VANCOUVER, June 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - MAX Resource Corp. (TSX.V: MXR; OTCBB: MXROF; Frankfurt: M1D) has been advised by Kokanee Minerals Ltd. that it will not be proceeding with its option on MAX's wholly-owned Diamond Peak gold/zinc property in Eureka County Nevada and has returned the property to MAX in order to pursue exploration opportunities in Africa. MAX will receive all geologic and geophysical data prepared by Kokanee as well as an additional 96 claims that have been acquired around the initial 38 claims. MAX intends to review all available data and conduct surface exploration and sampling in preparation for drilling in the third quarter of 2010.
The Diamond Peak Property is located at the southern end of the prolific Carlin Trend of Nevada, which contains numerous gold deposits. The property now comprises 134 claims located 32 miles north of the town or Eureka, Nevada and the Archimedes gold deposit owned by Barrick Gold Corporation. Strong surface mineralization occurs in a 2 mile long band of intensely clay altered rocks, 200 to 300 feet wide, on the hanging wall side of a major north striking normal fault, called the West Fault.
Kokanee completed only two drill holes at Diamond Peak and has elected not to make the annual option payment of US$50,000 now due to MAX. Kokanee has agreed to deliver to MAX all geological reports and data on the property, which includes a "3-d" Induced Polarization ("IP") survey that utilized computer data interpretation to provide a comprehensive model which enabled the IP survey to not only measure along the line of survey but between the lines. A total of 4 kilometres of strike length was surveyed and the data was interpreted to find further targets on the property. There were two clearly noticeable features of interest found in the inverted resistivity and chargeability models along with two other anomalous features within the surveyed area. The two features of immediate interest were a north striking linear fault-like structure and a circular intrusive-like feature in the southern portion of the geophysical grid. To further evaluate these features, the geochemical grid will be extended to the east and south, and further work will be done to expand the anomalous zones, especially to the east and north and where anomalous silver and zinc values occur in soils.
During previous historic work done by MK Gold in 1999 they encountered gold and base metal values that included:
- 5 feet of 0.067 opt (2.08 grams) Au in hole DV 99-4 and 5 feet of
0.062 opt (1.93 grams) Au in hole DV 99-5;
- 11.6 % Zinc over 5 feet within 60 feet of surface along the West
Fault in the Chainman formation in hole DV 99-15; and
- 106 g/t silver in outcrop (3.40 ounces per ton) which was never
followed up.
Max plans to explore the property using the original exploration program recommended to Kokanee. MAX will follow up on the 11% zinc zone identified by MK Gold only 60 feet from surface. The second drill area will explore a zone of mineralization which contains anomalous silver, zinc and lead. Another primary target is the outcrop that assayed 3.40 opt silver, which has potential as a Contact Replacement Deposit ("CRD"). Gold targets are extensive and will be defined further before drilling. Surface geochemistry is being expanded to the east of the claim block and will cover the areas of high geochemistry in gold, silver and zinc reported by MK Gold.
Stuart Rogers, the President of MAX, states "We have identified at least three areas of interest for gold, zinc and silver at Diamond Peak, none of which were tested by Kokanee during their recent two hole drill program. We acquired the Diamond Peak property in 2006 and only optioned it to Kokanee due to our lack of working capital at the time and inability to fund extensive exploration on our own. With cash on hand now in excess of $2.5 Million and gold currently trading in excess of $1,200 per ounce, we are extremely pleased to be re-acquiring a 100% interest in such an attractive exploration project on the Carlin Trend. We will be conducting an aggressive exploration program at Diamond Peak during the balance of 2010, which we will outline in future news release."
