PR from Wits Basin
Wits Basin Announces Results From Assays: Over 1 Oz. per Ton Gold Reported; Bates-Hunter Gold Mine in Colorado Proves Out Historical Data at Level Sampled
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2005 7:00 AM
- BusinessWire
MINNEAPOLIS, Oct 31, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Wits Basin Precious Minerals Inc. (WITM) is pleased to announce that the fire assay and multi-element geochemical results from the registered assay lab of Actlabs, Tucson Arizona, on 17 grab, channel and muck rock chip samples taken from accessible portions of the 112-foot level of the Bates-Hunter Gold Mine, Central City, Colorado, have been received.
In his report to the Company, consulting geologist Brian Alers reports, "The following assumptions are based on only 17 samples from one level of the Bates-Hunter mine and should be considered preliminary.
The highest fire assay from our sampling, BH-5004 was 1.03 ounce per ton gold and 3.6 ounce per ton silver from a grab sample of a 1-2 inch wide quartz-pyrite vein along the foot-wall of the Bates Vein.
The fire assay results confirm historic grade gold assay values and suggests that the value of intact vein material adjacent to major stopes in the upper portions of the Bates-Hunter mine could be approximately 1 ounce per of gold ton. The average gold assay for 64 vein samples shown on a vein section map for the Bates-Hunter mine prepared by Harry Williamson during the 1930's is 1.141 ounce per ton gold.
The limonitic clay-rich hanging-wall veins and white clay-sercite-pyrite bearing wall rocks did not contain significant gold values.
The preliminary trace element geochemical results indicate that the quartz-pyrite foot-wall veins contain elevated values of Gold (Au), Silver (Ag), Copper (Cu), Arsenic (As), Antimony (Sb), Lead (Pb), and 10-19% Sulfur (S). The limonitic clay-rich hanging-wall veins contain elevated values of Zinc (Zn), Vanadium (V), Phosphorus (P), and Tellurium (Te).
Telluride mineralization was not sampled on the 112-foot level of the Bates-Hunter mine. Only one sample, BH-5001, contained detectable tellurium (19 ppm). This indicates that hanging-wall veins may be a good place to look for telluride minerals, and tellurium values were increasing to the northeast.
The potential for the discovery of high-grade gold ore exists for these three identified potential target types at the Bates-Hunter mine: 1) untouched foot-wall and hanging-wall veins, 2) new undeveloped parallel veins, and 3) gold and silver telluride mineralization."
Additional Level Samples and Continued Rehabilitation
Vance White, CEO states, "These results confirm the presence of gold in the Bates-Hunter Gold Mine. We are working each day to get deeper into the mine where we believe grades may improve. We know that the original miners would have used rudimentary mining and recovery techniques to remove only visible ore or vein material. These so called "old-timers" did not have the benefit of the scientific testing and mining methods available today. This validation of grades on the first level, that was 'picked over' helps us to believe that additional validation should occur as we move deeper into the mine where higher grade ore has been recorded."
The project manager George Otten has worked with our staff geologist Brian Alers to recover additional samples, which are currently being assayed. Results will be released when available. Finally, our chief mining engineer, Glenn O'Gorman indicates continued progress on the dewatering and the rehabilitation towards the third level, which will allow for additional sampling and testing.
Repeating a quote from earlier releases, Wits Basin's CEO, Vance White stated, "We have always believed that the historic reports from this property were valid. The state and local records show that four million ounces of gold were mined from the immediate area surrounding the Bates-Hunter project, which produced in excess of 750,000 of those ounces."
