Drilling begins:
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--Asia Minerals Corp. ("Asia") is
pleased to report the start of a new surface drilling programme on
the Copperstone Gold property located in southwestern Arizona.
Copperstone Gold is a significant undeveloped high grade gold
deposit that remains open both on strike and down dip in the C
and D zones. These two zones contain a capped geological
resource of 2,085,000 tonnes grading 0.34 oz/ton gold (708,900
ounces). A project scoping study by MRDI in 1999 estimated that
the C and D zones contain an undeveloped mining resource of
827,400 tonnes at a diluted grade of 0.56 oz/ton gold (459,500
ounces).
Asia plans to drill approximately 8,000 feet in 10 holes during
the first phase of the 2000 programme. The drilling contractor is
Boart Longyear. The holes will be drilled using a combination of
reverse circulation and diamond core drilling. All target
intervals will be drilled with HQ diameter core. A best practice
quality control/ quality assurance (QA/QC) programme will be
implemented for the preparation, custody and analysis of all core
and rock chip samples.
The primary target for the drilling programme is the strike
extension of the D zone to the north of hole A98-3 drilled in
1998. The D zone intercept in A98-3 grades 4.9 oz/ton gold over
13.3 feet. The northstrike extension of this intercept is open.
In addition, the strike extension of the major structural
control to mineralization, the Copperstone Fault, has not been
drill tested between A98-3 and the north property boundary, a
distance of 1.25 miles. An open-pit gold mine operated by Cyprus
Minerals to the south of the D zone produced 500,000 ounces of
gold from the Copperstone Fault between 1987 and 1993.
Asia also plans to drill test a zone of mineralization located 500
feet below the old open-pit. A single drill intercept of this
zone in hole DCU-08, drilled in 1993, grades 0.65 oz/ton gold over
15.5 feet. No follow-up drilling of hole DCU-08 has been
completed to date, however, 3 holes drilled 750 feet up-dip of
DCU-08 intersected significant gold mineralization over 20-40 foot
intervals.
The first phased of the drill programme is expected to be
completed by 30 April, 2000.
Dated at Vancouver, British Columbia the 16th day of February
2000.
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