Canasil Resources Inc. (Canasil) (TSX VENTURE:CLZ)(FRANKFURT:3CC)
provides an update on the Company's corporate strategy and project
status. Canasil's objective is to acquire and advance exploration
projects, with the potential for hosting world class silver, gold,
copper, zinc and lead mineralized systems, through to discovery to
create significant shareholder value. The Company's projects are
strategically located in highly prospective and politically stable
jurisdictions, and have been selected for ease of access and
excellent infrastructure close to major operating mines and recent
mineral discoveries. The Company places particular emphasis on
maintaining a tight share structure with low dilution. This
provides a platform for creating significant shareholder value.
Canasil currently has 14 projects in its portfolio, 10 in
Durango, Zacatecas and Sinaloa States, Mexico, and 4 in British
Columbia, Canada. Among these, 8 projects are drill-ready with
immediate targets for drill testing. Four of these projects, La
Esperanza, Salamandra and Sandra-Escobar in Mexico, and Brenda in
British Columbia, have had extensive exploration work completed to
date including airborne and ground geophysics, geological mapping
and surface sampling and initial drill programs confirming the
potential for very large mineralized systems. The La Esperanza
project is currently under option to MAG Silver Corp. (TSX: MAG,
NYSE-MKT: MVG, "MAG") where a 3,500-metre Phase 2 drill program is
currently in progress. Canasil intends to advance the other drill
ready projects under non-dilutive option and joint venture
agreements or directly depending on financing conditions. A summary
of the Company's larger and more advanced exploration projects is
included below:
(Note: data and assay results below have appeared in prior
Canasil news releases - for technical details, sampling and assay
procedures please refer to the relevant news releases posted on the
Company's website and filed on SEDAR)
1. La Esperanza silver-lead-zinc project, Durango and Zacatecas states,
Mexico:
The La Esperanza project covers 68,954 hectares, located in the
Mexican Silver Belt in northern Zacatecas and southern Durango
States. This recognized world-class silver belt hosts some of the
world's largest and highest grade silver deposits and operating
mines. La Esperanza is close to a number of active mines such as
Pan American Silver's La Colorada and First Majestic Silver's La
Parrilla mines, and 80 km on trend northwest of MAG's Juanicipio
project and the Penoles/Fresnillo Fresnillo mine, among the highest
grade and largest silver mines in the world. The La Esperanza
project covers multiple vein occurrences and alteration zones over
a 20-kilometre strike length along a prospective SE-NW trend where
the results of an airborne geophysical survey and drilling to date
indicate potential for hosting a very large mineralized system.
Drilling conducted by Canasil and MAG on the La Esperanza vein
has confirmed a high-grade silver-zinc-lead mineralized panel along
a strike distance of over 250 metres and to a depth of 250 metres,
which is open in all directions. Initial drilling by Canasil
returned vein intercepts of up to 10.30 metres carrying high grade
silver mineralization from seven drill holes with an average width
of 4.21 metres carrying 330 g/t (9.62 opt) silver, 0.93% (18.60
lbs/ton) zinc and 1.57% (31.40 lbs/ton) lead, including several
intercepts with very high silver grades of up to 2,144 g/t (62.53
opt) silver over 0.75 metres. Recent drilling by MAG intersected a
10.15 metre intercept carrying 98 g/t (2.86 opt) silver, 2.42% zinc
and 1.16% lead, including 2.42 metres with 278 g/t (8.10 opt)
silver, 5.82% zinc and 2.84% lead. The La Esperanza vein is open
along strike and at depth. MAG is currently conducting a Phase-2
drill program to test previously undrilled silver veins in the
north-west sector of the project area.
The La Esperanza project is under an option agreement whereby
MAG can earn a 60% interest by completing CAD$ 5,000,000 in
cumulative exploration expenditures by September 1, 2014, (CAD$
1,624,393 completed to June 30, 2012) and making a further CAD$
200,000 cash payment to Canasil by September 1, 2013. MAG will be
required to complete a further CAD$ 3,250,000 in exploration
expenditures between September 2012 and September 2014 in order to
maintain and complete the earn-in option under the agreement.
