Timberline Continues to Obtain Favorable Drill and Metallurgical Results at Lookout Mountain
Timberline Resources Corporation (TSX VENTURE: TBR)(NYSE Amex: TLR) ("Timberline" or the "Company") is pleased to report that the most recent results of the Company's drilling and metallurgical testing at Lookout Mountain continue to demonstrate significant mineralized intervals and excellent leach characteristics for the recovery of gold.
Hole number BHSE-037C returned a broad zone of gold mineralization that graded 0.032 opt (1.10 g/t) of gold over 167 feet (50.9 metres). Within that zone, the oxidized interval was 82 feet (25 metres) with a gold grade of 0.045 opt (1.54 g/t) and 85% gold recovery.
Seven surface core holes were drilled within the resource area to test gold recoveries. All material from the seven holes was submitted to Kappes,Cassiday & Associates (KCA) in Reno for qualitative metallurgical lab testing. As a precursor to full-scale column testing, the samples were analyzed using a NaCN shake test. The gold recovery from oxidized mineralization was excellent, ranging from 85.0% to 97.2%. These results serve as a preliminary indicator to the potential gold recovery, and the samples will be further tested by the column leach tests.
The Company also collected four bulk channel samples within the historic Lookout Mountain Pit for metallurgical testing. After a column leach time at KCA of only 14 days, the oxide samples have returned promising gold recoveries from 63% to 84%. Sulfide samples returned gold recoveries of approximately 43%. The column tests will run for approximately 30-60 days during which gold recoveries should continue to improve. The recoveries for the sulfide material are encouraging, and they represent only a small portion of the total resource which would be processed separately from the oxide material. While metallurgical testing in on-going, the oxide samples continue to demonstrate excellent gold recoveries, indicating lower processing costs and favorable economics for future production.
Paul Dircksen, Timberline's Executive Chairman and Vice-President of Exploration stated, "We continue to see very positive results from the drilling at Lookout Mountain. The excellent gold recoveries without the need for crushing are a very positive indicator for this type of sediment-hosted, widely-disseminated gold mineralization. It should be noted that the average gold recovery for heap leach gold operations in Nevada is 70%, so our preliminary results are very promising. Our drilling is nearly complete, and we expect to produce a 43-101 technical report with a compliant resource estimate in early March."
Significant drill results and gold recoveries include:
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From To Length
Feet (ft) Feet (ft) Feet (ft) Gold Gold
Hole ID Metres (m) Metres (m) Metres (m) Grade(i) Recovery Comments
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BHSE-026C 417 ft 471 ft 54 ft 0.033 opt
127.1 m 143.6 m 16.5 m 1.13 g/t 96.9% Oxide
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BHSE-028C 277 ft 358 ft 81 ft 0.017 opt In
84.4 m 109.1 m 24.7 m 0.58 g/t Process Oxide
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BHSE-029C 612 ft 646 ft 34 ft 0.024 opt Oxide /
186.5 m 196.9 m 10.4 m 0.82 g/t 58.5% Sulfide
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BHSE-031C 52 ft 73 ft 21 ft 0.030 opt
15.9 m 22.3 m 6.4 m 1.03 g/t 89.0% Oxide
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BHSE-031C 125 ft 235 ft 110 ft 0.015 opt
38.1 m 71.6 m 33.5 m 0.52 g/t 90.3% Oxide
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BHSE-036C 27 ft 84 ft 38 ft 0.032 opt
8.2 m 25.6 m 11.6 m 1.10 g/t 94.7% Oxide
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BHSE-036C 181 ft 192 ft 11 ft 0.048 opt
55.2 m 58.5 m 3.4 m 1.64 g/t 97.2% Oxide
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BHSE-037C 362 ft 444 ft 82 ft 0.045 opt
110.3 m 135.3 m 25.0 m 1.54 g/t 85.0% Oxide
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BHSE-043C 206 ft 228 ft 22 ft 0.019 opt
62.8 m 69.5 m 6.7 m 0.65 g/t 93.5% Oxide
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(i) Troy ounces per ton (opt) and grams per tonne (g/t)
Paul Dircksen is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical contents of this release. He has verified the drill results and other data disclosed in this news release, including sampling, analytical and test data. Field work has been conducted under his supervision. The Timberline sampling and analysis program included an industry standard QA/QC program. After logging and cutting or dividing the sample intervals in half, the samples were picked up by Inspectorate America Corporation and taken to their lab in Sparks, Nevada for analysis. The samples were analyzed for gold using a standard 30g fire assay with an AA finish. Samples returning a gold value in excess of 3 ppm were re-analyzed using a 30g fire assay with a gravimetric finish.
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