From: Pacific Rim Mining Corp. (PMU)
pacrim-mining.com
mailto:info@pacrim-mining.com
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Re: PMU News Releases - Wednesday, July 03, 2002
*PACIFIC RIM INTERSECTS HIGH-GRADE GOLD ON EL DORADO DRILL PROGRAM
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News Release #02-08
Pacific Rim Mining Corp. is pleased to release the up to date results of
its diamond drill program on the El Dorado gold project in El Salvador.
These drill results are part of an on-going program that is expected to
comprise approximately 20 drill holes and total roughly 7,000 meters of
diamond drilling on a variety of vein targets within the El Dorado
District.
A summary of the drill results obtained to date is presented in the
following table:
(*click on the following link for drill results)
pacrim-mining.com
A map will be available at our website pacrim-mining.com
ABOUT THE DRILL RESULTS
The first drill hole (P02-203) intersected several veins within the Rosario
Vein system (located 200 meters east of Minita). The first vein assayed
31.93 g/t Au and 257 g/t Ag over a drill length of 1.45 m starting at 96.15
m. A second vein was intersected at 104.8 m that assayed 24.84 g/t Au and
163 g/t Ag over a length 1.15 m. A lower grade vein was encountered at a
depth of 34.5 m that averaged 6.81 g/t Au over a length of 2.3 m.
Drilled easterly at a dip of 54 degrees, this hole was designed to cross
the Rosario and Veta Grande veins perpendicular to their strike. The
Rosario Vein has a strike length of 500 m and was intersected at an
elevation of 310 meters above sea level. Rosario strikes NNW, subparallel
to Minita and interpreted to be the extensional fault direction. Veta
Grande was intersected further down hole but grades did not reach the 6 g/t
Au cutoff.
The upper 319 meters of the second drill hole (P02-204) has also been
assayed and failed to hit mineralization above the cutoff grade. This hole
was designed to cross the southern Moreno and Varicose Veins in a westerly
direction. Assays are still pending on the lower 80 meters of this hole.
Drilling has been accelerated at El Dorado by the addition of a second
diamond rig, which will continue to scout drill the abundant targets in the
central part of the El Dorado District. Drill hole 205 was designed to
test the El Dorado Vein and continue to the down-rake extension of the
Minita resource. Hole 206 is designed to test the south Minita, Zancudo and
El Dorado Veins. Hole 207 is also designed to cross the Veta Grande, the
Varicose Vein and the Rosario Vein at the productive interval,
approximately 300 meters north of hole 203. Results are expected for these
holes next month.
SURFACE WORK CONTINUES TO OUTLINE NEW TARGETS
Targeting continues using trenching, surface rock sampling and detailed
geologic mapping. This work has identified several very attractive targets
in the central part of the district. Two trenches along strike to the north
of the Minita resource have been constructed on the Minita Vein and assayed
12.67 and 10.00 g/t Au, respectively. The Minita Vein is narrow at the
surface (less than 0.5 meters) but averages 3.3 meters in width at depth in
the resource area
Trenching on the northern Moreno Vein has revealed another attractive
target. Assays range from 0.19 to 11.37 g/t Au in the five trenches cut
across the vein system, sampling 200 meters of strike length. Two other
veins have been discovered to the east of Moreno, the DVDA and the
Montecristo Veins. Initial sampling here is also very encouraging with
assays of 8.84 and 8.40 g/t Au, respectively. The veins in this area are
highly anomalous considering they are located at elevations ranging from
420 to 450 meters above sea level -- high above the productive interval
(100-250 m above sea level).
"This is a great start to an extensive 20 hole exploration program
specifically designed to get a sense of the high-grade gold potential in
the central part of the district before following up with definition
drilling of the best hits. The targeting work is progressing smoothly and
we recently commenced the fifth drill hole (207). I'm especially pleased
with the efficiency being achieved as each hole has tested at least two
targets, multiplying the chances of discovery ", stated Tom Shrake, Pacific
Rim's CEO.
ABOUT EL DORADO
The El Dorado District is an adularia-sericite type epithermal gold system
located in El Salvador that hosts bonanza gold. Over 35 known quartz veins
have been identified and these veins have a total strike length of over 18
kilometers. Diamond drilling by previous workers concentrated on shallow,
near-surface intervals. Limited past drilling at deeper intervals
demonstrated that the highest grade gold was encountered in a "Productive
Interval" that occurs in the elevation range of approximately 100 to 250
meters above sea level (ASL). This equates to a depth below surface of
roughly 150 to 300 meters. Only two veins have been systematically
drill-tested in the Productive Interval by previous workers. The current
drill program is designed to test a number of high-priority vein targets in
the Productive Interval seeking high-grade chutes of gold mineralization.
The Minita Vein system was mined in the mid-1900's and currently hosts an
indicated resource of 799,200 tonnes with an average grade of 13.7 g/t gold
and 97.9 g/t silver below the old stopes. This resource totals over
350,000 ounces of high-grade gold. Details of this resource estimate and a
summary of the geology of the El Dorado project are presented in a
technical report prepared for Dayton Mining Corporation (a predecessor
company of Pacific Rim Mining Corp.) by Mr. P. LaCroix, P.Eng (a Qualified
Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101) entitled "Resource Update
Nueva Esperenza & El Dorado Mine Area -- El Dorado Project -- El Salvador",
dated February 8, 2002. The report is summarized in Dayton's most recent
Annual Information Form, available on SEDAR.
43-101 DISCLOSURE
Pacific Rim's exploration work on the El Dorado project is being supervised
by William Gehlen a Certified Professional Geologist with the AIPG (No.
10626), an employee of Pacific Rim and a Qualified Person as defined in NI
43-101. Mr. Gehlen has verified that the drill results presented above
have been accurately summarized from the official assay certificates
provided to the Company. Pacific Rim's drill sampling procedures follow
the Exploration Best Practices Guidelines outlined by the Mining Standards
Task Force and adopted by The Toronto Stock Exchange. This includes
splitting the drill core, collecting one half for assay and retaining the
other half for future reference, uniquely labelling and bagging each
sample, limiting access to drill core and samples, storing samples in a
secure environment and promptly shipping samples to a North American
laboratory. Samples have been assayed using fire assay with a gravimetric
finish on a 30-gram split. Quality control measures are being implemented.
Samples were assayed by Inspectorate America Corporation in Reno, Nevada
USA, an ISO 9002 certified laboratory, independent of Pacific Rim Mining
Corp.
On behalf of the board of directors,
"Thomas C. Shrake"
Thomas C. Shrake
CEO
The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are
forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual results to differ materially from targeted results.
These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to the expected
size of the Company's current drill program and the potential for
discovering additional gold mineralization. Pacific Rim's disclosure of
these results follows National Instrument 43-101.
The TSE and The AMEX has neither reviewed nor accepts responsibility for
the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Full News Release and drill results are attached in PDF Format:
Associated File:
pacrim-mining.com
17 KB in size, approx. 13 seconds to download at 28.8Kbps
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Copyright (c) 2002 PACIFIC RIM MINING CORP. (PMU) All rights reserved.
For more information visit our website at pacrim-mining.com or
send mailto:info@pacrim-mining.com
Message sent on Wed Jul 3, 2002 at 9:42:35 AM Pacific Time
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