VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Jan 05, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — El Tigre Silver Corp. (the “Company” or “El Tigre”) /quotes/zigman/585874 CA:ELS 0.00% (otcqx:EGRTF)(frankfurt:5RT) is pleased to review its 2011 exploration program and announce objectives of the 2012 exploration program at its El Tigre silver project, located on El Tigre’s 431 square kilometer concession ownership in Sonora, Mexico.
During 2011, significant exploration progress was achieved with completion of two drilling programs: the first confirmed vein and stockwork mineralization in several vein targets, and the second channel sampled and drill tested the tailings pile for potential silver and gold production. During 2012, the company expects to place the tailings into silver production after additional metallurgical and engineering work, and conduct a core drilling program into prime exploration targets developed from the 2011 work.
Stuart Ross, El Tigre’s President and CEO, states, “We have an exciting two-fold program ahead of us in 2012, planned production of the tailings stockpile and exploration drill programs and with proper planning and execution by the Company’s highly competent team, the Company expects to move the project forward significantly by year end.”
Core Drilling: The most important work during 2011 was the drilling of ten core holes for 2313 meters into four targets found in Espuelas Canyon, on Mule Mountain, in Tigre Viejo Canyon and on Gold Hill. The drilling program was a follow up of the field and compilation work conducted by the Company in 2010. The drill holes tested areas that had both high-grade vein silver mineralization and low-grade disseminated gold mineralization in the hanging wall of the veins. The following table summarizes the best intercepts from this drilling program.
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El Tigre From To Core Length Ag Au
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Core Hole meters meters meters gm/tonne gm/tonne
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Espuelas Canyon Target
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ET-23 103.9 105.0 1.1 216 0.42
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142.0 144.0 2.0 121 0.58
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ET-24 61 67 6.0 35 0.17
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69 78.25 9.3 136 0.22
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Including 77 78.25 1.25 751 1.01
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124.0 128.0 4.0 108 0.12
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ET-25 40.0 51.0 11.0 172 0.33
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Including 44.0 46.0 2.0 713 0.68
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55.0 56.0 1.0 189 0.19
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ET-26 94.6 120.1 25.5 142 0.20
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110.9 120.1 9.2 215 0.23
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ET-27 107.0 111.0 4.0 242 3.17
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Including 107.0 108.0 1.0 919 0.29
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Including 108.0 109.0 1.0 25 8.01
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Mule Mountain Target
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ET-28 203.0 230.0 27.0 58 0.55
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Including 215.0 216.0 1.0 138 3.39
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375.0 376.0 1.0 603 –
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Tigre Viejo Canyon Target
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ET-29 135.0 147.8 12.3 – 0.60
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199.0 200.0 1.0 998 0.60
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202.0 203.0 1.0 1355 0.57
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ET-30 115.2 120.8 5.6 – 0.71
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157.5 161.4 3.9 74 0.39
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286.7 288.5 1.8 651 1.26
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Gold Hill Target
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ET-31 16.5 59.5 42.0 – 0.39
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73.0 111.0 38.0 – 0.63
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Including 85.0 94.0 9.0 79 1.03
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Including 99.5 111.0 11.5 306 0.55
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Including 99.5 101.0 1.5 842 2.73
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And 107 108.5 1.5 984 0.74
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ET-32 35.5 50.5 15.0 19 0.52
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62.5 70.0 7.5 – 0.70
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87.5 102.5 15.0 – 0.41
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107.0 108.5 1.5 319 0.11
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Rock-Chip Sampling: El Tigre geologists identified a potentially large open-pitable area of low-grade gold and silver mineralization along the southern extension of the El Tigre vein down to Gold Hill. This zone is associated with the original discovery of out-cropping high-grade gold mineralization by early prospectors which led to the development of the district in 1900. The first production from the district was from gold ores that averaged over one ounce per ton. During the summer, field work focused on the 1,100 meter long by 70 to 80 meter wide zone in the hanging wall of the El Tigre vein structure where El Tigre geologists collected 215 samples. All but one returned anomalous values of gold and/or silver. Of these, there were 73 that returned gold values greater than 0.1 g/mt Au and/or silver values greater than 30 g/mt Ag. The range of the assay values was from 0.009 to 3.5 g/mt Au and 1 to 412 g/mt Ag.