2. Salamandra silver-zinc-copper project, Durango, Mexico:
The Salamandra project is located 35 km to the northeast of the
City of Durango and covers 14,719 hectares (over 140 square
kilometres), and benefits from excellent access and infrastructure
for mineral exploration and development. This large claim area is
strategically located within the major silver-gold trend running
through Durango and Zacatecas States, and is directly on trend with
a number of important operating mines and recent discoveries. The
project is located on the mineral-rich Fresnillo geologic trend,
approximately 80 km northwest of and within a similar geologic
environment to the San Martin mine of Grupo Mexico, which is the
largest underground silver-copper-zinc mining operation in Mexico,
producing at approximately 6,000 tonnes per day.
The exploration program to date at the Salamandra project
indicates the potential for a large buried intrusive and carbonate
hosted massive sulphide skarn/manto replacement system. Significant
silver-zinc intercepts from prior drilling, plus results of both
airborne and surface geophysical surveys, and the discovery of a
high grade silver-copper-zinc vein outcrop as well as widespread
silver-copper-lead-zinc-arsenic-antimony geochemical anomalies
indicate the potential for a large silver-zinc-lead-copper
mineralized system. Prior geophysics and diamond drilling
identified significant zinc-silver mineralization at Salamandra,
including 7.45 metres of 50 g/t silver and 12% zinc and 10 metres
of 71 g/t silver, 3.48% zinc and 1.26% lead. This mineralization is
associated with skarn, hydrothermal breccias, sulphide rich veins
and quartz porphyry dykes. Preliminary metallurgical tests indicate
high zinc and silver recoveries to clean concentrates.
A ZTEM airborne geophysical survey completed in 2011 outlined a
much larger complex response area covering 2.5 km by 3.5 km, where
detailed surface sampling led to the discovery of a high grade vein
outcrop, carrying 2,150 g/t silver, 5.39% copper, and 1.89% zinc
over 0.90 metres. In addition, sampling has outlined extensive
areas of anomalous silver-copper-arsenic-antimony with peripheral
lead and zinc anomalies. This is similar to the surface signature
of the San Martin mine, and further confirms the potential for a
very large silver-zinc-copper mineralized system.
3. Sandra-Escobar silver-gold project, Durango, Mexico:
The Sandra-Escobar project is located in northern Durango State,
Mexico, 200 km northwest of the City of Durango with excellent
access and infrastructure, on an important mineral trend with many
past and presently producing silver-gold mines and deposits.
Canasil holds a 100% interest in the 7,451-hectares Sandra project
claims, and a 40% interest in Pan American Silver's adjacent
634-hectare Escobar claims. The project area hosts a mineralized
system centered on a large altered rhyolite dome complex, with
surrounding geological formations, alteration patterns, and
extensive evidence of gold, silver and base metal mineralization.
These features indicate the potential for hosting a large
disseminated gold-silver-base metal mineralized system. A number of
high-grade silver-gold veins surround the dome area.
Exploration programs to date at the Sandra-Escobar project
include ASTER satellite alteration and GeoEye satellite mapping
surveys, ZTEM airborne and IP ground geophysical surveys, plus
surface mapping and sampling and 1,849 metres of diamond drilling
in 11 drill holes. These programs have confirmed evidence of a
large hydrothermal system centred on an intrusive source with the
potential for hosting both high-grade vein style and disseminated
mineralization. The mineralized zones observed at surface with
veins and outcrops consistently return high silver, gold, copper,
lead and zinc mineralization (silver grades up to 1,465 g/t, gold
grades up to 19.95 g/t, copper grades up to 3.75% in surface
samples). An initial shallow drill hole to test the Maria Fernanda
vein, with a strike length of over 1.5 km and which is open along
strike and at depth, returned 0.40 metres with 2.58 g/t Au, 429 g/t
Ag, 0.53% Cu. Seven significant silver-gold targets have been
outlined over an area of 25 square km for future drilling. The
results to date indicate a similar geologic setting to some major
silver and gold deposits in northern Durango State such as Silver
Standard Resources' La Pitarrilla deposit, with Measured and
Indicated Resources of 643 million ounces, and positive
pre-feasibility for a 12-year underground mining operation based on
Probable Reserves of 92 million ounces.
