Toronto, ON / ACCESSWIRE / July 28, 2014 / Victoria Gold Corp. (TSX.V-VIT) "Victoria" or the "Company" is pleased to announce commencement of the 2014 Phase 2 Olive exploration program following receipt of additional high grade gold intercepts from the 2014 Phase 1 program at the Olive Zone, adjacent to Victoria's Eagle Gold deposit, Yukon Canada.
Mr. John McConnell, President and CEO of Victoria commented "Our confidence continues to increase that the Olive Zone will have a meaningful economic impact on the proposed Eagle Gold Mine. We intend to demonstrate this through a maiden Olive Resource Estimate followed by an update to the Eagle Feasibility Study and economic model with the incorporation of Olive."
Phase 1 Program
Drilling
Victoria's 2014 Phase 1 Olive Exploration program included 20 diamond drill holes, 3 of which were used solely for metallurgical testing. The first 5 diamond drill holes from the Phase 1 program yielded highly encouraging results including 69.7m of 2.29 g/t gold and 96.1m of 1.22 g/t gold (see News Release dated June 24, 2014).
Victoria has received assay results for an additional 6, Phase 1 holes including 31.5 m of 2.19 g/t gold and 35.3 m of 1.67 g/t gold. A summary of mineralized intervals from assay results from the latest 6 holes is presented below.
----------------------------------------------- |Table 1 - | |Summary of | |the Olive | |Zone Phase | |1 Diamond | |Drilling | |Results | |for | |DG14-587C | |through | |DG14-594C | |---------------------------------------------| |Hole ID |From (m)|To (m)|Length (m)|Au (g/t)| |---------------------------------------------| |DG14-587C|metallurgical test hole | |---------------------------------------------| | | |---------------------------------------------| |DG14-588C|46.2 |146.0 |99.9 |1.02 | |---------------------------------------------| |including|46.2 |77.7 |31.5 |2.19 | |---------------------------------------------| | | | | | | |---------------------------------------------| |DG14-589C|metallurgical test hole | |---------------------------------------------| | | |---------------------------------------------| |DG14-590C|36.6 |131.1 |94.5 |0.99 | |---------------------------------------------| |including|74.4 |109.7 |35.3 |1.67 | |---------------------------------------------| | | | | | | |---------------------------------------------| |DG14-591C|metallurgical test hole | |---------------------------------------------| | | |---------------------------------------------| |DG14-592C|15.2 |47.8 |32.6 |0.97 | |---------------------------------------------| | | | | | | |---------------------------------------------| |DG14-593C|165.1 |175.9 |10.8 |0.91 | |---------------------------------------------| | | | | | | |---------------------------------------------| |DG14-594C|145.1 |150.2 |5.1 |1.38 | |---------------------------------------------| | | | | | | |---------------------------------------------| |DG14-595C|40.9 |52.5 |11.6 |0.71 | -----------------------------------------------
Note: Reported intersections are drilled intersections, as true widths have not yet been determined.
Assays are pending for 6 additional Phase 1 exploration diamond drill holes targeting the North-East extent of the mineralized Olive Shear Zone. An updated plan map and drill sections relating to the assay results presented above will be available on the Company's website.
Metallurgy
As part of the Phase 1 program, Victoria engaged Kappes Cassidy & Associates of Reno, NV ('KCA') to conduct additional metallurgical testing on Olive samples. Initial tests to support moving forward on a Phase 2 program included 96-hour bottle roll tests on 3 composite oxide and 3 composite sulphide samples. Importantly, all samples were tested using a crush size to match the proposed crushing facility at Eagle (P80 6.3 mm). Gold recovery exceeded management expectations and averaged 61% on the oxide samples at a P80 6.3mm crush size or 93% at a grind size of 75 microns. While the average oxide recovery is less than Eagle, the higher grade targeted at Olive is anticipated to result in materially higher recovered grade than the average recovered grade at Eagle.
With results from 11 of 17 diamond drill holes and metallurgy now in hand, Victoria has confidence the Phase 1 exploration objectives were achieved, namely:
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1)The identification of near surface mineralization with gold grades in excess of 1 g/t over significant intervals;
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2)Definition of significant tonnage (in excess of 10 million tonnes) to materially influence the mine plan at Eagle; and
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3)Confirmed near surface oxide material is amenable to heap leaching and would add to the total recovered gold at Eagle.
