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News Release
2007-31
October 12, 2007
NEWS RELEASE
VILCORO GOLD PROPERTY
, PERU
-Ongoing Exploration Program
Lori McClenahan, President of St. Elias Mines Ltd. (“St.
Elias” or the “Company”), and
Marcus Johnson, President of Geneva Resources Inc.
(“Geneva”), are pleased to
present this update on
exploration of the Vilcoro Gold Property (the “Property”) based on
rock and soil sampling to date (531 rocks, 507 soils), including trench and
outcrop assay results from 120 rock samples collected during the latest
campaign, which focused on evaluation of gold-in-soil anomalies and
reconnaissance exploration on the property.
The
Company is pleased to report that three new gold zones were identified in the
Main Trend as a result of evaluation of gold-in-soil anomalies; Zone 4 (average
0.45 g/t gold in four samples from a 15-m trench), Zone 7 (average 0.58 g/t
gold from 2-to 8-m-long chip samples of five scattered outcrops), and Zone 8
(average 0.55 g/t gold in four samples from an 8.5-meter trench.
In addition, trenching has expanded the
size of two previously known zones (Zone 2 and Zone 3).
The Company is also encouraged by
reconnaissance results, which included identification of two new areas of gold
mineralization represented by a 13-m chip sample of altered tuff grading 0.66
g/t gold located 2 km to the north of the Main Trend, and a 5-m chip sample of
altered tuff grading 1.23 g/t gold located to the west of the pueblo of
Santiago de Chuco.
Both of these
areas are being targeted for follow up.
MAIN
TREND
The Main Trend consists of 7 well-defined clusters of
gold-in-rock anomalies (Zones 1 to 7) as well as numerous isolated gold
anomalies within a sinuously shaped structural corridor measuring 1.7 km in
strike and spanning a vertical distance of 360 meters.
Additional trenching, soil sampling, and PIMA analyses
(portable infrared mineral analysis) have refined the Company’s
appreciation of mineralized zones within the Main Trend.
Certain areas of mineralization, defined
as separate zones in previous new releases, have been consolidated.
Enumerations of zones in this news
release therefore supersede previous enumerations.
Zone 1 (A.K.A. Zona Manto) is the highest-grade
prospect discovered to date on the Property and is defined by 84 channel
samples taken mainly from underground workings in altered tuff. The zone is 130
meters long, up to 20 meters wide, and has a vertical span of 55 meters (from
3050 to 3105 m ASL).
The average
grade of samples collected from Zone 1 is 2.65 g/t gold (seven assays ranging
from 10.5 g/t gold to 842.0 g/t gold were cut to 10.0 g/t gold in calculating
this average).
Zone 2 is immediately east of Zone 1.
It is defined by 31 channel samples
collected mainly from trenches in altered tuff.
The zone is 210 meters long, up to 50
meters wide, and has a vertical span of 100 meters (from 2930 to 3030 m ASL).
The average grade of samples collected from Zone 2 is 0.43 g/t gold.
Zone 3 is 520 meters east-northeast of the eastern
limit of Zone 2. It is in an area of anomalous gold-in-soil assays (7 samples
ranging from 53 ppb gold to 169 ppb gold).
The zone is 200 meters long, up to 100
meters wide, and has a vertical span of 40 meters (from 2780 to 2820 m ASL).
It is defined by 26 rock channel samples
collected mainly from trenches in altered tuff that returned an average grade
of 0.23 g/t gold. Zone 3 appears to be the easternmost, deepest, and
lowest-grade level of the epithermal system.
Zone 2 to Zone 3:
In between Zone 2 and Zone 3 and within
Zone 3 itself, most of the Company’s efforts to trench gold-in-soil
anomalies to an outcrop source were not successful. Pits as deep as 3 meters
failed to encounter bedrock except as noted below.
Still, the presence of gold-in-soil
anomalies between Zones 2 and 3 suggest that the Main Trend persists beneath
soil cover.
Zone 4 is one of the trenches that successfully
reached outcrop to evaluate a gold-in-soil anomaly. Four samples collected from
this 15-m-long north-south oriented trench returned an average assay of 0.45
g/t gold.
Zone 4 is 220 meters
north-northeast of the east end of Zone 2 at an elevation of 2860 m ASL.
The spatial relationships between Zone 2
and Zones 3 and 4 suggest that, to the east of Zone 2, the Main Trend might be
offset to the north.
It is also
possible that the Main Trend is wider than has been previously thought, and
consists of multiple subparallel mineralized structures.
Zone 5 is an area of low-grade altered tuffs about 50
meters to the south of and parallel to Zone 1.
The zone is 90 meters long, up to 30
meters wide, and returned an average of 0.22 g/t gold in 18 samples.
Zone 6 is a 50 by 60-meter area that has two outcrops
of altered tuff and hydrobreccia.
It
lies about 150 meters south-southwest of Zone 5 at elevations ranging between
3110m and 3150m ASL.
Eight samples
from Zone 5 returned an average grade of 0.41 g/t gold.
Zone 7 consists of 5 scattered isolated outcrops
within an area measuring 190m by 90m that corresponds to the most prominent
area of gold-in-soil anomalies encountered to date on the Main Trend.
The average grade of five chip samples,
ranging in length from 2.0 to 8.0 meters, is 0.58 g/t gold.
The zone has a vertical span of 40
meters, between 3110m and 3150m ASL.
Zone 8 is another of the trenches that successfully
reached outcrop to evaluate a gold-in-soil anomaly.
Three samples collected from this
8.5-m-long north-south oriented trench returned an average assay of 0.55 g/t
gold. Zone 8 is 300 meters west of the west end of Zone 1 at an elevation of
3200 m ASL.
The technical information contained in this news
release has been verified by, John Brophy, P.Geo., a Canadian geologist
residing in Peru
,
who is a qualified person as defined in “National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral
Properties.
”
The Vilcoro Gold Property comprises 1,600
hectares and lies along the same geological belt of Tertiary rocks that hosts
many multi-million-ounce deposits in northern Peru such as Newmont’s
Yanacocha Mine (+40 million oz gold) and Barrick’s Pierina deposit (8
million oz. gold).
The Property is
favourably located adjacent to the claim block that covers the Lagunas Norte
mine (+9 million oz gold) recently put
into production by Barrick Gold in the Alto Chicama mining district of central Peru
..
For additional information on St. Elias
and its projects, please visit us at www.steliasmines.com or call
1-888-895-5522 (toll free US and Canada
).
ST. ELIAS MINES LTD.
(signed “Lori McClenahan”)
Lori McClenahan,
President
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not
accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this
document.
This
news release contains forward-looking statements regarding the ongoing and
upcoming exploration work and expected geometry of geological formations and
structures.
Actual results may
differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.