Altius Minerals' Rambler cuts 34.4 ft of 3.20% Cu
2006-05-31 08:52 ET - News Release
Mr. Brian Dalton reports
ALTIUS MINERALS CORPORATION: NEW HIGH GRADE DRILL INTERCEPTS FROM THE RAMBLER PROJECT
Rambler Metals and Mining PLC, a company in which Altius Minerals Corp. holds a 30-per-cent interest, has provided significant drill results from its Rambler project in Baie Verte, Newfoundland and Labrador.
New high-grade drill intercepts from the Rambler project
Highlights
* RM-06-04d returns 34.4 feet at 3.20 per cent copper;
* RM-06-04e returns 24.6 feet at 4.17 per cent copper plus 4.50 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 57.1 feet at 3.18 per cent copper; and
* RM-06-03b returns 21.0 feet at 3.32 per cent copper and 36.1 feet at 2.42 per cent copper.
Rambler Metals and Mining PLC is pleased to report additional strong results from its phase II drilling program at the Rambler project in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. The current drilling is designed to delineate the Ming footwall zone (MFZ) at approximately 50-metre centres is using directional drilling techniques to complete offset holes from the previously drilled, widely spaced surface drill holes. Significantly, the results reported here are from a part of the MFZ that occurs in close proximity to existing underground mining infrastructure related to historic mining of the overlying Ming massive sulphide (MMS) deposit.
"The MFZ is emerging as a very robust zone of mineralization and the delineation drilling is quickly outlining a significant core volume of very good grade copper mineralization. The excellent intersection of thick copper and gold mineralization on the MMS is also exciting as it is located less than 100 metres beyond the limit of historic mining of this deposit," commented Rambler chairman Harry Dobson. "We look forward to additional delineation drill results as well as to starting the program of dewatering and underground rehabilitation."
Two drill rigs are currently operating on the property from set-ups on holes RM-04-03 and RM-04-04, which are separated by approximately 225 metres. The hole location map can be viewed at Rambler's website. The results from the offset holes are summarized below. Zones in each hole are listed consecutively and the intervening intervals represent sections of later intrusive rocks that are unmineralized or sections of mineralization grading less than 1 per cent copper.
Drill From To Length Length Cu Au
hole (metres) (metres) (metres) (feet) (%) (ppb) Zone
RM06-04d 889.85 894.80 4.95 16.20 2.17 2657 MMS
RM06-04d 1069.00 1072.00 3.00 9.84 1.74 210 MFZ
RM06-04d 1074.00 1084.50 10.50 34.44 3.20 338 MFZ
RM06-04d 1116.50 1122.50 6.00 19.68 1.94 88 MFZ
RM06-04d 1146.30 1150.80 4.50 14.76 2.13 212 MFZ
RM06-04e 885.50 897.50 12.00 39.34 3.03 3343 MMS
including 888.50 896.00 7.50 24.59 4.17 4503 MMS
RM06-04e 1094.90 1106.90 12.00 39.36 2.06 214 MFZ
RM06-04e 1110.10 1115.80 5.70 18.70 1.60 36 MFZ
RM06-04e 1118.00 1135.40 17.40 57.07 3.18 178 MFZ
RM06-03b 891.70 898.10 6.40 21.00 3.32 153 MFZ
RM06-03b 903.80 914.80 11.00 36.10 2.42 115 MFZ
Holes 4f and 3c are currently in progress. The permitting process for a planned dewatering and underground rehabilitation program that will facilitate additional underground drilling programs is also progressing well.
J. Geoffrey Thurlow, PhD, PGeo, is the qualified person responsible for technical content of this release. Drill intercepts quoted are core lengths; true widths are estimated to be 90 per cent to 95 per cent of the intersected core lengths. National Instrument 43-101 compliance information regarding sampling and analytical protocols pertaining to the Rambler project can be accessed via the company's website.
Exploration on the Rambler property is being conducted by Altius Resources Inc. under a service agreement with Rambler Metals and Mining PLC. All drill holes have produced 47.6-millimetre-diameter (1.875-inch) NQ diamond drill core. The drill core is descriptively logged on site, aligned, marked for sampling and then split in half, longitudinally, using a diamond saw blade. One-half of the core is preserved in core boxes for future reference. The samples comprising the other half of the core are bagged, sealed and delivered directly to the analytical laboratory by Altius personnel. Base metal-bearing samples are nominally one metre to 1.8 metres (3.28 to 5.90 feet) in length except where specific geologic parameters require that a smaller interval be sampled. Samples with suspected precious metal content are nominally one metre or less, depending on the geological circumstances.
The sawed samples are delivered directly to Eastern Analytical Ltd. in Springdale, Nfld., by Altius personnel where they are dried, crushed and pulped. Samples are crushed to approximately minus 10 mesh and split using a riffle splitter to approximately 300 grams. The sample split is pulverized using a ring mill to approximately 98 per cent minus 150 mesh. In addition to regular samples, blank samples and quarter-split samples are also submitted for crushing/pulping.
The sample pulps are picked up directly at Eastern Analytical by Altius personnel and returned to the project site at which point analytical standard samples and duplicate samples from previous batches are inserted into the sample stream. All sample rejects are also retrieved from Eastern Analytical by Altius personnel and securely stored by Altius.
The sample pulps are shipped by courier to Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Ancaster, Ont., for analysis. A typical analysis consists of three, industry-standard components:
1. an aqua regia digestion followed by a 34-element ICP analysis;
2. a gold assay consisting of a one-assay-ton fire assay with finish by atomic absorption; and
3. an assay of specific base metals by aqua regia digestion followed by atomic absorption spectroscopy for those elements which exceed the limits of ICP accuracy.
Check assays for the Rambler project are being conducted by ALS Chemex, using industry-standard techniques posted on its website. Check assays are also routinely performed at Eastern Analytical. The drill program and sampling protocol are being supervised by Mr. Thurlow, PhD, PGeo, of VMS Consultants Inc. and a director of Altius; a qualified person as defined under the Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101.
