NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CANADIAN CORPORATE NEWS
FOR: BEMA GOLD CORPORATION
TSE, VSE, AMEX SYMBOL: BGO
AND ARIZONA STAR RESOURCE CORP.
VSE SYMBOL: AZS
JANUARY 23, 1996
Arizona Star/Bema Gold - Aldebaran Property, Chile
- Cerro Casale Drilling Results
(Arizona Star 51 percent/Bema Gold 49 percent)
VANCOUVER, BC--Recently received assay results from the 15,500 meters
of feasibility drilling on the Cerro Casale Deposit have shown higher
gold grade over longer intervals than have been seen in previous
drilling programs and have discovered a new deep oxide zone.
Some selected results are as follows:
/T/
Drill Hole From To Length Avg. Grade
Number (ft) (ft) (ft) oz/ton gold
CC - 87 33 85 52 0.038
CC - 88 177 558 381 0.026
CC - 89 7 407 400 0.038
CC - 90 0 315 315 0.026
CC - 91 0 387 387 0.027
CC - 93 0 440 440 0.049
CC - 96 270 540 270 0.029
CC - 97 105 709 604 0.032
CC - 99 0 175 175 0.029
CC - 100 52 591 539 0.031
CC - 100 689 820 131 0.026
CC - 101 46 328 282 0.038
CC - 105 0 500 500 0.035
CC - 106 0 413 413 0.026
CC - 108 0 230 230 0.036
CC - 114 10 205 195 0.030
CC - 116 39 532 493 0.031
CC - 123 0 155 155 0.036
CC - 124 0 95 95 0.035
CC - 132 7 689 682 0.028
CC - 144 72 643 571 0.026
/T/
Bema Gold's technical team believes that these results have the
potential to enhance the previously estimated average grade of the
Cerro Casale Deposit.
This drilling has also discovered that the depth of oxidation at
Cerro Casale is significantly greater than had been previously
interpreted; this has the potential to increase the size of the
economic reserves because the gold is more readily leachable from
oxidized material than from non-oxidized material.
In addition, some of the deeper drill holes have discovered what
appears to be a significant body of deep oxide gold mineralization
underlying the previously outlined Cerro Casale reserves. The
following selection of drill results shows the long intervals and
substantial average grades in this deep zone:
/T/
Drill Hole From To Length Avg. Grade
Number (ft) (ft) (ft) oz/ton gold
CC - 87 643 919 276 0.027
CC - 102 407 1004 597 0.035
CC - 103 886 984 98 0.033
CC - 108 538 846 308 0.031
DD - 07 1424 1549 125 0.033
/T/
These deep oxide intersections have the potential to significantly
expand the reserves at Cerro Casale however, further definition
drilling is required and therefore a 6,000 meter drilling program
will start next week; because of this additional drilling, the Cerro
Casale feasibility study will now be completed by June 1996.
An independent pre-feasibility study was completed on the Cerro
Casale Deposit in July 1994. This study showed Cerro Casale to be an
economically viable open pit, heap leach operation with a mineable
reserve of 2 million ounces of gold and estimated production in
excess of 100,000 ounces of gold per year. The study assumed
crushing the ore to - inch size. However, metallurgical tests
completed earlier in the year demonstrated that the ore does not
require fine crushing this has significantly enhanced project
economics.
The Aldebaran Property is located 30 kilometers south of the Refugio
Mine (50 percent Bema Gold/50 percent Amax Gold Inc.) in the
Maricunga District in north, central Chile. Mining and processing
operations have recently started at the Refugio Mine which will be
one of the largest open pit, heap leach gold mines in the world. The
mine is initially scheduled to produce over 230,000 ounces of gold
per year.
ON BEHALF OF ARIZONA STAR RESOURCE CORP.
Michael J. Hopley
V.P. Corporate Development
ON BEHALF OF BEMA GOLD CORPORATION
Clive T. Johnson
Chairman, C.E.O. & President
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