News Release: January 24th, 2007
Drilling in 2006 intersects High-grade Gold at the Elk Project, B.C.
In 2006 Almaden Minerals Ltd. (“Almaden”) carried out a diamond drill program on its wholly owned Elk Gold Deposit. The program consisted of 8,873 meters of drilling in 58 holes. The Elk Gold deposit is located roughly two kilometres south of Highway 97 and 45 kilometres southeast of Merritt in the Okanagan area of Southern British Columbia. The property is known for its very high gold grades and in the 1990’s; 51,750 ounces of gold were produced from 18,400 tons of quartz vein ore extracted from the B vein system in open pit and underground operations.
J. Duane Poliquin, President of Almaden stated: “The Elk gold deposit represents a growing gold resource which is adding significant value to our company apart from our generative exploration efforts. The Elk gold deposit provides the potential for revenue from a high-grade gold vein system in a macro-business environment where gold is performing very well relative to currencies. We are excited about the project and will continue to move it towards production by developing and raising the confidence level of the resource through aggressive drilling projects such as that carried out in 2006.”
A resource estimate carried out by Giroux Consultants in May 2006 based on data up to and including the 2005 drill program reported global resources as shown below.
AREA |
Au Cutoff (g/t) |
Measured |
Indicated |
Inferred |
Tonnes |
Grade Gold (g/t) |
Contained Ounces Gold |
Tonnes |
Grade Gold (g/t) |
Contained Ounces Gold |
Tonnes |
Grade Gold (g/t) |
Contained Ounces Gold |
B Flat Vein |
7.0 |
12,000 |
34.57 |
13,300 |
7,000 |
13.77 |
3,100 |
500 |
7.74 |
100 |
B Steep Vein |
7.0 |
17,000 |
37.34 |
20,400 |
34,000 |
47.51 |
51,900 |
114,000 |
16.21 |
59,400 |
B East Vein |
7.0 |
1,000 |
12.46 |
400 |
8,000 |
18.13 |
4,700 |
26,000 |
13.88 |
11,600 |
WD Vein |
7.0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
137,000 |
21.77 |
95,900 |
46,000 |
11.05 |
16,300 |
Bulk Open Pit Target |
1.0 |
195,000 |
5.730 |
35,900 |
435,000 |
4.250 |
59,400 |
908,000 |
3.46 |
101,000 |
TOTAL |
225,000 |
9.68 |
70,000 |
621,000 |
10.77 |
215,000 |
1,094,500 |
5.35 |
188,400 |
Four vein systems have been drilled in the Elk Mine area the B, WD, Bullion Creek and GCW Vein Zones. The resource only incorporates results from the B and WD vein zones where the vast majority of work has been carried out over the history of exploration at the Elk Deposit. The WD vein is located 200m north of the B vein system which was mined by open pit and underground methods in the early 1990’s. This year’s program focused on testing the near surface continuity and grade of the WD vein, increasing the density of drill hole intersections to 25 by 50 meters to approximately 100 meters below surface. The vein was intersected in all holes and now has been drill tested along strike for 730 meters and down dip for 450 meters. Also as part of the 2006 program, seventeen holes were drilled on the B Zone. Four of these holes tested the zone at depth and the remainder the area below and to the east of the open pit.
Geological interpretation and re-assaying has been completed and a summary of composite drill results greater than 10 gram-meters gold is listed below. True widths are based on core to vein angles.
