Golden Phoenix Minerals Completes Over 6000 Feet of Gold Drilling at Mineral Ridge
Thursday May 1, 5:00 am ET
SPARKS, Nev., May 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: GPXM - News) today announced that it has completed 6,260 feet of combined shallow and deep structure drilling at its Mineral Ridge gold and silver mine near Silver Peak, Nevada, using its newly acquired Atlas-Copco drill rig. The drilling is part of the exploration process involved in updating the Mineral Ridge feasibility study, which is designed to delineate and quantify the contained gold on the property, and to evaluate its economic potential.
The shallow drilling has occurred on the approximately 1.5 million-tons of heap leach material mined and placed on the pad since the late 1990s. Deep drilling is taking place between several open pits and open pit targets.
Assays of samples taken from fifty-nine shallow holes, covering about one-third of the heap, confirm the average grades of drill samples that were previously taken in 2001 and 2003. Some of these holes identify sections of the heap that contain five-foot intercepts at grades of 0.06 opt gold, and higher. Drilling on the remainder of the pad has been temporarily suspended due to the presence of pockets of pooled water formed, in part, by winter snowmelt. Golden Phoenix's Technical Services Group anticipates that once the retained water drains through the pad, drilling of the heap leach gold resource can be completed by mid-summer.
The drill rig has been redeployed to other areas of the property, and deep drilling is currently ongoing. Four holes targeting geologic structure have been completed to depths of between 800 and 1000 feet in areas not previously explored. This represents the start of an aggressive drilling initiative expected to extend over a period of two years, and designed to expand upon previous exploration drilling that rarely exceeded 300 feet in depth.
The first exploration test of the Company's TH-60 RC drill was a 1000-foot vertical hole (MR08301) sited between the solution pond and the Oromonte workings. This is a deep test of the west dipping structure that appears to connect the Brodie Pit and Wedge Pit. The hole was collared below the Mary Limestone, which hosts most of the gold in the Drinkwater and Mary deposits; however, the hole also intersected varying widths of potentially gold-bearing Alaskite and milky quartz in the granite/granodiorite intrusive, which characterized the past-producing historic Wedge and Oromonte underground gold workings, located on the property.
MR08302 and MR08303 were each drilled to 800 feet. These holes are approximately 350 feet apart along an east/west trend between the previously identified Bluelite and Solburry mineralization zones. MR08304 was drilled to 880 feet and lies west of the Coyote fault, which separates it from MR08302 and MR08303. The intent of these three holes is to identify structural offset as a result of the Coyote fault. Drilling samples have been submitted for analysis, and assay results are pending.
Please visit the Golden Phoenix website at golden-phoenix.com
Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. is a Nevada-based mining company committed to deliver value to its shareholders by acquiring, developing and mining superior precious and strategic metal deposits in North America using competitive business practices balanced by principles of ethical stewardship. Golden Phoenix owns the Mineral Ridge gold and silver property near Silver Peak, Nevada, the Northern Champion molybdenum mine in Ontario, Canada, and is majority owner of the Ashdown Project LLC gold and molybdenum property.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements regarding the expansion of production, optimism related to the business, expanding exploration and development activities and other statements in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about the Company's business. Words such as expects, anticipates, intends, plans, believes, sees, estimates and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results could vary materially from the description contained herein due to many factors including continued market prices for the Company's mineral products. In addition, actual results could vary materially based on changes or slower growth in the molybdenum and gold markets; the potential inability to realize expected benefits and synergies in the Company's mining operations; domestic and international business and economic conditions; changes in the mining industry for base and precious minerals, especially molybdenum; unexpected difficulties in expanding production at the Company's mines; changes in customer demand or ordering patterns for molybdenum; changes in the competitive environment including pricing pressures or technological changes; technological advances; shortages of skilled miners; the need for additional capital and other risk factors listed from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings under "risk factors" and elsewhere. The forward- looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they are made, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release.
CONTACT:
E & E Communications
Paul Knopick
949/707-5365
pknopick@eandecommunications.com
Source: Golden Phoenix Minerals, Inc. |
