Midway Gold Announces 1.8 Million Ounce
Gold Resource at Spring Valley Project, Nevada
3/2/2009 11:58:59 AM - Market Wire
VANCOUVER, BRITISH
COLUMBIA, Mar 02, 2009 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX News
Network) --
Midway Gold Corp. ("Midway") (TSX VENTURE: MDW)(NYSE
Alternext US: MDW) is pleased to announce an updated mineral resource estimate
for the Spring Valley Project, Nevada of 87.75 million tons grading 0.021 ounce
per ton (opt) gold containing 1,835,615 ounces of gold. This updated estimate
represents an 85% increase in contained gold at Spring
Valley and includes drill holes completed and assay data received
after the last resource estimate by AMEC E&C Services, Inc. (AMEC) as at
December 15, 2007.
"This resource update represents a significant increase in
contained gold at the Spring Valley deposit
using a 0.006 opt gold cut-off. It incorporates portions of the West
Diatreme, North Hill, and newly discovered Big Leap zones that were
not included in previous estimates," said Alan Branham, President and CEO
of Midway Gold Corp. "New gold discovered in 2008 in-fill and step-out drilling
led to this expansion of the resource. I am pleased with the efficiency of the
Midway team which grew the resource at a cost of less than $10 per ounce last
year. The Spring Valley project continues to hold strong potential with
additional gold intercepted outside of the resource that need further
definition drilling to be included. The gold zones are still open to the north,
the south, and at depth."
(CHART-does not copy, see MDW news for it)
Midway drilled 63,565 feet of reverse circulation (RC) and 8,985
feet of core in 87 holes in 2008. Drilling has now identified a coherent gold
zone 5,000 feet long by 2,500 feet wide, and extends to a depth of 1,400 feet.
Known mineralization remains open to the north, southwest, and at depth.
This resource estimate is in compliance with Canada's
NI 43-101 and in accordance with CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources
and Mineral Reserves. It was conducted under the supervision of Eric LeLacheur
(CPG), Spring Valley Project Manager, and Don Harris (M.Sc., CPG), Vice
President-Advanced Projects (Midway), who are the Qualified Persons responsible
for the resource. David Mosch, Mining Engineer (Midway) built the block model.
Modeling and interpolation methods were reviewed by Nicole Preuss (LG), an independent
contractor and qualified person.
The current resource estimate includes drill results from 450
holes up to December 31, 2008 in the Pond, Sill, Porphyry, Valley Breccia,
North Hill, West Diatreme, and Big Leap Zones.
Mineralized domains were established by interpretation of geological,
structural and assay information on sections. Assays within the domains were
composited into 10 foot intervals. Search distances and directions were
established using spherical variograms on the composites within the domains. A
capping threshold of 1.00 opt gold was utilized, and assays greater than 1.00
opt gold were set to 1.00 opt gold. This cap is slightly lower than that used
by AMEC. Higher grade composites between 0.25 and 1.0 opt were given a
restricted range of 100 feet to limit high grade influences. A density of 12.6
cubic feet per short ton was applied to all bedrock material, and 14.0 cubic
feet per short ton was applied to alluvium overburden. A three dimensional
block model was generated using Surpac(R), a commercially available mine
planning software package. Composited assays were used to estimate tons and
gold grades within domains using an inverse distance cubed (ID3) estimation
method. Resources reported are included within a Lerchs-Grossmann (L-G) optimization
shell using a $715 per ounce gold price. The L-G shell is an economic test that
simulates a break even pit using current mining costs.
A Technical Report by Midway supporting disclosure of this
mineral resource will be filed on Sedar within 45 days of this press release.
The Technical Report updates the project as of December 31, 2008, and outlines
work on the resource and progress to date.
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