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NGEx Drills 701 Metres of 0.67% Copper and 0.30 g/t Gold in Hole LH-16 at Los Helados, Chile 4/1/2011 8:31:34 AM - Market Wire
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Apr 01, 2011 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX News Network) --
NGEx Resources Inc. (TSX: NGQ) ("NGEx" or the "Company") is pleased to announce results from a further four diamond drill holes completed this season at the Los Helados project located in Chile's Region 3. These results from holes LH-15 to LH-18 follow results from LH-12 to LH-14 released on February 22, 2011. LH-16 is the best hole drilled to date at Los Helados in terms of thickness and grade of copper-gold mineralization. Of particular interest is the fact that there are significant intervals of greater than 0.8% copper in LH-16, LH-17, and LH-18 including 32 metres of 1.1% copper and 0.56 grams/tonne gold in LH-16. Gold is present from top to bottom in all four holes. The four holes reported today are part of an on-going drill program that will total at least 10 to 12 holes and is expected to continue until the end of the summer exploration season in late-April. The objective of the current drill program is to better define a zone of higher grade mineralization that was also intercepted in previously reported holes LH-12 with 711 metres of 0.54% copper and 0.26 grams/tonne gold, including 114 metres of 0.67% copper and 0.19 grams/tonne gold; and LH-13 with 724 metres of 0.47% copper including 562 metres of 0.54% copper and 0.25 grams/tonne gold and including, 212 metres of 0.68% copper and 0.30 grams/tonne gold. Weather and time permitting, the Company hopes to complete sufficient drilling in this zone to permit calculation of an initial resource estimate by the end of 2011.
Intervals from the holes reported today are summarized in the table below. Intervals greater than 0.5% copper are highlighted.
-------------------------------------------------- ---- Hole From To Length Cu (%) Au (ppm) -------------------------------------------------- LH-DDH-15 -------------------------------------------------- 0 30 30 casing -------------------------------------------------- and 30 711 681 0.256 0.105 -------------------------------------------------- including 104 138 34 0.267 0.162 -------------------------------------------------- and including 138 152 14 0.021 0.511 -------------------------------------------------- and including 352 416 64 0.300 0.073 -------------------------------------------------- and including 506 604 98 0.435 0.118 -------------------------------------------------- and including 650 711 61 0.514 0.145 -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- LH-DDH-16 -------------------------------------------------- 0 32 32 casing -------------------------------------------------- and 32 76 44 0.021 0.296 -------------------------------------------------- and 76 777 701 0.672 0.303 -------------------------------------------------- including 76 126 50 0.498 0.328 -------------------------------------------------- and including 208 646 438 0.697 0.309 -------------------------------------------------- and including 646 678 32 1.124 0.559 -------------------------------------------------- and including 678 744 66 0.683 0.213 -------------------------------------------------- and including 744 777 33 0.939 0.241 -------------------------------------------------- LH-DDH-17 0 36 36 casing -------------------------------------------------- and 36 186 150 0.159 0.209 -------------------------------------------------- and 186 761 575 0.585 0.334 -------------------------------------------------- including 514 540 26 0.860 0.486 -------------------------------------------------- and including 564 761.3 197.3 0.707 0.264 -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- LH-DDH-18 0 33 casing -------------------------------------------------- and 33 134 101 0.039 0.139 -------------------------------------------------- and 134 602 468 0.552 0.315 -------------------------------------------------- including 186 212 26 0.849 0.478 -------------------------------------------------- and including 424 452 28 0.747 0.371 -------------------------------------------------- and 602 695.4 93.4 0.285 0.078 --------------------------------------------------
Intervals are core lengths.
Please see attached appendix for a summary of all the results to date from the current field season.
Commenting on the results, Wojtek Wodzicki, President and CEO, said, "The results we report today confirm that we are in the midst of defining a major new copper-gold system that is still open in several directions and at depth. LH-16 intercepted good grade material from a depth of 76 metres which bodes well for project economics and the fact that it bottoms in material grading greater than 0.9% copper, suggests potential for a high grade core to the system. The results from LH-16 suggest that the high grade core of the system extends further to the west than previously thought and that the deposit is wide open in that direction. We continue to be encouraged by both the length and grade of the intercepts and by the fact that the drill holes contain long intervals of better than 0.6% copper as well as consistent accessory gold. The reported intervals look even more encouraging on a copper equivalent basis. We are very encouraged by the results to date and have expanded our drill program to approximately 10,250 metres in order to test the possible extensions. We anticipate a very exciting next few months as we work our way towards an initial resource estimate at Los Helados."
The higher grade mineralization reported above is hosted within a quartz-feldspar porphyry stock and cross-cutting magmatic-hydrothermal breccia body that, based on mapping and drilling to date, has an estimated area of approximately 500 metres by 600 metres and extends to depths of more than 750 metres although further drilling is required to confirm these dimensions. Preliminary interpretation suggests that LH-16, LH-17 and LH-18 were drilled largely within the breccia body. LH-15 appears to have been collared to the north and east of the breccia and only intersected it at depth. It is noteworthy that hole LH-15 contains good grade mineralization at depth. Based on drilling to date the breccia body appears to be open to the west of holes LH-12, LH-16, and LH-13. The system is also open to the east and south. Please see attached map, http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/ngq0401map.pdf.
The higher grade mineralization is associated with potassic alteration which is represented by strong biotite alteration. In the upper part of the system, the potassic alteration is overprinted by a chlorite-sericite assemblage that resulted in the introduction of pyrite and alteration of magnetite to hematite and apparently a slight reduction in copper grade. Copper mineralization occurs as primarily as chalcopyrite in both veinlets and breccia matrix. There is a close association of chalcopyrite with magnetite.
Los Helados is one of several large porphyry copper-gold systems including the Company's Josemaria and Filo del Sol projects all located with the large block of contiguous claims that the company controls in Region 3 Chile and adjacent San Juan Province, Argentina. Nearby deposits held by other companies include Caserones-Regalito (Pan Pacific Copper-Mitsui) and El Morro (Goldcorp/New Gold). The Company holds a 60% interest in the Los Helados project. Japan, Oil, Gas, and Metals National Corporation ("JOGMEC") holds the remaining 40% interest in the project. Both parties contribute their pro-rata share of exploration expenditures.
Sample Preparation and Analysis and Qualified Person
The drill core was logged, sawed, and half cores were sampled in their entirety in two metre intervals or intervals corresponding to geologic breaks by Company personnel at the Company's field office in Copiapo, Chile. Samples were shipped ACME's Copiapo sample preparation facility for crushing and grinding. The sample pulps were analyzed by standard industry assay methods- in ACME's Santiago, Chile Laboratories. Copper and gold standards as well as blanks and duplicates (field, preparation and analysis) were randomly inserted into the sampling sequence for Quality Control. On average, 9% of the submitted samples correspond to Quality Control samples. The Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QA/QC) program on the Los Helados Project is under the management of Diego Charchaflie MSc., P.Geo (BC), a qualified person pursuant to NI 43-101. Dr. Wojtek Wodzicki Ph.D, P.Geo (BC), a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and President and CEO of NGEX has reviewed and verified the technical exploration information contained herein.
On behalf of the Board,
Dr. Wojtek Wodzicki, President and CEO
APPENDIX
Summary of Los Helados Drill Results To Date From 2010/2011 Field Season |