DRILLING BEGINS AT SURPRISE CREEK
Vancouver, B.C.
- Pinnacle Mines Ltd. is pleased to announce that drilling has commenced on its wholly-owned Surprise Creek property which is located 32 kilometers northeast of Stewart, British Columbia in the Skeena Mining Division.
The property lies within a belt of Jurassic mostly volcanic rocks extending from the Kitsault area to the Stikine River. This belt hosts numerous precious and base metal deposits, including the producing Eskay Creek and former Snip, Granduc and Premier Mines.
The 2007 exploration program will consist of several reconnaissance drill holes 400 to 800 meters deep intended to test at depth the sedimentary horizon(s) that are believed to contain VMS (volcanogenic massive sulphide) zinc, lead, and silver mineralization.
Work to date has included geological mapping and rock chip and silt sampling. During the 2005 and 2006 exploration seasons a total of 330 rock and 8 silt samples were collected which revealed varying concentrations of lead, zinc, silver and mercury.
There is a strong indication that the property may host a Kuroko type VMS deposit, possibly with a high precious metals content. This conclusion is based on the following facts:
Presence of syngenetic zinc, lead and silver mineralization hosted in black chert, limestone and mudstone. Values up to 7.61% Zn, 1.1% Pb and 106 g/t Ag were obtained from these rocks. High mercury values, typically in the range of 40 to 100 times above the background level (with the high of 33,800 ppb) are closely associated with this type of mineralization.
This syngenetic mineralization is spatially associated with the felsic volcanic rocks of the Mt. Dilworth Formation, the same stratigraphic horizon which hosts the Eskay Creek deposit. On the property, felsic volcanic rocks of this formation form a relatively thin horizon 70 to 200 meters wide within prevailing volcanic rocks of intermediate to mafic composition.
Presence of an eruption center located in the Surprise Creek area as indicated by outcrops of rhyolite flows with distinct banding, as well as rhyolite breccia.
Presence of an exhalite horizon.
Nearby presence (Todd Creek) of a big copper-gold epithermal system comprised of numerous pyrite-chalcopyrite dominated veins and stringers. This system very likely represents the footwall-stringer zone of a Kuroko type VMS system.
Sampling of numerous boulders and to a lesser extent of in-situ sedimentary rocks with syngenetic zinc, lead, and silver mineralization was carried out over a distance of ten kilometers in several glacial valleys which join the main Surprise Creek valley. There is an extensive horizon(s) hosting this type of mineralization, situated in the headwaters of these valleys. A portion of this horizon (at least 30-40 meters wide) is exposed at the head of one of the glaciers. This horizon most likely represents a distal facies (halo) of a Kuroko type VMS system as indicated by the lack of volcanic material and alteration, and also by the fact that zinc is by far the most abundant metal.
Alex Walus, P. Geo., is the qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 who is in charge of the exploration program on behalf of the Company. Drill core and trench samples are assayed by Assayers Canada of Vancouver, BC.
Pinnacle Mines is a Canadian based mineral exploration and development company with assets in Canada and Mexico. In Canada, Pinnacle holds several properties in Northwestern British Columbia in proximity to numerous past and producing mines including the Silbak-Premier Mine and Barrick Gold's famed Eskay Creek Mine. In Mexico, Pinnacle has options to acquire and is currently exploring several copper-gold-silver targets located within the states of both Oaxaca and Puebla.
For further information contact Andrew Bowering, Vice President Finance or John Van Duzen at 604-688-7377 or visit Pinnacle's website at www.pinnaclemines.com
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On behalf of the Board of Directors
"Paul Saxton"
President & CEO
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility
for the adequacy or the accuracy of the content of this news release.
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