Wits Basin PR
Journey Enters Letter of Intent to Option Interest in Vianey Mine Consession
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2006 6:00 AM
- CCNMatthews
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Apr 19, 2006 (CCNMatthews via COMTEX) -- Journey Resources Corp. ("Journey" or the "Company")(TSX VENTURE:JNY) is pleased to announce that, subject to regulatory approval, it has entered into a letter of intent with Wits Basin Precious Minerals Inc. ("Wits Basin"), whereby Journey will grant Wits Basin an option to acquire a 50% interest in and to certain mining claims comprising the Vianey Mine Concession, located in Guerrero State, Mexico (the "Property").
The terms of the letter of intent include payment and expenditure requirements by Wits Basin. The payments to Journey include: the issuance of 100,000 common shares of Wits Basin on or before April 20, 2006; the issuance of 500,000 common shares on or before June 15, 2006; and an additional 500,000 common shares on or before January 15, 2007.
Wits Basin must also incur a minimum of US$500,000 in exploration expenditures on the Property by December 31, 2006 and an additional US$500,000 in exploration expenditures on or before September 30, 2007. Once Wits Basin has exercised its option and completed the payment and expenditure requirements, it will have been deemed to have earned a 50% interest in and to the Property, and a joint venture between Journey and Wits Basin will have been formed.
Journey, through its wholly owned Mexican subsidiary, Minerales Jazz S.A. de C.V., owns a 100% interest in the Property. Located 250 kilometres south of Mexico City, the Property covers 5,022 hectares (approximately 12,400 acres) and has a silver-lead-zinc mineralization production history. Less than 2 kilometres away is the town of Atzcala, with water, telephone and medical facilities, as well as a sufficient labor pool. There is existing electrical power at the mine and a major power line passes near the property.
Mineralization at the Vianey Mine includes veins, breccias, lens and mantos of silver, as well as poly-metallic mineralization with local concentrations of gold and copper. Most of the veins are localized along NW-SE trending structures and E-W structures; the lenses occur in fault zones and as sulfide concentrations with calcite, gypsum and quartz between some bedding planes. Two major breccia zones of significance have been identified in the limestone, which are associated with calcite-gypsum-quartz gangue minerals and significant amounts of associated silver.
A review of past calculations completed in 1997, by Hawley, P.J., 2000b, states a total in all categories of 345,020 metric tonnes grading 2.13% lead, 3.66% zinc and 269 grams of silver per tonne. (These data are historical resource estimates under National Instrument 43-101, which have not been sufficiently verified by a qualified person to be classified as current mineral resources. Journey is not treating these historical estimates as current resource estimates and therefore, these historical estimates should not be relied upon).
Recommendations in a technical report, prepared for the Company by Rodney A. Blakestad, J.D., C.P.G. in 2005, which are being followed up by the Company, include lithological and structural mapping and aerial photography or high-resolution satellite imagery interpretation of the area. The objective of the work will be to locate and orient approximately 3,230 metres of angle-hold diamond core drilling to test the grade, thickness and continuity of mineralization at depth and along strike.
Mr. Jack Bal, President of Journey, commented: "We are very excited to initiate the work program on the Vianey Silver Mine. With the price of silver having increased to over US$13, we feel this will have a very positive effect on the value of this project".
Journey Resources Corp. is a mineral-exploration resource company trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (Symbol : JNY). The Company is currently exploring three advanced exploration-stage projects; the Vianey Mine Silver Project, the Musgrove Gold Project and the Empire Mine Project. The Vianey Mine Project consists of concessions totaling 5,022 hectares in Guerrero State west of Mexico City, Mexico. The Musgrove Project is a prospect for a disseminated gold bulk-tonnage surface project similar to the Beartrack Mine, a nearby former gold producer. The Empire Mine Project is a poly-metallic skarn deposit containing copper, zinc, gold and silver ores, and is located in the Alder Creek Mining District in Custer County, Idaho.
