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Firestone cuts 33 m grading 22% zinc at Torlon Hill

2006-03-29 10:13 ET - News Release

Ms. Lori Walton reports

FIRESTONE VENTURES INTERSECTS 33 METRES GRADING 22% ZINC AT TORLON HILL

Firestone Ventures Inc. has released the results from the first six drill holes at the company's Torlon Hill zinc project in Western Guatemala. The road-accessible Torlon Hill project is located 12 kilometres northwest of the city of Huehuetenango, situated on the Pan-American Highway. The objective of the 20-hole, 1,500-metre drill program is to evaluate the areas of (oxide) zinc mineralization toward preparation of a National Instrument 43-101 resource estimate.

Highlights from the drill results include:


hole TH06-1 intersected 28.8 metres of 11.2 per cent zinc, including a 15.7-metre interval of 17.4 per cent zinc;
hole TH06-2 intersected 33 metres of 22 per cent zinc, including a 17.1-metre interval of 31.9 per cent zinc; and
hole TH06-3 intersected three zones of mineralization, including 16.1 metres of 8.9 per cent zinc, 5.9 metres of 4.7 per cent zinc and 11.4 metres of 6.9 per cent zinc.

All six holes intersected the mineralized zone, which lies above a well-defined serpentinite basement. Of 245 samples analyzed, 14 samples returned greater than 30 per cent zinc, with up to 43 per cent zinc. To date, 16 holes have been completed, at 15-metre to 40-metre spacing. A map showing drill hole locations is available on the company website. A table listing mineralized intervals from all six holes is attached.

"These first six holes were drilled at close spacing in an area of high-grade zinc mineralization locally exceeding 40 per cent zinc exposed on surface," says Lori Walton, president of Firestone Ventures. "It was our intention to test the continuity of mineralization exposed at the surface and these holes have done so spectacularly."

According to Consultants Watts, Griffis and McOuat Ltd. (WGM), the high zinc grades discovered at Torlon Hill are consistent with high grades also found in the Angouran mine in Iran, where WGM has been working since 2001. Angouran is a deposit of about 25 million tonnes, grading approximately 25 per cent zinc and 1 to 2 per cent lead. Both Angouran and Torlon Hill are carbonate-hosted deposits and have a strong structural control. This is in contrast with the Jabali Mississippi Valley oxide-zinc deposit in Yemen where WGM's 1992 drilling resulted in a resource of about 10 million tonnes grading 10 per cent zinc and 1.5 per cent lead. Torlon's structural control also differs somewhat from the Skorpion mine, Namibia, which is a 21-million-tonne zinc-oxide deposit grading 11 per cent zinc. WGM believes that the strong structural element at Torlon is an essential element in developing these unusually high grades.

At Torlon Hill, the high-grade mineralization, containing in excess of 10 per cent zinc and locally 30 to 43 per cent zinc, occurs within a pervasively mineralized tectonic crush zone containing less than 10 per cent zinc. Zinc mineralization is exposed for over 700 metres along the Santa Rosa corridor. The spring, 2006, drill program is testing the central portion (the Bulge) covering a 200-metre-by-100-metre area. The mineralized areas are locally accessed through narrow workings excavated by local miners. There is excellent potential for expansion of the high-grade zinc mineralization to the north and south of the area being drilled. In addition, there are indications of high-grade zinc mineralization on the far west side of Torlon Hill.

Laboratory analysis and quality control

Sample preparation was described in Stockwatch on March 2, 2006. Following preparation, 200 to 250 grams of pulverized sample is shipped by air courier directly to ALS Chemex, North Vancouver, B.C., for analysis.

ALS Chemex is an ISO-9002-registered laboratory. Samples are subject to a four-acid digestion and are analyzed for 27 elements by ICP-AES. Zinc and lead analyses over the limits are further analyzed by atomic-absorption methods. The upper limit for zinc is 30 per cent. Samples which contain in excess of 30 per cent zinc are reanalyzed using titration. This multistage analytical procedure, while more costly, ensures that an appropriate laboratory method is used to produce reliable data at each lead or zinc concentration level. It also offers repeat analyses to protect against gross analytical error. Industrial standards are not being inserted by Firestone at this time. ALS Chemex and Firestone are both routinely inserting blank samples for quality control purposes. Selected coarse rejects from high-grade samples will be reanalyzed at a later date by another laboratory as part of the compositing process to produce material for metallurgical testing.

Firestone Ventures has an option to purchase a 100-per-cent interest in the 16-hectare Torlon Hill property from the owners, and has also acquired the surrounding 134-hectare Orbita exploration concession.

This news release has been reviewed and approved by John Cleary, CPG, RG, qualified person for the Torlon Hill project, and by Al Workilometresan, vice-president of WGM. For a fact sheet on the Torlon Hill project, photos, a National Instrument 43-101 technical report and a new FAQ sheet on zinc, please visit the company wesbite.

 
  
     TORLON HILL MINERALIZED INTERVALS 
         HOLES TH06-1 TO TH06-6 
        (all holes are vertical) 
  
 Hole  Depth  From    To   Int.   Zn   Pb 
 TH06-    m     m      m    m      %    % 
  
 1      33.0   0.0  28.8  28.8  11.2  1.9 
 incl.         0.0  15.7  15.7  17.4 
  
 2      57.9   0.0  33.0  33.0  22.0  1.4 
 incl.         0.0  17.1  17.1  31.9  1.8 
  
 3      45.5   0.0  16.1  16.1   8.9  2.7 
              24.1  30.0   5.9   4.7 
              33.5  45.1  11.4   6.9  2.5 
  
 4      80.8   7.1  11.1   4.0   3.8  4.7 
              33.4  51.2  18.0   4.6  0.9 
              62.1  75.2  10.2   3.0  1.5 
  
 5      79.2   1.5  41.0  39.5   5.7  2.2 
                    45.0  53.0   8.0  2.3 
  
 6      73.2  38.1  41.1   3.0   3.9  2.7 
              44.2  48.8   4.6   2.4  0.5 
              65.5  68.0   2.5   3.0  1.0 
  
 

Note: Ag values are generally less than 10 grams per tonne, but range up to 68.1 grams per tonne.