July 9, 2008 |
First Round of Drilling in Rainy's Off Lake Area Confirms Region's Potential for High-Grade Gold and VMS-Style Mineralization |
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - July 9, 2008) - Nelson W. Baker, President and CEO of Rainy River Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:RR), is pleased to report that the Company's first phase exploratory drill program in the Off Lake area, consisting of five widely-spaced holes totalling 1550-metres primarily designed to test a large mineralized felsic dyke complex, has returned multiple gold-bearing VMS-style intersections in three holes (see Table I below for details and www.rainyriverresources.com for locations). The Off Lake felsic dyke complex measures 4 x 9 km and consists of a stockwork of 70 percent quartz-feldspar porphyry dykes in a basalt host. It has the same gold-rich volcanogenic sulphide signature as the Richardson Township caldera to the southwest and may represent the fault-displaced hydrothermal engine responsible for the caldera-hosted gold deposits including the 17/ODM and 433 Zones.
The most continuous intersection from the Off Lake drilling was in hole OL08-04 which returned 0.77 g/t Au, 57.0 g/t Ag, 0.1% Cu and 1.84% Zn over 8.73 metres including 2.30 g/t Au, 183.0 g/t Ag, 0.2% Cu and 3.81% Zn over 2.00 metres. The next hole, OL08-05 drilled 170 m south-southeast of OL08-04, was designed to intersect the Stares Main Showing where a surface grab sample graded 0.61 g/t Au, 27.0 g/t Ag, 0.2% Cu and 3.9% Zn. This hole intersected four stacked, multi-gram gold intervals with coincident silver, copper and zinc values within a 47 m interval of mineralized quartz-phyric felsic dykes. The strongest of the four intervals graded 8.27 g/t Au, 32.0 g/t Ag, 0.22% Cu and 5.99% Zn over 0.58 metres. The third hole, OL08-06, was drilled 150 m further south-southeast to test the Jessica Showing, a new mineral occurrence discovered by prospecting at or near the contact between the felsic dyke complex and a conglomerate/breccia unit recently mapped by Dr. Lorne Ayres. Several narrow, multi-gram, Au-rich, VMS-style intervals were recorded including a 0.20 m interval grading 39.10 g/t Au, 125.0 g/t Ag, 1.75% Cu and 1.83% Zn. Another lower section of 2.58 m graded 2.27 g/t Au and 0.56% Zn.
The most southerly hole in this phase, OL08-07 drilled 680 m south-southeast of OL08-06, intersected a 54 m interval of disseminated chalcopyrite mineralization. This style of mineralization is atypical of the area in the sense that it consists primarily of copper with low levels of gold, silver, lead and zinc. The fifth and final hole, OL07-02B approximately 100 m north-northwest of OL08-04, deepened pre-existing OL07-02 another 291 m. The hole intersected a number of narrow intervals of anomalous Au, Ag, Cu, Pb and Zn hosted by a wide interval of quartz-phyric felsic lithologies.
TABLE 1
BEST MINERALIZED INTERVALS
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From To Length Au Ag Cu Pb Zn
Hole (m) (m) (m) g/t g/t % % %
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OL0804 111.53 112.00 0.47 0.05 17.0 0.05 0.11 0.89
OL0804 112.00 113.00 1.00 2.00 55.0 0.16 0.09 1.82
OL0804 113.00 114.00 1.00 2.59 312.0 0.32 0.29 5.80
OL0804 114.00 115.00 1.00 0.28 14.0 0.03 0.23 1.48
OL0804 115.00 116.00 1.00 0.23 5.0 0.01 0.06 0.77
OL0804 116.00 117.00 1.00 0.23 8.0 0.02 0.08 1.70
OL0804 117.00 118.00 1.00 0.26 4.0 0.01 0.08 0.19
OL0804 118.00 119.00 1.00 0.08 13.0 0.02 0.24 1.66
OL0804 119.00 120.36 1.36 0.79 59.0 0.19 0.21 1.72
OL0805 44.07 44.65 0.58 8.27 32.0 0.22 0.08 5.99
OL0805 82.05 82.60 0.55 2.10 38.0 0.12 0.31 3.52
OL0805 89.50 91.00 1.50 3.64 15.0 0.09 0.09 1.19
OL0805 91.00 91.71 0.71 1.02 13.0 0.03 0.43 0.70
OL0806 93.50 94.92 1.42 2.70 8.0 0.03 0.01 0.45
OL0806 152.40 152.60 0.20 39.10 125.0 1.75 0.05 1.83
OL0806 153.39 153.88 0.49 3.21 11.0 0.20 0.01 3.39
OL0806 232.42 233.00 0.58 0.44 4.0 0.06 0.01 1.22
OL0806 233.00 234.00 1.00 5.20 9.0 0.06 0.02 0.38
OL0806 234.00 235.00 1.00 1.17 5.0 0.09 0.00 0.59
Note: The interval widths included in the Table above are core length
intersections and not true width intervals.
Nelson Baker comments that, "We are very pleased with the first phase results as they support our theory that the Off Lake area is metallogenically related to the Richardson caldera and it has a similar high exploration potential for gold-rich VMS-style deposits. We look forward to testing several other high priority base metal targets defined by prospecting and mapping. Immediate steps are being taken to secure a drill specifically dedicated to the Off Lake area."
C.J. Baker, M.Sc., is the Company's regional exploration manager and is responsible for supervising the Off Lake drill program, the on-going mapping and prospecting programs. Nelson W. Baker, P.Eng., is the Qualified Person for the project and the person responsible for the contents of this release. As in Richardson Township, 23 km to the southwest, the Company has implemented a rigorous QA/QC program to ensure best practices in sampling and analysis of drill core. The procedures of the QA/QC program are detailed on Rainy River's website www.rainyriverresources.com.
About Rainy River Resources Ltd.
Rainy River Resources is a Canadian precious metals exploration company whose key asset is the Rainy River gold project. With a $37 million treasury, the Company is well funded to conduct an aggressive, year-round resource definition drilling program and regional drill testing of high-priority gold targets. The Company's property is extremely well located in western Ontario near the U.S. border. It is accessed by a network of roads and is close to hydro-electric infrastructure. The Rainy River district has a skilled labour force and is one of the lowest-cost areas for mineral exploration. Ontario has low political risk and, according to the annual Fraser Institute global survey of the mining industry, has consistently ranked as one of the top jurisdictions embracing mineral development.
Nelson W. Baker, President
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, including market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.
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