Vancouver, B.C., April 4, 2012; West Cirque Resources Ltd. (WCQ:TSX.V) has received a Mines Act Permit authorizing surface drilling from twenty drill sites on the Castle gold-silver-copper property, located 68 kilometres south of Dease Lake in the Liard Mining Division, British Columbia. The permit is valid for a four year term ending March 31, 2016.
The Castle project comprises ten claims (1034 hectares) including seven 100% West Cirque owned claims (431 hectares) and three claims (603 hectares) under option from Bearclaw Capital Corp. (see news release January 4, 2012). The project is located in the Klastline Plateau area of northwestern B.C., 10 kilometres west of B.C. Highway 37. The property is 25 kilometres northwest of Imperial Metals' Red Chris copper-gold porphyry deposit, and 17 kilometres north of NGEx Resources' GJ copper-gold porphyry deposit, presently under option to Teck Resources Ltd.
The Castle Property covers a 5.5 kilometre long alteration zone associated with widespread epithermal and porphyry-style gold-silver-copper mineralization. Previous exploration in the 1980's by Teck discovered high grade epithermal quartz-chalcedony-pyrite and barite veins which returned assays up to 138.2 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) and 434 grams per tonne silver (g/t Ag) from grab samples. Soil sampling by Teck outlined a 150 to 400 by 2000 metre Cu-Au anomaly, open to the east, with up to 5593 parts per million (ppm) Cu and 1.4 ppm Au in soil.
A diamond drill program completed by Teck in 1988 (1165 metres in 11 drill holes from four drill sites) intersected gold-silver-copper mineralization over a 500 metre strike length. Two drill holes were terminated at shallow depths (28 and 59 metres), while eight of the other nine holes intersected significant mineralization, including:
------------------------------------------------ |DDH |From (m)|To (m)|metres|Au g/t|Ag g/t|Cu %| |----------------------------------------------| |88-1|23.8 |29.9 |6.1 |0.95 |4.50 |0.18| |----------------------------------------------| |88-4|30.2 |34.3 |4.1 |1.29 |11.04 |0.08| |----------------------------------------------| |88-7|26.5 |35.7 |9.2 |3.75 |26.42 |0.13| |----------------------------------------------| |88-8|17.0 |23.7 |6.7 |2.87 |17.28 |0.11| |----------------------------------------------| |88-8|42.2 |48.8 |6.6 |1.73 |4.15 |0.18| |----------------------------------------------| |88-9|69.5 |84.6 |15.1 |0.72 |3.59 |0.08| |----------------------------------------------| |88-9|126.7 |131.7 |5.0 |1.24 |2.78 |0.03| ------------------------------------------------
Several Teck drill holes ended in highly fractured rock with significant copper-gold mineralization, including: 0.41 g/t Au and 0.40% Cu at 116.7-117.1 metres (88-8), 5.83 g/t Au and 0.15% Cu at 143.5-144.2 metres (88-9), and 0.50 g/t Au and 0.15% Cu at 149.7-151.7 metres (88-1). Calculation of longer intersections from the Teck data is hampered by numerous unsampled intervals.
Reconnaissance mapping and sampling carried out by West Cirque in 2011 identified disseminated and sheeted quartz-chalcopyrite veinlet copper mineralization in porphyritic intrusive rocks. This porphyry style mineralization crops out 300 metres east of Teck's easternmost drill holes (88-1 to 88-4) about 20 metres below the elevation of drill hole collars. A West Cirque grab sample from this zone returned an assay of 0.44 g/t Au and 0.13% Cu. Teck's chip samples from this area also returned elevated Au and Cu assays, including: 2.13 g/t Au and 0.04% Cu over 2.5 metres, 0.75 g/t Au and 0.02% Cu over 7.0 metres, and 0.31 g/t Au and 0.10% Cu over 8.0 metres. The porphyry style mineralization is hosted by chlorite-sericite-ankerite-epidote altered plagioclase-amphibole phyric quartz monzonite porphyry. West Cirque is planning to test both the porphyry target and the shallow epithermal target intersected by Teck in a phase one drill program scheduled to begin in mid-June 2012.
West Cirque's sample preparation and analysis was carried out at ALS Minerals' North Vancouver lab. Samples were analyzed for 35 elements by aqua regia acid digestion and ICP-AES, while gold was analyzed by fire assay (30 gram nominal sample weight), aqua regia digestion and ICP-AES.
Historical assays have not been verified by West Cirque but have been cited from sources believed to be reliable. West Cirque's disclosure of a technical or scientific nature in this news release has been reviewed and approved by John Bradford, M.Sc., P.Geo. and V.P. Exploration and Director for West Cirque Resources, who serves as a Qualified Person under the definition of National Instrument 43-101.
About West Cirque Resources Ltd.
West Cirque is a mineral exploration company focused on creating shareholder wealth by identifying, acquiring and defining resources in world class precious and base metal projects in the North American Cordillera.
West Cirque Resources Ltd.
Steve Vanry, CFA
President
(604) 558-4604
www.westcirqueresources.com
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