4. Brenda gold-copper project, British Columbia, Canada:
The Brenda gold-copper property covers 4,450 hectares, and is
located in north-central British Columbia, Canada, 25 km northwest
of the past producing Kemess South Mine. Cumulative exploration
expenditures of over $3,500,000 to date include satellite surveys,
airborne and ground geophysics, extensive geological mapping and
sampling and over 10,000 metres of diamond drilling in 63 drill
holes. These programs have confirmed the potential for a
deep-seated porphyry gold-copper system at the Brenda project,
similar to the nearby Kemess Underground (North Kemess) deposit
advancing through feasibility by AuRico Gold Corp. with indicated
resources of 3 million ounces gold and 1 billion pounds copper (185
million tonnes with an average grade of 0.48 g/t Au and 0.25%
Cu).
At Brenda, the two deepest drill holes have intersected broad
gold-copper mineralized zones with increasing grades to a depth of
560 metres. Mineralization is open to depth and to date drilling
has not yet intersected any intrusive rocks which are presumed to
be the core of the mineralized system. In these drill holes, the
average grade of 5 intercepts above a depth of 450 metres was 0.48
g/t gold and 0.079% copper over a combined intercept length of
393.72 metres. The average grade of 3 intercepts below 450 metres
was 0.68 g/t gold and 0.116% copper over a combined intercept
length of 92.84 metres. These results are equivalent to and higher
than the average grades of the Kemess Underground deposit, even
though the projected mineralized intrusive zone at depth has not
been reached. A significant number of drill core samples returned
assays of over 1.0 g/t gold and 0.15% copper. The mineralized
system averages 300 to 400 metres in width, and has been traced
along a strike length of 400 metres by drilling, with a potential
strike length in excess of 1,000 metres indicated by the
chargeability anomalies observed in the 3-Dimensional Induced
Polarisation geophysical survey.
The increasing gold and copper grades at depth and the strength
of the highly altered mineralization observed in the drill core, in
conjunction with the strong anomalies observed in the geophysical
survey, are highly encouraging and indicate the potential for a
large deep-seated gold-copper porphyry system. The mineralized
environment observed at Brenda appears similar to that of the
deep-seated Cadia East underground gold-copper porphyry deposit of
Newcrest Mines in Eastern Australia, and the adjacent North Kemess
deposit, which occur below a depth of 600 metres to 750 metres.
5. Other drill ready projects:
Canasil has four earlier stage drill ready projects, three of
which have never been drill tested. These include the Carina
silver-gold project (covering a large claim area adjacent to Orko
Silver Corp.'s La Preciosa silver deposit), the Nora
silver-gold-copper project, the Vizcaino gold project, all in
Durango State, Mexico, and the Lil high-grade silver project in
British Columbia, Canada. These projects all have the potential for
hosting large mineralized systems and provide further opportunities
for option and joint venture cooperation and direct exploration by
Canasil with potential for discoveries.
About Canasil:
Canasil is a Canadian mineral exploration company with interests
in precious and base metal projects in Durango, Sinaloa and
Zacatecas States, Mexico, and in British Columbia, Canada. The
Company's directors and management include industry professionals
with a track record of identifying and advancing successful mineral
exploration projects. The Company is actively engaged in the
exploration of its mineral properties, and maintains an operating
subsidiary in Durango, Mexico, with full time geological and
support staff for its operations in Mexico.
To view the maps associated with this press release, please
visit the following link:
http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/clz-1114-maps.pdf.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange)
accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news
release.
Contacts: Canasil Resources Inc. Bahman Yamini President and
C.E.O. (604) 709-0109admin@canasil.com www.canasil.com