Leases secured for Wenatchee project
1998-01-21 08:46 ET - News Release
Mr Richard Walters reports
Yamana has secured leases on about 825 acres of private mineral rights for its Wenatchee precious-metals project, near the city of Wenatchee, in central Washington State. This includes more than two miles of the Wenatchee Gold Belt, an established, mineralized, fault-controlled zone from which the Cannon and Lovitt mines historically produced 1.7 million ounces of gold. Previous exploration drilling on Yamana's mining leases has intercepted up to 30 feet of 1.36 ounces of gold per ton, with numerous other ore-grade intercepts in several areas.
The three parcel fee land package covers the Compton, Wenatchee Heights and Matthews properties. It also includes an extensive (more than US$10 million) exploration database with results from 125 diamond drill core holes for more than 200,000 feet completed by previous explorers. One of these, Quest Resources, announced in a press release in February 1996 that it had outlined a mineralized zone on the Matthews property, about 1,800 feet below the surface, at least 600 feet wide and 2,500 feet long. The company also reported a 200 foot intersection, from 1,860 to 2,060 feet, that carried eight separate gold intervals, including 50 feet of 0.26 opt Au and 5 feet of 1.15 opt Au. Several other drill intercepts at Matthews have outlined the potential for a sizeable gold ore body.
About half of all the drilling was done on Matthews which shows underground mining potential for more than one million ounces of high-grade gold reserves. The ultimate target for the Wentachee project is several million ounces at grades averaging about 0.25 opt Au.
The company is looking for a string of deep lying, million-plus ounce, epithermal gold-silver deposits in a well-known and proven precious metals producing district.
The mineralization occurs in sandstones as a hydrothermal system, controlled by the Eagle Creek Fault, forming tube or worm-like bodies with a central core of silicification which pinches and swells both horizontally and vertically along the trend of the Wenatchee Gold Belt. It has been traced for seven miles, including about 2.1 miles under Yamana's properties. The focus is on a relatively continuous zone of mineralization located between depths of 1,000 and 2,000 feet. This could initially be investigated from surface with deep trunk holes from which multi-directional drilling could be conducted using navigational dimensional drill heads, a technique which has been successfully used here in the past. Follow-up exploration and development would likely include lateral drilling from tunnels, either spiral ramps or long declines.
The key attraction is that the project area has a history of profitable underground gold production, and the company has a complex, but well-documented exploration record indicating clear potential for much, much more.
Annual holding and acquisition costs are low. Being private lands, they are without many of the vexing problems of permitting and uncertain royalties associated with public lands in the US. The Wenatchee land parcels are subject to between 3 and 4% net smelter royalties.
Yamana is looking for a joint venture industry partner to invest in the project, likely a major company with experience working in Nevada's Carlin Trend, where much of the exploration and mine development have recently begun to focus on deposits several thousand feet deep.
WARNING: The company relies on litigation protection for "forward-looking" statements.
Wenatchee Gold Belt Project
Washington State, USA
Best Drill Hole Intercepts
Interval Inter-
From To cept Au
Hole (ft) (ft) (ft) oz/t
---- ---- ---- ------ ----
MATTHEWS PROPERTY
MAT-4 2005 2030 25 0.275
MAT-7 1590 1600 10 1.300
MAT-8 1790 1840 50 0.177
MAT-13 1775 1815 40 0.338
MAT-20 1770 1800 30 1.357
MAT-20A 1800 1815 15 0.320
MAT-93-1 1865 1905 40 0.229
MAT-93-6 1675 1700 25 0.163
MAT-93-8 1720 1730 10 0.225
MAT-94-10 1860 1865 5 0.404
1945 1995 50 0.261
MAT-94-10A 1945 1970 25 0.486
WENATCHEE HEIGHTS PROPERTY
JLB-2 1175 1450 275 0.022
1590 1625 35 0.104
JLB-3 1305 1465 160 0.027
JRD-1 1265 1340 75 0.045
JRD-3 1230 1275 45 0.056
COMPTON PROPERTY
COM-1A 120 185 65 0.274
COM-1D 65 85 20 0.062
COM-26 1545 1550 5 0.252
1795 1825 30 0.151
COM-27 1500 1520 20 0.402
COM-28 160 180 20 0.550
COM-29 100 105 5 1.038
COM-30 125 130 5 0.332
COM-31 160 170 10 0.733
COM-33 70 100 30 0.108
105 110 5 0.382
COM-36 1540 1650 110 0.034
1895 1930 35 0.052
