- Drill Inferred Resources grow to 1.399 million ounces, up 173%
- M&I Resources at 490,000 ounces
Vancouver, April 11, 2013:
Sultan Minerals Inc. (TSX-V: SUL; "Sultan") is pleased to announce that Sultan's Joint Venture Partner,
Altair Gold Incorporated (TSX-V: AVX; "Altair") has reported the results of an updated resource estimate for the Kena gold project near the town of Nelson in southeastern British Columbia. This updated 2013 mineral resource estimate was derived from the incorporation of the 2012 drilling which successfully expanded the volume and continuity of the mineralized zones used in the 2012 resource estimate.
The new resource estimate includes a total of 25,280,000 tonnes at 0.60g/t gold in the Measured + Indicated (M&I) Resource categories, comprising 490,000 contained ounces of gold, while the Inferred Mineral Resource comprises 90,440,000 tonnes at 0.48g/t gold, for 1,399,000 contained ounces of gold. These figures were estimated using a 0.30g/t gold cut-off.
"The updated resource estimate on the Kena Project gives Altair excellent incentive for continued exploration of the newly modeled gold mineralization", stated Altair's President & CEO, Fayyaz Alimohamed. "We also intend to continue with evaluating the many other exciting targets on the project, such as the artisanal Euphrates mine which between 1928 and 1941 reportedly mined 307 tonnes at average grades of 46.91 g/t gold and 249.33 g/t silver" (BC MINFILE DEPOSIT No 082FSW186).
The 2012 diamond drilling program was designed to infill the gold bearing trend along strike and to depth, and comprised 7,527 metres in 41 drill holes. To this point most drilling, and hence the resource estimate, is based upon the Gold Mountain Zone (GMZ), the Kena Gold Zone (KGZ), and the High Grade Zone (HGZ).
The 173% increase in the Inferred estimate is due to the extension of the mineralized Kena zone to the northwest by the results of the 2012 drilling. This extension has resulted in the interpreted connection of the KGZ and GMZ to collectively form what is referred to as the KGM Zone in the new geologic model.
The previous 2012 total M&I resources for the KGZ and GMZ comprised 549,000 contained ounces of gold, while total Inferred resources comprised 513,000 ounces. The current increase in the inferred gold resource reflects the potential for the host to be a larger and more continuous structure than what had previously been recognized.
Following completion of the 2012 drilling program, all drill holes were entered into the Kena Project database. With the new information, Altair's consultants designed a new geologic model for the resource. Gary Giroux, P.Eng, MASc, was then contracted to prepare a new resource estimate for the property. This resource updates previous estimates completed in May 2004 and reported in Giroux and Dandy, 2004, and the resource estimate in May 2012 and reported in Giroux and Grunenberg 2012.
G.H. Giroux is the qualified person responsible for the resource estimate. Mr. Giroux is a qualified person by virtue of education, experience and membership in a professional association. He is independent of the company applying all of the tests in section 1.5 of National Instrument 43-101.
The results from the 2013 Giroux resource estimate are tabled below:
COMBINED KENA AND GOLD MT. (KGM) ZONE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
|? |MEASURED PLUS INDICATED |CLASSED INFERRED |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|Au |Tonnes > |Grade? > Cut-off |Tonnes > |Grade? > Cut-off |
|Cut-off|Cut-off | |Cut-off | |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|(g/t) |(tonnes) |Au (g/t)|Ounces Au|(tonnes) |Au (g/t)|Ounces Au|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|0.10 |43,940,000|0.44 |615,000 |261,340,000|0.29 |2,462,000|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|0.20 |35,790,000|0.50 |574,000 |167,900,000|0.37 |2,008,000|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|0.30 |25,280,000|0.60 |490,000 |90,440,000 |0.48 |1,399,000|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|0.40 |17,430,000|0.72 |403,000 |49,640,000 |0.59 |946,000 |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
|0.50 |12,330,000|0.83 |330,000 |27,270,000 |0.72 |627,000 |
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Kena Property, located seven kilometres south of Nelson, British Columbia, is readily accessible by Highway 6 and several major logging roads. It comprises 152 claim units totaling an area of 7,609 hectares (76.1 km?). The property covers approximately 10 kilometres of strike length on a district-scale gold-copper system.
The Qualified Person for the Kena Property is Mr. Warner Gruenwald, P.Geo. and VP Exploration for
Altair Gold Inc.
Arthur G. Troup, P.Eng., Geological
President and CEO
For further information please contact:
Sultan Minerals Inc.
Marc Lee, Investor and Corporate Communications
Tel: (604) 628-0519 Fax: (604) 628-0446
Email: mlee@sultanminerals.com or info@sultanminerals.com
For further information on Sultan's projects, visit www.sultanminerals.com.
This release was prepared by Sultan's management. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements." All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address future production, reserve potential, exploration drilling, exploitation activities and events or developments that Sultan expects are forward-looking statements. Although Sultan 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. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and those actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Sultan, investors should review Sultan's filings that are available at www.sedar.com or Sultan's website at www.sultanminerals.com.
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