VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Nov 18, 2014) - Reservoir Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RMC)(RVRLF)(9RE.BE) ("RMC" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has sampled high-grade gold mineralization in its trenching program on the Bibemi exploration licence in Cameroon. The Company has also acquired the Wapouzé exploration licence located close to Bibemi and covering similar Pan-African geology.
Dr. Simon Ingram, President and CEO of Reservoir Minerals commented: "The Company has consolidated its presence on the Pan African formations in Northern Cameroon with the acquisition of the prospective Wapouzé licence. In addition the Bibemi trenching results confirm the excellent potential for near-surface gold mineralization over a strike length of approximately 19 kilometres. Further gold potential in the south-eastern part of the Bibemi licence is demonstrated by new artisanal gold panning in alluvium which extends the strike length of the known gold mineralization to approximately 30 kilometres within the Bibemi licence."
Wapouzé Licence
The Wapouzé exploration licence for gold and related commodities was awarded to Reservoir Minerals Cameroon SARL on July 22, 2014, is valid for 3 years and can then be renewed a further two times, each for 2 years. The licence covers an area of 364 square kilometres and is located approximately 10 kilometres north of the Company's Bibemi licence in northern Cameroon.
The licence covers a Pan-African age metavolcano-sedimentary succession that is similar to the favourable geology in the Bibemi licence. Reconnaissance fieldwork by Company geologists identified anomalous gold values in stream sediment samples collected over the target geology, and confirmed the potential for further discovery of gold mineralization similar to that in Bibemi.
Bibemi Licence - results of fieldwork
Previous fieldwork identified gold mineralization in quartz veins within a gold-in-soil geochemistry anomaly extending for 20 kilometres along strike. The best results from channel sampling of weathered bedrock included 10 metres containing 2.26 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold from Trench T07 (Company News Release, November 1, 2012).
During the 2014 dry season, 95 trenches were excavated to bedrock (for a total of 3,154 linear metres of trenching) and 568 channel samples collected from the quartz veins. Samples from the quartz veins were 50 to 60 kilograms, and those from the surrounding host rocks were 20 to 30 kilograms.
The results from this sampling confirm the presence of high-grade gold mineralization (maximum 10.95 g/t gold over 3.6 metres from 2.6 to 6.2 metres in trench T37) in thin and strongly deformed quartz veins as well as in the host schists and diorite. In the three trenches with the better gold contents (Table 1), the results are generally higher than those obtained in 2013 but the mineralized intervals are narrower. The channel samples were collected from the base of the trench, which is an irregular surface due to the varying hardness of the lithologies. Furthermore, the mineralized quartz veins have different orientations. The true thickness of the mineralization is therefore most probably less than the sampled intervals shown in Table 1.
Maps showing geological maps, the location of trenches and sample results are presented on the Company website (www.reservoirminerals.com).
Table 1 - Significant results from 2014 trenching program
| Trench ID |
from (m) |
to (m) |
|
interval (m) |
average grade (g/t Au) |
Lithologies |
| T037 |
0.0 |
6.2 |
|
6.2 |
8.05 |
Quartz vein dominant, diorite and schists |
| 29.3 |
37.8 |
|
8.5 |
4.04 |
Quartz vein dominant, schists |
| 45.3 |
45.9 |
|
0.6 |
8.35 |
Quartz vein |
| T062 |
48.0 |
50.0 |
|
2.0 |
1.49 |
Quartz vein and sericite schists |
| 53.0 |
57.0 |
|
4.0 |
2.41 |
Quartz vein and sericite schists |
| T103 |
33.3 |
36.2 |
|
2.9 |
2.03 |
Sericite schists, diorite and quartz vein |
Three strong mineralized zones, striking NE-SW for approximately 19 kilometres, are defined from the 2012 and 2013 soil geochemistry and trench results. Furthermore, reconnaissance geological mapping in the southern half of the licence confirms the extension of quartz veins to the south, through areas of artisanal gold panning that did not yield anomalous gold in the wide-spaced soil sampling program.
Detailed geological mapping by Company geologists identified older granodiorites and diorites within the volcano-sedimentary schists and demonstrated that they are intruded by younger granites. The regional distribution of the gold mineralization suggests that it is related to the main shear or thrust zone (possibly 2 or 3 main parallel subsidiary faults) near the contact between the granodiorite and the volcano-sedimentary schists. Gold mineralization in the Bakassi area is spatially associated with the contact between a felsite and schists, and this contact is often exposed in the artisanal excavations. The gold mineralization may have occurred during the thrusting, and appears to be related to thin deformed quartz veinlets. The prominent quartz veins may be a younger magmatic-hydrothermal event that partially remobilised the gold as the work in 2014 demonstrated that these veins are only occasionally mineralized.
Option and Joint Venture Agreement
Under the terms of an Option and Joint Venture Agreement between the Company and the Bureau d'Etudes et d'Investigations Géologico-Minières, Géotechniques et Géophysiques (BEIG3 SÀRL) ("BEIG3") a joint venture company, Reservoir Minerals Cameroon SARL has been formed in Cameroon which is 90% owned and managed by RMC. Transfer of the Bibemi and So'o properties to the joint venture company was signed into law by the Minister on August 2, 2012. Under the terms of the Joint Venture Agreement, RMC paid BEIG3 C$45,000 on the transfer of the licences in August 2012, and a further C$20,000 each on 2nd August 2013 and 2nd August 2014, no further payments are due to BEIG3
Quality Control:
The Company follows industry standard quality assurance and quality control procedures for all samples. The QA/QC program includes the insertion of blanks, duplicates and certified standards into the sample batches.
Trench samples were prepared under the supervision of Company staff by crushing, riffle splitting and pulverization at the Company's sample preparation facility in Garoua to 100 grams of
All prepared samples were shipped by courier to ALS Minerals Laboratories (ISO 17025 accredited) in Johannesburg where they were analysed for gold by fire assay with AAS finish.
Qualified Person:
Dr. Duncan Large, Chartered Engineer (UK) and Eur. Geol., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators and a consultant to the Company, approved the technical disclosure in this release and has verified the data disclosed.
About the Company:
Reservoir Minerals Inc. is an international mineral exploration and development company run by a experienced technical and management team, with a portfolio of precious and base metal exploration properties in Europe and Africa. The Company operates an exploration partnership business model to leverage its expertise through to discovery. The Bibemi project discussed in this news release is available for partnership.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.