News Release: November 26th, 2006
Drill Program Underway on
the Caballo Blanco Project, Mexico
The Caballo Blanco project,
located roughly 75 kilometers north of Veracruz City, Mexico
is optioned to Comaplex Minerals Ltd. (Comaplex) who can earn
a 60% interest in the project by spending US$2,000,000 over four
years. Comaplex has informed Almaden that a minimum 3,000 meter
diamond drill program has commenced to test the Central Grid,
Highway and Northern zones of the property, the centres of which
are located roughly 7 kilometers apart. Drilling in the Central Grid
Area will target a copper-gold porphyry system identified by
past Almaden work where in 1998 Almaden drilled 17 shallow reverse
circulation holes which targeted elevated gold in soil geochemistry,
associated with anomalous chargeability responses from an induced
polarization geophysical survey.
The results of this 1998 drilling
led Almaden to believe that the targets tested were peripheral
to a copper-gold porphyry system and included 107 meters of 0.18%
copper and 0.25 g/t gold in hole CB-1 and 39.6 meters of 0.15%
copper and 0.39 g/t gold in hole CB-2. Almaden's geologic interpretation
of the 1998 results was that grades in the porphyry system could
increase with depth. Comaplex drilling in the Central Grid area
will test deeper levels of the identified porphyry system.At the Highway zone drilling
will test a high sulphidation epithermal system.
Comaplex carried
out a program of sampling, geologic mapping and induced polarization
(IP) geophysics, complimented by analysis of alteration mineralogy
with a PIMA portable infrared spectrometer that outlined several
prominent areas of alteration and mineralisation. A significant
resistivity and chargeability anomaly has resulted from this
work over a roughly 5 by 3 kilometer area of acid sulphate alteration
characterised by hypogene alunite and vuggy silica. The zones
of vuggy silica and coincident chargeability and resistivity
will be the focus of Comaplex's drill program. A diamond drill
hole was completed close to the area by Noranda Inc. in 2001.
This hole was drilled in an area of extensive argillic alteration
and had several interesting gold intersections. These included
stockwork veining from 51.35 to 84 meters depth within which
a 6 meter section averaged 1.42 g/t gold. A sample from 192 to
195 meters depth within a zone of lower temperature argillic
alteration averaged 2.5 g/t gold and the final sample of the
hole from 212.0 to 212.5 meters depth returned a gold value of
4.98 g/t gold. The hole was lost at this point due to poor drilling
conditions.At the Northern zone Comaplex
drilling will test an area where sampling, geologic mapping and
PIMA analyses have defined a large, roughly 6 by 5 kilometer
zone of acid sulphate alteration and vuggy silica, including
many breccia bodies.
The alteration in the Northern zone is very
similar to that in the Highway zone, however up until this program
very little work had been carried out in this area. Sampling
by Comaplex returned anomalous gold values from outcrop the highest
being 1 g/t. Outcrop in this area includes breccia bodies containing
clasts of vuggy silica. An IP section over the zone outlined
a large high resistivity feature that appears to extend to depth.
Prior to the present program no drilling has been carried out
on the Northern Zone.Exploration carried out on
the Caballo Blanco property by Compaplex is under the direction
of Allan Armitage, Ph.D., P.Geo. a qualified person within the
meaning of National Instrument 43-101. Samples were sent to ALS
Chemex Labs in North Vancouver for analysis.
Almaden currently has thirteen
active joint venture projects including nine in which a partner
is making exploration expenditures to earn an interest in the
project and a regional exploration program with partner BHP Billiton
underway to explore for copper-gold deposits in Mexico.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
OF DIRECTORS
Morgan Poliquin
The Toronto Stock Exchange
has not reviewed nor accepted responsibility for the adequacy
or accuracy of the contents of this news release which has been
prepared by management. Statements contained in this news release
that are not historical facts are forward looking statements
as that term is defined in the private securities litigation
reform act of 1995. Such forward -looking statements are subject
to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to
differ materially from estimated results. Such risks and uncertainties
are detailed in the Company's filing with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
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