Cusac Gold Mines Ltd.: New 43-101 Report Confirms 1.04 Million Ounce Taurus Resource Taurus Drilling Underway, Oro Assays Pending June 14, 2007 - 9:11 AM EDT
Cusac Gold Mines Ltd. (TSX: CQC)(OTCBB: CUSIF)(FRANKFURT: DCB) ("Cusac"), David H. Brett, President, reports that a National Instrument 431-103 compliant technical report prepared by - Wardrop Engineering Inc. - has confirmed that the Taurus Deposit contains an Inferred Mineral Resource of 32.4 million tonnes at an average gold grade of 1 g/t, equating to 1,040,886 troy ounces of gold (see table below). The report also includes a $1 million recommended exploration program.
A 25-hole diamond drill program is now underway to expand and further define the Taurus Deposit. A team of geologists led by Cusac VP of Exploration Lesley Hunt and Senior Project Geologist Mike Glover is supporting the drill program and executing on a series of other recommendations in the report. Drilling on the Oro Vein is now complete and assays are pending.
The Taurus Deposit is located partly within claims under option from another company and partly within Cusac's 100% owned 175 square kilometer Cassiar Gold Property (formerly called the Table Mountain Gold Property), which also hosts the Table Mountain Gold Mine, the Taurus II Project, and many other gold prospects along a 10 Kilometer long gold trend.
A copy of the Wardrop report will shortly be available online at www.sedar.com.
Cusac believes that the Taurus Deposit resource has the potential to increase in size, grade and resource confidence level, particularly in the 88-Hill and 88-West zones, which form the heart of the deposit. Cusac's immediate goal is to complete the additional work required to commence an NI43-101 compliant pre-feasibility study, focusing on the 88-Hill zone as a potential starter pit.
A previous scoping study was completed by Mineral Resources Development Inc. in 1996 for Cyprus Canada Inc. and metallurgical testing was carried out at that time by Hazen Research and others. The Hazen work showed 77% whole ore cyanide leach gold recovery for crushed and milled 88-Hill mineralization and 95% floatation recovery. Some of the Taurus mineralization, mainly in the Taurus West zone, has been found to be refractory, whereas the bulk of the resource has been found to exhibit reasonable recovery rates. A detailed review of past metallurgical work is contained in the Wardrop report. Wardrop recommends that new metallurgical tests be completed to verify past work and to determine if the Taurus Deposit is heap-leachable.
Key findings and recommendations of the Wardrop report include:
- The resource calculation is based on 372 drill holes and 15,787 assays:
- Numerous un-sampled drill core intervals (mainly pre-1994 drilling) has lead to a conservative resource estimate and this core should be sampled and assayed (underway)
- Re-logging of drill core should be done to integrate past work into a consistent lythological framework and thereby increase confidence in the resource (underway)
- A reliable geological model for the deposit should be developed to add further confidence to future resource calculations (underway)
- Infill drilling (14 holes recommended at 150 meters each) is recommended
- Larger diameter metallurgical drilling (HQ, 6 holes) mainly on 88-Hill followed by column and other tests is recommended (underway)
- The deposit is potentially heap leachable. Encouraging past recoveries of up to 74% need to be properly defined and confirmed (underway)
- Exploration drilling (5 holes) should be completed to test possible expansion of the deposit to the west
Summary of Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate at 0.50 g/t Au Cutoff:
-------------------------------------------------- Average Tones Grade Contained Zone Name (000's) (gt/Au) Ounces of Gold -------------------------------------------------- Sable 1,350 1.32 57,339 -------------------------------------------------- 88 Hill 8,505 1.15 315,797 -------------------------------------------------- 88 West 13,102 0.87 366,930 -------------------------------------------------- Highway 2,456 0.98 77,276 -------------------------------------------------- Taurus West 3,709 1.02 121,056 -------------------------------------------------- Taurus 2,348 0.99 74,489 -------------------------------------------------- Plaza 917 0.95 27,999 -------------------------------------------------- Total 32,386 1.00 1,040,886 --------------------------------------------------
"Cusac is moving quickly to leverage all of its assets on its newly expanded and enhanced Cassiar Gold Property," said Cusac CEO David H. Brett. "Investors should note that we have decided to rename the Table Mountain Gold Property the Cassiar Gold Property to help clarify the true scope of Cusac's gold assets near Cassiar. The Cassiar Gold Property now encompasses the Taurus Deposit, the Table Mountain Gold Mine, all the gold zones in the Taurus II project area (Oro, Backyard, Somerville, Blue), Wings Canyon, the Vollaug Vein, and a multitude of other gold veins and showings in the district."
George Sanders, P.Geo, is a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 for the technical portion of this News Release.
Cusac Gold Mines, Ltd., in existence since 1966, is a gold production and exploration company focused on the Cassiar Gold Property in northern British Columbia.
There are forward-looking statements contained herein that are not based on historical fact, including without limitation statements containing the words "believes", "may", "plans", will", "estimate", "continue", "anticipates", "intends", "expects" and similar uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, Cusac's exploration results, lack of revenues, additional capital requirements, risks associated with the exploration activity. These factors should be considered carefully and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any obligation to update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments.
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