Endurance Gold Corporation (EDG - TSX.V, "Endurance") is pleased to announce that additional claims have been staked and recorded to increase the size of its Elephant Property (the "Property") to a total of 4,960 acres (over 2,000 hectares). The Property was expanded to encompass the most prospective portions of the late Cretaceous-aged host intrusive and associated historic soil anomalies in the area. The Property is located in the Rampart-Eureka-Hot Springs placer gold mining district near Eureka, Alaska. The Property can be accessed by road and trails from Eureka, a placer mining area located about 76 miles (123 kilometers) west of Fairbanks.
A compilation of the historic exploration results summarized in this release is available on the company's website.
As announced on January 9, 2012, the Property was explored for gold by Placer Dome, Inc. ("PDI") between 1989 and 1992. PDI identified a gold-arsenic soil geochemical anomaly over the intrusive that extends for at least 6,000 feet and up to 1,500 feet wide, with peak values in soil samples up to 1,540 parts per billion gold. During that time, PDI completed trenching and ten (10) drill holes. The best of the PDI drill holes returned an average grade of 0.015 ounce per ton gold (0.514 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold) over a width of 326 feet (99.4 metres). Step out drill holes along the interpreted strike of the best PDI drill hole are justified. In the drill holes, gold mineralization is associated with arsenopyrite and native gold related to quartz veinlet stock-work, in silicified, fractured and sericite altered intrusive. The intrusive host is a multi-phase Cretaceous-aged diorite to granite pluton that intrudes quartzite, siltstone and shale. Subsequent to the PDI exploration program, other companies have completed surface prospecting and mapping, soil sampling, ground magnetics and induced polarization geophysical surveys, and two drill holes in 2000.
A 2007 prospecting and sampling program resulted in gold values in grab samples of quartz vein material from the intrusive including 12.98 g/t, 5.21 g/t, 3.02 g/t, 2.59 g/t and 2.18 g/t gold. These high gold values are approximately one kilometer south of the best Placer Dome drill hole.
"The historic results from the Elephant Mountain Property indicate significant untested potential for discovery of volumetrically large intrusive-hosted gold systems similar to the Fort Knox deposit in Fairbanks, Alaska. An encouraging historic drill hole has never been subject to step-out drilling, high gold values from surface rock sampling remain untested by drilling, and large soil anomalies remain open to expansion." stated Robert T. Boyd, President and CEO, "Furthermore, the Elephant Mountain Property increases the quality of our exploration portfolio to three intrusive-related mineral systems with potential for discovery of major new precious or rare metals deposits."
The Elephant Mountain area is, in part, drained by Eureka and Pioneer Creeks. Alluvial gold was first discovered in Eureka Creek in 1898 and both Eureka and Pioneer Creeks and their small tributaries are two of the most significant alluvial gold bearing creeks in the Eureka-Hot Springs gold district.
The Property is also located about 47 miles (75 kilometers) west southwest of the pre-feasibility stage Livengood Gold Deposit. The Elephant prospect is interpreted to be a reduced intrusion-related gold system (RIRG) similar to the Fort Knox Mine, Ryan Lode, and True North deposits located in the nearby Fairbanks Gold Mining district in Alaska, as well as the Brewery Creek and Dublin Gulch deposits in the Yukon. All of these RIRG deposits are related to late Cretaceous-aged intrusive events within the Tintina Gold Province of Alaska and the Yukon, and are associated with historic placer gold mining.
The placer gold deposits, gold-in-soil anomalies, elevated gold-in-rock samples, and wide drill intersections in intrusive indicate that the Property warrants a systematic exploration program of rock and soil sampling followed by drilling to confirm historic results, expand on those results, and identify new exploration targets. A 2012 program is currently in the planning stages.
Under the terms of the letter agreement with the private vendor, Endurance can earn 100% interest in the Property by completing a total of US$200,000 in exploration expenditures, US$200,000 in cash payments and delivering 400,000 Endurance common shares by December 31, 2017. The initial cash payment of US$2,000 was paid when the transaction was accepted by the TSX Venture Exchange. The initial 25,000 share payment and an additional cash payment of $13,000 are payable to the vendor on finalization of a formal option agreement. The option is subject to a 2% net smelter royalty ("NSR"), and Endurance can purchase half of the NSR at any time.
Endurance Gold Corporation is a company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of highly prospective North American mineral properties with the potential to develop world-class deposits. The Company's exploration focus is intrusive-related mineral systems with potential for discovery of major new precious or rare metals deposits, and its business plan offers shareholders exposure to several majority-owned exploration projects with significant discovery potential such as the Bandito Rare Earth-Niobium Property in the Yukon, the Elephant Gold Property in Alaska, and the Rattlesnake Hills Gold Property in Wyoming. An updated corporate presentation on all of the company's key projects is available on the Company website.
ENDURANCE GOLD CORPORATION
Robert T. Boyd
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
Endurance Gold Corporation
(604) 682-2707, info@endurancegold.com
www.endurancegold.com
Robert T. Boyd, P.Geo. is a qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 and supervised the compilation of the information forming the basis for this release. The original technical reports and data are presently in the process of being compiled and referenced. The 1991 Placer Dome activity preceded the implementation of NI 43-101 and furthermore, the original data and reports have not been completely reviewed by the Company. Therefore the data summarized in this release should not be relied upon. Additional soil and rock sampling, and drilling will be required to confirm the historic results reported in this release.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain forward looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of factors beyond its control, and actual results may differ materially from the expected results.