Endurance Gold Corporation (EDG -- TSX.V, "Endurance") is pleased to announce plans to drill its 4,960 acre Elephant Mountain Gold Property (the "Property") in Alaska. Three targets are being prioritized for drilling within the 1,800 meters ("m") by 600 m intrusive-hosted gold target. A description of the three targets is summarized below.
The Elephant Mountain Property is well located near Eureka in the Rampart-Manley Hot Springs area of Alaska, about 76 miles (123 kilometres) northwest of Fairbanks. The Property can be accessed by highway, road and all-terrane vehicle trails from Eureka, an historic and active placer gold mining camp. The Property area was previously explored for gold by Placer Dome, Inc. ("PDI") culminating in the drilling of ten holes in 1992. 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 an interval of 326 feet (99.4 m) and bottomed in mineralization on the North Zone Target. Mineralization on the property is associated with three generations of quartz veinlets crosscutting altered granite and syenite.
The South Zone Target is the highest priority drill target. This target area has very few outcrop exposures but has yielded the highest gold values in rock samples from the Property. Surface grab rock samples from the South Zone Target include 12.98 g/t, 5.21 g/t, 4.44 g/t, 3.02 g/t, and 2.59 g/t gold associated with iron oxide stained and altered granitic rocks. The highest value grab samples in float are associated with coxcomb and chalcedonic vein quartz, hosted in silica flooded trachyoidal syenite. In 1991, PDI also collected a grab sample from the South Zone Target that assayed 12 ounces per ton gold (411.4 g/t gold). These grab samples are restricted to about 600 m of strike within the central part of the South Zone soil anomaly. The soil anomaly defined with the 2015 Program has confirmed a continuous 1,000 m long soil anomaly exceeding 100 parts per billion ("ppb") gold with peak values up to 320 ppb gold. Associated with the gold-in-soil anomaly are coincident pathfinder elements arsenic (with a peak value of 1,660 parts per million ("ppm")) and antimony (with a peak value of 267 ppm). The north end of the South Zone soil anomaly is located 850 m south of the best PDI drill hole. The interpreted source area of the anomaly remains untested by drilling. Three drill holes are currently planned for this target.
The North Zone Target is a gold-arsenic soil geochemical anomaly within an area of outcrop mapped as altered granite. The North Zone soil anomaly is approximately 1,200 m by 500 m wide, with peak values of up to 1,540 ppb gold. PDI completed eight (8) drill holes on this North Zone Target. As summarized above, the best of the PDI drill holes returned an average grade of 0.015 ounce per ton gold (0.514 g/t gold) over an interval of 326 feet (99.4 m) and bottomed in mineralization. Below the oxidized zone, gold mineralization in the drill core is associated with arsenopyrite and native gold related to quartz veinlet stock-work, in silicified, fractured granite. The intrusive host is a large multi-phase Cretaceous-aged diorite to granite pluton that intrudes quartzite, siltstone and shale. The Company has collected seven grab samples within North Zone Target which returned gold values of between 1.01 g/t and 1.92 g/t gold. One drill hole is planned in the North Zone target.
The Central Zone Target, an area of no outcrop, is located between the North and the South Zones and is interpreted to be an area of altered intrusive. PDI completed a gradient induced polarization (IP) resistivity and dipole-dipole IP geophysical survey on the Property. A chargeable anomaly with dimensions of about 1,500 m by 500 m was identified between the North and South Zones. This geophysical target was never been tested with diamond drilling, and remains unexplained. One drill hole is planned in the Central Zone target to test the source of the geophysical response.
Summary figures for the Property and complete soil and rock sample geochemical results for the Company's South Zone sampling activity are summarized on presentation maps at www.endurancegold.com.
The Elephant Mountain Gold Property 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, Dublin Gulch, and Coffee deposits in the Yukon. All of these RIRG deposits are related or interpreted to be 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.
Under the terms of the option agreement with the private vendor, Endurance can earn 100% interest in the Property by completing a total of US$200,000 in exploration expenditures (completed), US$200,000 in cash payments ($60,000 paid) and delivering 400,000 Endurance common shares (100,000 shares issued) by December 31, 2017. The option is subject to a 2% net smelter royalty ("NSR"), and Endurance can purchase half of the NSR at any time. All the terms of the option are in good standing.
About Endurance
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, for projects operated by Endurance, 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 Elephant Mountain Gold Property in Alaska and the Bandito Rare Earth-Niobium Property in the Yukon. The company also owns a 35.5% interest in the Pardo joint venture, a Precambrian-aged paleoplacer gold system and owns a royalty and significant shareholding in GFG Resources which controls the entire Rattlesnake Hills gold district, Wyoming. Please visit www.endurancegold.com.
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 1992 Placer Dome activity preceded the implementation of NI 43-101 and furthermore, the original data and reports, including the geophysical reports, have not been completely reviewed by the Company. Therefore the historic data summarized in this release should not be relied upon. Bedrock grab samples are selective by nature and are unlikely to represent average grades within the bedrock when drilled. All 2012 through 2015 rock and soil samples were analyzed at ALS Minerals using Au-ST43, Au-OG43, and ME-MS41.
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.