VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Sep 30, 2014) - Reservoir Minerals Inc. ("Reservoir" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:RMC)(RVRLF)(9RE.BE) is pleased to report on progress from its first phase of exploration, which includes rock chip and trench sampling and two drill holes (RTN 1401 and 1402), on its 100% owned Nikolicevo Permit in the Timok Magmatic Complex ("TMC"), east Serbia. The Permit is approximately 5 kilometres east of the Cukaru Peki discovery and about 8.5 kilometres southeast of the Bor copper-gold mining complex.
Dr. Simon Ingram, President and CEO of Reservoir Minerals Inc. commented: "Initial exploration findings are encouraging: alteration and mineralization has been discovered in float, outcrop and trench sampling and in the first drill holes. Volcano-sedimentary rocks containing clasts of massive sulphide mineralisation have been found in float and outcrop as well as in drill hole RTN 1402. We believe that these observations confirm proximity to a mineralizing system. The Nikolicevo Permit has no history of mineral exploration and these initial results endorse the Company's exploration model and targeting methodology. We look forward to providing updates as the drilling campaign progresses."
Exploration Results
Surface Exploration
Initial exploration has focused on the Misljenovac and Rudine areas in the southern part of the Nikolicevo permit where favourable structures intersect the target Upper Cretaceous volcanic rocks. Massive pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralization has been identified in float and outcrops. Float sample TN 201087 of oxidized massive sulphide with relic pyrite-chalcopyrite yielded 16% copper and 1.86 grams per tonne (g/t) gold. A 40 metre long trench (Trench NT-9, located 500 metres southeast of the RTN 1402 collar) exposed argillic-altered andesite as subcrop and in the basal C-horizon of the soil profile. The exposed altered andesites contained limonitized structural zones with occasional malachite and azurite, and a channel sample yielded 1.57% copper and 0.11 g/t gold. Selected results from the trench are provided in Table 1 and trench location maps are provided on the Company's website (www.reservoirminerals.com).
Table 1: Selected results from Trench NT-9, Rudine
Sample
Location (m) |
Sample
Type |
Interval
(m) |
Cu % |
Au g/t |
| 2 - 26 |
C-horizon soil |
26 |
0.33 |
0.13 |
| including 18-20 |
2 |
0.47 |
0.55 |
| 26 - 28 |
bedrock |
2 |
1.57 |
0.11 |
Drilling
The drill targets are based on a combination of coincident geological, structural, geochemical and geophysical (magnetometry and induced polarization) vectors and anomalies. The first phase of exploration drilling commenced during August 2014 and is designed to test shallower targets (approximately 500 metres deep) in the favourable Upper Cretaceous volcanics near the western boundary of the Nikolicevo permit. Three drill holes (RTN 1401 - final depth 266.6 metres, 1402 - final depth 555.4 metres and 1405 - final depth 607.5 metres) have been completed to date for a total of 1,429.5 metres, and there are currently two drill rigs operational on the permit. The second phase of drilling (approximately 10,000 metres in total) is expected to commence in late autumn, 2014, to test deeper targets (up to 1,000 metres deep) in the eastern sector of the permit, where Miocene cover conceals the target Upper Cretaceous volcanics, as well as additional deeper targets in the western sector.
Drill holes RTN 1401 and RTN 1402 intersected a succession of volcanic andesite, volcanic breccia, and volcano-sedimentary units and numerous fault zones marked by tectonic breccia. Hydrothermal alteration is widespread in both drill holes including 50 meters of hydrothermal breccia in RTN 1402 in the Rudine prospect. Drill hole RTN 1402 also intersected a long interval from 350 meters to 520 meters of chlorite-sericite clay and stronger sericite-pyrite-clay, to intense quartz-pyrite alteration.
An epiclastic volcano-sedimentary unit intersected in RTN 1402 from 85 to 212 metres locally contains horizons with sub-angular clasts of altered volcanics (quartz-sericite-pyrite and chlorite-quartz-pyrite alteration) and fragments (up to 5 centimetres in size) of massive pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralization.