Phase 2 Program
Victoria's Board of Directors have approved the 2014 Phase 2 Olive Exploration program. The Phase 2 program is underway and entails continued delineation of the high grade Olive Zone as well as exploration drilling along strike to the North-East and South-West of the Phase 1 drilling.
Objectives
The objectives of the Phase 2 exploration program include:
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1)Completion of sufficient step out and in-fill drilling to prepare a NI 43-101 Resource Estimate including an Indicated Resource;
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2)Completion of sufficient metallurgical testing, including bulk column testing, to enable a Qualified Person ('QP') to sign off on feasibility study level engineering for gold recovery;
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3)Completion of sufficient geotechnical drilling to enable a QP to develop a feasibility study level mine plan;
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4)Update of the 2012 Eagle Feasibility Study to include:
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o.A mine plan with additional ore from Olive;
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o.An update to the capital estimate and operating expense estimate; and
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o.Incorporation of potential capital cost savings while preserving the currently permitted project scope pursuant to the positive YESAA decision document issued for Eagle (see News Release dated February 19, 2013).
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Analytical Method
All drill core from the Olive 2014 drilling program was analyzed at ALS Laboratories of Vancouver, B.C. utilizing the ME-ICP61 33-element analytical package with AuAA-24 Fire Assay finish for gold on all samples. All core samples were split on-site at Victoria's Eagle camp and shipped to ALS Laboratories preparation facility in Whitehorse where samples were sorted and crushed to appropriate particle size (pulp) and representatively split to a smaller size for shipment to ALS' Vancouver analysis facility. A comprehensive system of standards, blanks and field duplicates was implemented in the 2014 exploration program and is monitored as chemical assay data become available.
Qualified Person
The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul D. Gray, P.Geo., as the Qualified Person.
About Olive
The Olive Zone target is defined by a broad gold/arsenic in-soils geochemical anomaly and lies on the intrusive-sediment contact of the Potato Hills Trend (as does the Eagle Deposit) and is punctuated by several historically exploited high-grade sulphide veins. The Olive area was mined on a small scale from shallow shafts and adits in the early 1900's and via placer mining in creeks draining the area. The Olive vein system is located near the top of Olive Gulch and consists of gold-bearing quartz-scorodite-arsenopyrite vein material centralized in a shear zone structure.
About the Dublin Gulch Project
Victoria Gold's 100%-owned Dublin Gulch gold property is situated in the central Yukon Territory, Canada, approximately 375 kilometers north of the capital city of Whitehorse, and approximately 85 kilometers from the town of Mayo. The Property is accessible by road year-round, and is located within Yukon Energy's electrical grid. The Company has constructed and maintains a 100 person all-season camp at the project site.
The Property covers an area of approximately 555 square kilometers, and is the site of the Company's Eagle Gold Deposit. The Eagle Gold Deposit is expected to be Yukon's next operating gold mine and includes Probable Reserves of 2.3 million ozs of gold from 92 million tonnes of ore with a grade of 0.78 grams of gold per tonne, as outlined in a National Instrument 43-101 feasibility study. The NI 43-101 Mineral Resource has been estimated to host 222 million tonnes averaging 0.68 grams of gold per tonne, containing 4.9 million ounces of gold in the "Indicated" category, inclusive of Probable Reserves, and a further 78 million tonnes averaging 0.60 grams of gold per tonne, containing 1.5 million ounces of gold in the "Inferred" category.
Cautionary Language and Forward-Looking Statements
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange, nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This press release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this discussion, other than statements of historical facts, that address future exploration drilling, exploration activities, anticipated metal production, internal rate of return, estimated ore grades, commencement of production estimates and projected exploration and capital expenditures (including costs and other estimates upon which such projections are based) and events or developments that the Company expects, are forward looking statements. Although the Company 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 forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include metal prices, exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
For Further Information Contact:
John McConnell
President & CEO
Victoria Gold Corp
Tel: 416-866-8800
Fax: 416-866-8801
www.vitgoldcorp.com