Confederation Resumes Drilling at Newman Todd and Reports Assays from First Hole of 2013 Mid-Summer Drill Program: On-going Exploration Alternatives Discussed for this Large-Scale, Gold-bearing System Located in the Red Lake Gold Camp.
Vancouver, B.C.; August 23rd, 2013; Confederation Minerals Ltd. (TSX.V:CFM; OTCQX:CNRMF): ("Confederation" or the "Company") is pleased to announce assay results from the first hole of their 2013 summer drilling program at their Newman Todd gold project in the Red Lake District, northern Ontario. Confederation has the right to earn a 70% interest in the project from Redstar Gold Corp. (TSXV:RGC).
Drilling was re-initiated after a hiatus following a successful winter 2012-2013 drilling program to allow for assimilation and interpretation of results to date. Significantly, the winter 2012-2013 drilling program showed that high-grade gold mineralization is present at very shallow levels within the major structural host, called the Newman Todd Structure ("NTS"), a zone of quartz-carbonate alteration and brecciation reaching over 200 meters in width and exceeding 2 km in strike length within the property boundaries. When combined with a deep hole which intersected gold mineralization approximately 1 km below surface, gold has been intersected over a strike length of over 1.8 km, and from surface to approximately 1 km depth (refer to previous news releases and the Company's website www.confederationmineralsltd.com).
Thus, drilling to date by the Company has identified an exceptionally large volume of potentially gold-bearing rock within the NTS, with most holes completed to date intersecting significant gold-bearing intersections (refer to "hit rate" statistics on the Company's website).
Drill hole NT-151 was drilled on Section 2000NE at an angle of -50 degrees towards the southeast within an area referred to as the "Hinge Zone", which forms a very small portion of the approximately 2 kilometer-long gold-mineralized system.
Drilling highlights of hole NT-151 are tabulated below:
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|HoleID| |From (m)|To (m)|Width (m)|Au (g/t)|
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151| |139.0 |140.0 |1.0 |3.19 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|and |239.0 |244.0 |5.0 |5.30 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|including |242.5 |244.0 |1.5 |13.46 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|and |242.5 |243.0 |0.5 |12.10 |
| |including | | | | |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|and including|243.0 |243.5 |0.5 |24.00 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|and |281.0 |283.0 |2.0 |3.75 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|including |281.0 |282.0 |1.0 |4.65 |
|-------------------------------------------------------|
|NT-151|and |304.0 |305.0 |1.0 |5.23 |
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Table 1: Significant Results
* Width is calculated as core length and does not imply true width of the zone. Weighted average gold intervals apply a 0.20 g/t lower cut-off. Internal dilution within reported intervals does not exceed core lengths of 3 metres unless otherwise indicated.
Assays from additional holes will be reported on as they are received from the laboratory and have passed quality control criteria implemented by the Company. Incomplete results from drill hole NT-152 have been received and will be released shortly, subsequent to QAQC protocol.
NT-151 is the first of a number of holes placed to follow potential extensions of highly-encouraging results returned from nearby holes which returned near-surface, high-grade gold values. For example, as stated in the Company's May 1, 2013 press release, drill hole NT-148 intersected 7.0 meters grading 32.57 g/t gold beginning at just 168 meters below surface. Nearby hole NT-142 intersected 6.0 meters grading 13.19 g/t gold beginning at 41.5 meters below the surface. Mineralized outcrops at surface indicate that the NTS is mineralized to surface, which carries significant implications for future economic considerations.
The total drilling by Confederation at Newman Todd now totals 41,525 meters in 106 holes over approximately 1.8 km of strike length within the highly-altered, gold-bearing NTS. A complete list of assay results, descriptions of the geological and structural setting, representative cross sections and long sections which illustrate the emerging morphology of the mineralized zones, as well as the location of all drill holes completed to date can be observed on Confederation's website at www.confederationmineralsltd.com.