The initial assay results received for copper and gold in core from drill holes RTN 1401 and RTN 1402 are low, and there are no significant intercepts to report. The assay results will be finally evaluated and reported at the conclusion of the drilling programme. A map of the Rudine prospect area with drill hole locations, trenches and float samples is provided on the Company web site (www.reservoirminerals.com).
Commentary
Volcano-sedimentary epiclastic units containing transported fragments of copper sulphide mineralization are well known in the district, for example at the Brestovac quarry (south of Brestovac Corridor Zone, and approximately 2 kilometres west of Cukaru Peki) and the lenticular Novo Okno copper deposit (approximately 2 kilometres south of the Bor open pit). They are generally associated with, and indicative of, proximity to centres of mineralization.
Although the assay results received to date for copper and gold from drill holes RTN 1401 and RTN 1402 are low, the Company considers that the presence of copper-gold mineralisation in float and outcrop, beds containing clasts of copper sulphide mineralisation in drill hole RTN 1402, as well as the mapped and logged alteration assemblages, are together indicative of potential proximity to an as yet undiscovered massive sulphide high-sulphidation epithermal system in the Rudine area.
Nikolicevo Exploration Permit
The Nikolicevo exploration permit is located in the eastern TMC and includes the NW-SE trending structural and metallogenic trend that hosts the giant Bor district copper-gold porphyry and epithermal deposits, as well as the Company's recent Cukaru Peki copper-gold discovery made in joint venture with Freeport-MacMoRan Exploration Corporation. Location maps are posted on the Company website (www.reservoirminerals.com).
The underlying geology comprises Upper Cretaceous andesites, which are the host rocks to the Cukaru Peki copper-gold mineralisation in the Brestovac-Metovnica permit and the copper-gold deposits in the Bor mining district, and a volcano-sedimentary post-mineralisation succession. Miocene clastic sediments unconformably overlie the Upper Cretaceous succession in the east of the permit. The structural setting is dominated by a major NNW trending fault system (Krivel fault) and prominent younger E-W cross-faults. The target volcanic stratigraphy is preserved in several structural domains near the Krivel fault.
The Company considers that the permit is prospective for both Cukaru Peki and Bor district style porphyry and high sulphidation epithermal massive sulphide targets, and has designed a phased drill program to test targets at different structural levels.
Quality Assurance and Control ("QAQC")
Core and surface rock chip samples were submitted to ALS Minerals facilities in Bor, Serbia, for standard preparation. Samples were analysed for gold by fire assay at the ALS Minerals laboratory in Rosia Montana, Romania, and by multi-element ICP-AES after 4-acid digestion at the ALS Minerals laboratory in Loughrea, Ireland. Samples containing greater than 10% copper were subjected to dilution after 4-acid digestion and evaporation to dryness, and analysed by ICP-AES. In addition to the laboratory's internal QAQC procedures, the Company conducted its own QAQC with the systematic inclusion of certified reference materials, blank samples and core and field duplicate samples. The analytical results from the Company's quality control samples have been evaluated, and demonstrated to conform to best practice standards.
Reservoir Minerals solely-owned Exploration Permits in the Timok Magmatic Complex, Serbia
The Company has four solely-owned exploration permits (Coka Kupjatra, Tilva Njagra, Nikolicevo and Kraljevica) in the TMC that cover a combined area of 293.2 square kilometres. The Company is continuing geological, geochemical and geophysical surveys to define further drill targets on all these permits. A 2,000 metres drilling campaign has recently commenced in the Coka Kupjatra and Tilva Njagra permits, where one drill rig is currently operating. Results will be reported after they have been received and evaluated. Further information is provided in Company News Release June 9, 2014, and maps showing the locations of these exploration permits are posted on the Company website (www.reservoirminerals.com).
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 an 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, and the licenses described in this News Release will be available for joint venture.
For further information on Reservoir Minerals Inc., please consult our website www.reservoirminerals.com.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.