plus Y.
Pinot Rose´ Showing
An additional five exploration holes (-45° angle) were drilled at the Pinot Rose´ REE-Zr-Y showing, where eudialyte-bearing veins and pods (mineralization type 1) occur at surface in syenitic gneisses. Similar small veins and pods were observed at depth in association with disseminated eudialyte mineralization, which occurs in zones from 6.2 to 13.4 metres thick. The best results yielded 154 ppm Dy, 6061 ppm Zr, 810 ppm Y and 2669 ppm TREE (0.35% Y+TREE) over 11.8 metres of disseminated mineralization with some small eudialyte-enriched veins.
Three metallurgical samples (each approximately 20 kilograms from channel sampling) have been collected and sent to Xstrata for metallurgical/mineralogical studies. Two samples have been collected from the Cabernet showing, one being from eudialyte-bearing mineralization (Type 1) and the second from eudialyte-absent mineralization (Type 2). The third sample was collected from eudialyte-bearing mineralization (Type 1) at the Malbec showing, which is 1 kilometer northwest of the Cabernet showing.
Follow-up drilling is planned in 2011 for the Cabernet Showing to outline the extent of the Type 2 Dy-enriched mineralization. Exploration drilling is also planned for the nearby Malbec showing. Additional channel sampling, prospecting and mapping is planned for the Malbec, Zinfandel, Shiraz and Merlot showings and elsewhere on the Company's Red Wine property.
Core samples were split for assay samples, logged and transported by Search Minerals Inc. personnel to the Goose Bay sample preparation facility of Activation Laboratories Ltd. Samples were prepared for assay and then transported to the Activation Laboratories Ltd. analytical facility in Ancaster, Ontario for assay.
Jim Engdahl, President and Chief Executive Officer of GWMG stated, “We are extremely pleased with this initial drill program on the Red Wine property. In addition to encouraging grades over significant widths, both the Type 1 and Type 2 mineralization are enriched in Dysprosium, over 3% proportionately in all zones, with consistent total heavy rare earth proportions of 35% to 40%. As a manufacturer of permanent magnet alloys, GWMG prioritizes projects with the potential to produce Dysprosium as Neodymium-Iron-Boron (“NdFeB”) magnets require additions of Dysprosium for applications in motors and hybrid vehicles that are exposed to elevated temperatures. Dysprosium shortages are expected, according to our projections at GWMG, unless additional sources are discovered. Hence the Red Wine project results are very encouraging to GWMG.”
Jim Engdahl
President and CEO
John Pearson, MSc, PGeo, Vice-President Exploration for GWMG, is the qualified person responsible for reviewing the contents of this news release.
Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. is an integrated Rare Earths processor. Its specialty alloys are used in the battery, magnet and aerospace industries. Produced at the Company's wholly owned subsidiaries Less Common Metals Limited in Birkenhead, U.K. and Great Western Technologies Inc. in Troy, Michigan, these alloys contain aluminium, nickel, cobalt and Rare Earth Elements. As part of the Company's vertical integration strategy, GWMG has signed an Off-take Agreement for 100% of the Rare Earth Elements produced at the former producing Steenkampskraal mine in South Africa and holds 92.6% ownership in Rare Earth Extraction Co. Limited, the owner of the Steenkampskraal mine. In addition to a planned exploration program at Steenkampskraal, GWMG also holds interests in seven Rare Earth exploration and development properties in North America.
For further information, please contact Dwight Percy, Manager of Investor Relations at (306) 659-4500. Email inquiries should be made to info@gwmg.ca and the company website is located at www.gwmg.ca. Inquiries by direct mail should be addressed to Great Western Minerals Group Ltd., 219 Robin Crescent, Saskatoon, SK S7L 6M8.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Certain information set out in this News Release constitutes forward-looking information. Forward-looking statements (often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as “expect”, “may”, “could”, “anticipate” or “will” and similar expressions) may describe expectations, opinions or guidance that are not statements of fact and which may be based upon information provided by third parties. Forward-looking statements are based upon the opinions, expectations and estimates of management of GWMG as at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or outcomes to differ materially from those anticipated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Those factors include, but are not limited to, the results of the feasibility study, satisfaction of the conditions precedent with respect to GWMG’s offtake agreement, receipt of all required approvals (including those relating to the commencement of production at the Steenkampskraal mine) and risks, uncertainties and other factors that are beyond the control of GWMG, risks associated with the industry in general, commodity prices and exchange rate changes, operational risks associated with exploration, development and production operations, delays or changes in plans, risks associated with the uncertainty of reserve or resource estimates, health and safety risks and the uncertainty of estimates and projections of production, costs and expenses. In light of the risks and uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon forward-looking information. Although GWMG believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements set out in this press release or incorporated herein by reference are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. The forward-looking statements of GWMG contained in this News Release, or incorporated herein by reference, are expressly qualified, in their entirety, by this cautionary statement and the risk factors contained in GWMG's current annual information form available at www.sedar.com.