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News Release: April 5th, 2006
Further to the news release
of January 12, 2006, Almaden Minerals Ltd. ("Almaden")
and Horseshoe Gold Mining Inc. ("Horseshoe") are pleased
to announce that the drilling program on the Fuego project which
started in November 2005, and was reinitiated after a Christmas
break in January 2006, has now concluded. In all 15 holes were
completed for a total of 2,500 meters of drilling.
The drilling program intersected
banded quartz-adularia veining within broad zones of silicification.
The veins are hosted within a package of felsic crystal and lithic
bearing tuffaceous volcanic rocks. Zones of silicification and
quartz veining were intersected in all 15 holes drilled which
were collared along roughly 700 meters of strike length. The
most significant assays from the program are tabularized below.
Gold and silver values are reported in grams per tonne (g/t)
and the intervals are reported in meters (m).
Almaden and Horseshoe are encouraged
by these results which indicate that the vein system is mineralized
over a broad strike and dip extent. Geological, geochemical and
petrologic studies carried out on the veins intersected in core
indicate that the depths at which the vein has been tested are
still quite shallow within the hydrothermal system and relative
to where high grades are expected. This is in part due to the
vein dipping at a shallower angle than expected. Management of
both firms are currently reviewing all the data available in
order to better understand these results in anticipation of a
follow-up drill program designed to test the vein system at greater
depths and to target areas highlighted by this first phase drilling.
In addition to diamond drilling
along the known extent of the vein system, a geologic mapping,
rock-chip and soil sampling program was carried out in January
and February 2006 to better define and extend the understanding
of the veining and to identify further veins. The soil sampling
program defined a gold, silver and antimony in soil anomaly which
extends the known trend of gold mineralization by roughly 500
meters. Results from all 286 soil samples taken have been received,
including 20 samples which returned over 50 parts per billion
(ppb) gold, 20 samples which returned over 100 ppb (0.1 g/t)
gold and five samples over 200 ppb (0.2 g/t) gold with a high
of 1450 ppb (1.45 g/t) gold.
Almaden's wholly owned Fuego
gold-silver prospect is located in Oaxaca State, Mexico and was
identified and staked by Almaden in 2003. Almaden optioned the
Fuego property to Horseshoe on terms whereby Horseshoe can earn
a 60% interest in the property by spending US$3 Million exploring
the Fuego project and issuing 1,000,000 shares of Horseshoe to
Almaden. In addition, upon earning a 60% interest in the property,
Horseshoe would have 120 days to acquire Almaden's remaining
40% interest in the property in return for a 40% interest in
the issued capital of Horseshoe, to be issued by Horseshoe to
Almaden at that time.
The Fuego project is road accessible
and located in Oaxaca State, roughly 140 kilometers southeast
of Oaxaca City. The property covers an area of low-sulphidation
epithermal veining exhibiting classic vein textures commensurate
with a highly preserved dynamic mineralizing environment. The
textures include colloform banded fine grained quartz which has
replaced non-crystalline amorphous silica and quartz which has
replaced lattice-textured calcite. These textures, along with
the low silver to gold ratios and the trace element geochemistry
of the veins, are interpreted to be representative of a high
level of exposure within the mineralized portion of a low-sulphidation
epithermal vein system.
Samples of core from the drill
program, split with a diamond saw on site, were been submitted
to ALS Chemex's preparation facility in Mexico from which pulps
were sent to ALS Chemex's North Vancouver facility for analysis.
A quality control program was instituted and included the insertion
of blanks and standards into the sample stream. Gold analyses
were performed using conventional fire assay techniques. Silver
and trace element analyses were performed using inductively coupled
plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP). Mr. Morgan Poliquin,
P.Eng. (B.C.), a qualified person under the meaning of National
Instrument 43-101, and a director of Almaden, reviewed the technical
information in this news release.
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. |