Going Forward: Exploring a Large, Gold-Bearing System
Confederation has been diligently exploring, primarily by drilling, with concurrent geological and geochemical interpretation, this significant gold-hosting structure. Meanwhile, the Company is evolving the business plan to maximize project advancement while managing a conservative budget. A summary of where the Company is positioned with respect to going-forward options to take an exploration success towards a potential economic reality is as follows:
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1.Newman Todd is situated in the Red Lake Greenstone Belt, an assemblage of approximately 4 billion year-old volcanic rocks and associated intrusions which also host Goldcorp's world-class Campbell Red Lake, and other multi-million ounce gold deposits. Goldcorp's Red Lake deposit, which has been in production for approximately 75 years, typifies the Canadian Shield "mesothermal" type gold deposits which have extreme depth extensions (measured in thousands of feet below surface) and are, as a group, amongst the highest-grade gold deposits in the world;
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2.Mesothermal gold deposits, although high grade, are extremely complex in a structural geological sense. The adage "drill for structure, drift for grade" was coined specifically for these deposits;
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3.Newman Todd typifies the "mesothermal" style of gold mineralization in that approximately 1 km of depth extension has been documented by the drilling to date. What sets Newman Todd apart from the majority of high-grade, mesothermal gold deposits in Canada and other greenstone terrains in the world (South Africa, Tanzania, Australia) is the highly-anomalous strike length over which gold mineralization has been intersected by drilling carried out to date (over 1.8 km);
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4.The strict structural control on gold mineralization, which can lead to very complex morphologies of ore shoots, is very prevalent at the nearby Red Lake deposit and all other deposits of this class. There, as in most mesothermal deposits which can host up to and exceeding 20 million ounces of gold, drilling can answer only part of the geological puzzle. Once gold-bearing structures have been identified, an underground program, consisting of drifting along the auriferous structures, is required to produce an enhanced understanding of the controls on gold mineralization, a more accurate representation of gold grade, and to provide important information for future resource estimations;
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5.It is not feasible to take the entire approximately 2.0 km of strike length of the NTS, with an open depth, to the stage where an all-encompassing resource estimation can be carried out without drilling many more tens of thousands of meters, and expending tens of millions of dollars. Exploring a sufficient volume of structure to determine required grade and tonnage targets to support economic development is more realistic. If these targets can be successfully attained within a small component of the structure then further development, at increased scale, would suggest significant additional merit within an already financially de-risked project; and
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6.The Company has retained Mining Plus Ltd. to prepare a Preliminary Economic Assessment of a component of the property (refer to the Company's press release dated April 8th, 2013). Mining Plus is working with Confederation geological staff to interpret the structural controls on mineralization, continuity of gold mineralization and metallurgical recoveries of gold (see the Company's press release dated July 8th, 2013). Mining Plus is also working to complete the Preliminary Economic Assessment within the context or a realistic exploration budget. The Company is also in the process of contracting a knowledgeable structural geologist, with extensive experience in the structural habits of gold concentrations in the large mesothermal deposits of northern Canada. This information will be used to carry out an analysis of the orientation of drill holes completed to date and to determine the feasibility of re-orienting specific holes in areas of known mineralization to better understand the preferred structural orientation of the mineralized zones.
Concurrently, plans are underway for a limited program of surface stripping of the NTS where it is buried under shallow cover. By exposing the mineralization in three dimensions, coupled with detailed geochemical sampling and structural mapping of the stripped mineralization, the objective is to gather important structural information with which to extrapolate along the trend.
Conclusion
The Company plans to aggressively advance the exploration of the Newman Todd project through a combination of:
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1.Preliminary economic studies of restricted areas of the much larger system to determine if open cast mining might be a viable option during the early stages of the project;
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2.Continue drilling on both shallow and much deeper targets along the trend of the NTS to strengthen the potential of the entire system;
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3.Identify a target for shallow, underground exploration, via a ramp from surface, to strengthen our understanding of the grade and overall width and tenor of the mineralization and to provide samples for mineable grade and metallurgical recovery studies;
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4.Carry out structural geological mapping studies, perhaps aided by ground and/or airborne geophysical surveys if deemed applicable, to further our knowledge of the structural setting of gold mineralization and aid in identifying high-priority drill targets, in turn resulting in a more efficient and cost-effective drilling program going forward; and
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5.Continue with our efforts to prepare environmental base-line studies and progress along our road map for obtaining all necessary permits for open-cast and underground excavations and processing.
Andrea Diakow, P.Geo, is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed the technical content relating to the disclosed drill results in this news release. Core samples from the program were cut in half using a diamond cutting saw and were sent to Activation Laboratories Ltd. in Red Lake, Ontario, an accredited mineral analysis laboratory. All samples were analyzed for gold using standard Fire Assay-AA techniques. Samples returning over 3.0 g/t gold were analyzed utilizing standard Fire Assay-Gravimetric methods. Certified gold reference standards, blanks, and field duplicates were routinely inserted into the sample stream as part of Confederation's quality control/quality assurance program.
About CFM
Confederation Minerals Ltd. is a British Columbia based company engaged in the business of acquisition, exploration and development of mineral properties. Its objective is to locate and develop economic precious and base metals properties of merit. Confederation Minerals Ltd. holds an Option Agreement to acquire up to 70% of the Newman Todd project in the Red Lake Mining District of Northern Ontario, as well as 100% ownership in another property in the Red Lake Mining District of Ontario.
This press release was prepared by Lawrence Dick, Ph.D., P.Geo.and CEO
On Behalf of the Board:
"Brian Bapty"
Brian Bapty, Ph.D.
President and Director
CORPORATE INQUIRIES
Confederation Minerals Ltd.
Suite 1980, 1075 West Georgia Street
Vancouver, B.C.
Brian Bapty, President and Director
604-652-3950
brian.bapty@confederationmineralsltd.com
www.confederationmineralsltd.com
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Information
This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "proposes", "project", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.
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Figure 1: Cross Section 2000 Showing Geology and Assay Highlights
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