Hole |
From (m) |
To (m) |
Interval (m) |
True Width (m) |
Gold (oz/t) |
Silver (oz/t) |
Gold (g/t) |
Silver (g/t) |
SND06451 |
20.49 |
20.79 |
0.30 |
0.30 |
0.418 |
0.087 |
14.33 |
2.98 |
SND06453 |
168.12 |
168.42 |
0.30 |
0.26 |
0.869 |
0.612 |
29.79 |
20.98 |
SND06454 |
184.18 |
184.48 |
0.30 |
0.30 |
2.932 |
5.746 |
100.53 |
197.01 |
SND06456 |
178.15 |
178.45 |
0.30 |
0.28 |
0.871 |
0.671 |
29.86 |
23.01 |
SND06459 |
181.25 |
181.55 |
0.30 |
0.28 |
0.316 |
0.700 |
10.83 |
24.00 |
SND06461 |
58.52 |
58.82 |
0.30 |
0.28 |
0.547 |
0.146 |
18.75 |
5.01 |
SND06462 |
299.31 |
299.81 |
0.50 |
0.48 |
2.125 |
0.642 |
72.86 |
22.01 |
SND06463 |
328.99 |
329.49 |
0.50 |
0.47 |
0.724 |
1.167 |
24.82 |
40.01 |
SND06463 |
329.49 |
329.99 |
0.50 |
0.43 |
0.618 |
0.467 |
21.19 |
16.01 |
SND06464 |
139.03 |
139.28 |
0.25 |
0.22 |
0.403 |
0.204 |
13.82 |
6.99 |
SND06467 |
88.92 |
89.26 |
0.34 |
0.31 |
1.158 |
2.100 |
39.70 |
72.00 |
SND06467 |
91.45 |
91.91 |
0.46 |
0.25 |
0.342 |
0.671 |
11.73 |
23.01 |
SND06468 |
120.67 |
121.27 |
0.60 |
0.23 |
0.525 |
1.896 |
18.00 |
65.01 |
SND06469 |
25.72 |
26.18 |
0.46 |
0.45 |
0.325 |
1.837 |
11.14 |
62.98 |
SND06470 |
81.55 |
81.85 |
0.30 |
0.26 |
0.448 |
0.437 |
15.36 |
14.98 |
SND06471 |
86.58 |
86.91 |
0.33 |
0.32 |
0.421 |
0.437 |
14.43 |
14.98 |
SND06472 |
43.03 |
43.63 |
0.60 |
0.52 |
2.232 |
7.233 |
76.53 |
247.99 |
SND06472 |
102.90 |
103.20 |
0.30 |
0.29 |
0.865 |
0.612 |
29.66 |
20.98 |
SND06473 |
112.75 |
113.08 |
0.33 |
0.23 |
0.442 |
0.962 |
15.15 |
32.98 |
SND06473 |
143.37 |
143.67 |
0.30 |
0.24 |
0.394 |
0.175 |
13.51 |
6.00 |
SND06475 |
129.10 |
129.51 |
0.41 |
0.35 |
0.361 |
1.721 |
12.38 |
59.01 |
SND06477 |
26.31 |
26.70 |
0.39 |
0.30 |
1.315 |
1.896 |
45.09 |
65.01 |
SND06479 |
75.65 |
76.01 |
0.36 |
? |
0.622 |
0.904 |
21.33 |
30.99 |
SND06481 |
63.53 |
63.83 |
0.30 |
0.25 |
2.418 |
2.100 |
82.90 |
72.00 |
SND06486 |
45.03 |
45.33 |
0.30 |
0.27 |
0.904 |
1.662 |
30.99 |
56.98 |
SND06487 |
83.58 |
84.23 |
0.65 |
0.44 |
0.352 |
2.333 |
12.07 |
79.99 |
SND06493 |
74.78 |
75.40 |
0.62 |
0.34 |
0.311 |
0.904 |
10.66 |
30.99 |
SND06499 |
114.06 |
114.44 |
0.38 |
0.25 |
1.438 |
2.800 |
49.30 |
96.00 |
SND06501 |
173.72 |
174.07 |
0.35 |
0.32 |
0.378 |
0.787 |
12.96 |
26.98 |
SND06502 |
42.66 |
42.96 |
0.30 |
0.26 |
0.370 |
0.262 |
12.69 |
8.98 |
SND06502 |
71.91 |
72.21 |
0.30 |
? |
2.015 |
3.412 |
69.09 |
116.98 |
Note: m signifies meters; g/t signifies grams per tonne; oz/t signifies ounces per ton.
The Elk Gold Deposit was originally found by Almaden staff in the late 1980’s during a regional prospecting program in Southern B.C. Since 2001 drilling by Almaden at the Elk deposit has increased the 43-101 compatible resource from a total of 141,962 contained ounces of gold in the inferred and measured resource and probable reserve categories to the resource stated above of 473,400 ounces in the indicated, measured and inferred resource categories.
The qualified person and supervisor for the 2006 exploration drill program is Wojtek Jakubowski, P. Geo., an employee of Almaden. All samples were analyzed at Acme Analytical Labs (“Acme”) in Vancouver using wet geochemical, fire assay and metallics techniques. Duplicates, blanks and standards were inserted into the sample stream as part of Almaden’s ongoing quality control program at the Elk Deposit. Check assays were carried out by ALS Chemex Labs in Vancouver.
Almaden’s management is reviewing the results of the 2006 drilling. A new geologic model for the vein system is presently being constructed in order to enable evaluation of the resource. A new resource estimate incorporating these 2006 results, and complying with National Instrument 43-101 requirements will be calculated by Giroux Consultants Ltd.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
OF DIRECTORS
Duane 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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