·
NEW GOLD ACQUISITION IN PINOS
DISTRICT, ZACATECAS, MEXICO
Toronto, September 11, 2009,
Xtierra Inc. (TSXV – XAG) (“Xtierra” or the “Company”), is pleased to announce that it has entered into an
option agreement with private Mexican interests whereby it may acquire a 100%
interest in the El Dorado gold project within 2,890 hectares of mining claims
located in the Pinos district of southeastern Zacatecas State, Mexico. The
property is located within the Central Mexican Mineral Belt and has an existing
small-scale underground gold mining operation developed on one level of the El
Dorado vein. It is located close to Xtierra’s existing
Orca 3 property and some 80 kilometres southeast of Xtierra’s Bilbao
silver-zinc-lead-copper development project.
The El Dorado
Property
The El Dorado
property is located 7 kilometers northeast of the historic Pinos gold deposits
where veins with reported bonanza grades of more than 200g/t gold were mined
historically on northwest striking veins making the Pinos district the largest
gold producer in the State of Zacatecas
during the Colonial Period. Historic records suggest the average mined grade
was 97 g/t silver and 58.26 g/t gold.
Gold mineralization at El
Dorado occurs as veins and in quartz stockworks related to
late stage extensional faulting developed within an intrusive quartz-eye
rhyolite. The El Dorado
vein trends north-northwest and dips steeply to the west. It comprises one main
and several parallel veins of quartz-hematite. Mineralization noted within the
single level adit driven 134 metres on the vein is native gold within a matrix
of hematite. Lower grade gold mineralization has been found in altered wall
rocks. The current mining operation on the El Dorado
vein structure produces only small tonnages each day by selectively hand mining
higher grade vein material which is directly shipped to the Peñoles smelter,
400 km to the north, at Torreon.
Work recently completed by
Xtierra during preliminary due diligence has resulted in the discovery of an
extensive gold-bearing stockwork encompassing the El
Dorado vein and several other parallel structures. Soil
and rock geochemistry have demonstrated that this stockwork, formed at the edge
of a linear gold soil anomaly over 1km in strike length, is open-ended to the
north-east and trends directly into a second, newly identified stockwork body,
located over 300 metres away from the El Dorado vein.
Preliminary work completed by
Xtierra confirms the high grade nature of the El
Dorado vein with channel sampling returning values ranging
from 0.5 to 57.0 g/t gold over widths of 0.10 to 1.0 metre with individual grab
samples as high as 1,760 g/t gold and 3,590 g/t silver. Such grades indicate
the potential for bonanza deposition zone development within an epithermal
boiling zone. The El Dorado
vein and surrounding stockworks do not appear to have been tested by drilling.
Prospecting, trenching and soil geochemical sampling
indicate the presence of at least five additional parallel veins underlain by
altered and brecciated, porphyritic rhyolite with well-developed
quartz-hematite stockwork veining which have consistently returned anomalous
gold values in the range 0.1 to 80g/t gold within the area of the stockwork.
Xtierra plans further detailed exploration of the El
Dorado and Orca 3 properties over the next six months which will
include the drilling of between 4 to 6 diamond drill holes to evaluate the
depth extension of the main El Dorado
vein and the extent of the stockwork mineralization.
Chief Executive’s Comments
Xtierra’s Chief Executive Officer,
Terence McKillen, stated “The acquisition of the El
Dorado property in the historic Pinos gold district of
Zacatecas adds further diversification to Xtierra’s mineral property portfolio
in Zacatecas within a promising gold district with high grade epithermal vein
and lower grade bulk tonnage gold potential. The El
Dorado project complements and broadens Xtierra’s earlier focus
on development of silver-base metal resources in Zacatecas.”
Agreement
Under the terms of the agreement, Golden Dust S.A. de
C.V., (“Golden Dust”) an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Xtierra may
acquire a 100% interest in the Eldorado Claims (the “Property”) by staged
options and payments (all US Dollar amounts). An initial payment of $32,558 has
been made which grants Golden Dust an option to explore and evaluate the
Property until March 7, 2010. Should Golden Dust exercise the option to purchase
the Property on or before March 7, 2010, a payment of $93,023 would be made,
followed by three equal payments of $268,217 due respectively on January 15 of
2014, 2015 and 2016, for a total consideration of $1 million. If Golden Dust
completes a feasibility study and such study indicates a mineral reserve
estimate containing between 250,001 and 500,000 ounces of gold, a bonus to the
purchase price of $500,000 will be paid, or if such mineral reserve estimate is
greater than 500,000 ounces of gold, a bonus purchase price of $1 million will
be paid, on the same staged basis as the three interim payments. The maximum
purchase price to be paid is $2 million. Golden Dust may conduct whatever
exploration and development work it deems necessary to evaluate the Property.
Qualified Person
Information of a scientific or technical nature contained in this
release has been prepared by or under the supervision of Terence McKillen,
P.Geo. and/or Gerald Gauthier, P.Eng., respectively Chief Executive Officer and
Chief Operating Officer of the Corporation and Qualified Persons within the
meaning of National Instrument 43-101 of the Canadian Securities
Administrators.
About Xtierra Inc.
Xtierra
Inc. is a Toronto
based exploration and development company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. Xtierra’s
shares trade under the symbol “XAG”. Xtierra has 49,862,003 shares issued and
outstanding. Xtierra
is mid-way through a first phase feasibility study on its 100% owned Bilbao
silver‐zinc‐copper project in Zacatecas,
Mexico. Xtierra is
currently conducting a feasibility study on its Bilbao
silver-lead-zinc-copper project. Xtierra’s objective is to become a mid‐tier producer of precious and base metals through the
development of its Bilbao
and Laguna projects, both located in the Central Mexican Mineral Belt in the
State of Zacatecas,
as well as through exploration, organic growth and M & A opportunities.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation
Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture
Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of this
release.
For
further information visit www.xtierra.ca or contact:
Terence
McKillen, President & Chief Executive – (416) 362-8243
Tim
Gallagher, Director - (416)
925-0090
Alejandro
Alaniz, Director Finance & Administration (Mexico)
- +52 (492)925-0804
Brett
Whitelaw – (604) 662 - 8633