The low-grade gold zone is potentially 2.5 kilometers long, but sampling efforts were drawn to the southern area where four drill holes had previously returned favorable results. The 1983 Anaconda holes T-2 and T-3 returned true widths of 110 meters of 0.315 g/mt Au and 80 meters of 0.412 g/mt Au respectively. El Tigre’s holes ET 31 returned a composited true width of 61 meters of 0.422 g/mt Au with 54 g/mt Ag while hole ET-32 returned two true width intervals of 32 meters of 0.311 g/mt Au and 8 g/mt Ag and 13.5 meters of 1.05 g/mt Au and 69 g/mt Ag. These sampling and drill results will guide future drilling programs that El Tigre is planning.
Acquisition of the Tailings Pile: In September, El Tigre optioned the surface land and tailings in order to develop the extensive surface tailings from the former Lucky Tiger Combination Gold Mining Company mine. The tailings are located on the concessions that are part of El Tigre’s 431 square kilometer concession ownership in Sonora, Mexico. Under the terms of the option agreement (the “Option Agreement”) with the owner of the property (the “Owner”), the Company through its wholly owned Mexican subsidiary, Pacemaker Mining SA de CV, will have up to two years to evaluate the tailings and design a procedure to extract the contained silver. In order to exercise its option, the Company paid the Owner $20,000 USD upon signing of the Option Agreement and has agreed to spend $30,000 USD in engineering work during the two year term. At any time during the initial two year phase, if the Company decides to proceed with the option, the Owner will receive a further payment of 100,000 common shares of the company. The Owner will also receive a royalty of 10% of net profit on the tailings project, which will be calculated as gross proceeds from the sale of mineral, metals and concentrates net of all costs including, smelting, refining, penalties, assay cost, arbitrage, shipping, insurance, trade tax, foreign tax, exploration, engineering, depreciation and amortization and generally all costs to obtain the minerals from the tailings.
Tailings Sampling Results: Channel sampling of the tailings pile was conducted in the third quarter 2011 as part of an extended evaluation program. Sampling was done by channeling a total of 410 meters down the sides of the tailings pile at 25 meter spacing and from evenly spaced 1.5 meter deep holes from the top of the pile. The material that was sampled consisted of very fine crushed rock that has the consistency of coarse flour. Assaying of silver, gold and other minor element assays were completed by ALS Worldwide Labs.
Samples were divided into three obvious color zones from the tailings, which corresponded to different levels of oxidation from the original ores. These color zones from the bottom to the top of the pile are red (fully oxidized, mined first), grey (partially oxidized), and yellow (sulfide, mined last). The following table reports the average silver and gold values results from each zone reported in grams per ton and ounces per short ton.
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Average Ag/Au Values Red Layer Grey Layer Yellow Layer
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Silver gm/t 103.6 81.0 87.7
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Silver opt 3.0 2.4 2.6
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Gold gm/t 0.425 0.336 0.264
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Gold opt 0.012 0.010 0.008
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Silver values were within a range of 54 to 157 grams per ton, while gold values were within a range from 0.164 to 0.988 grams per ton.
Aerial Survey: In mid-November, Cooper Aerial Surveys Company from Tucson Arizona completed an aerial photographic survey for constructing an accurate and detailed topographic map of the tailings area. Prior to the flight, El Tigre had a professional surveyor set control panels on the ground, and during the survey collected GPS data to monitor drift in the GPS satellites. This work ensured a highly accurate contour map. The digital topography maps have been received and El Tigre is developing a volume of the pile for tonnage calculations. Furthermore, this topography will also be used for engineering design, construction of the proposed facilities, and general planning.
Auger drilling: Mid-way through December, a 46-hole auger drilling program was completed on the tailings pile. The holes were drilled with a one-foot diameter auger bit and averaged about 25 feet deep. The 1.5 meter samples were split and blended to reduce their size for shipping and then color composited for four metallurgical test samples. Each of these samples weigh 70 kilograms and consist of red, white and yellow material, which will represent those zones found in the entire pile. A fourth sample type consisting of black sulfidic mud was found in the center of yellow layer and this will be tested separately. This black material forms a very small percentage of the overall tonnage of the material in the piles.
Proposed 2012 Exploration and Development Plans: El Tigre is planning a number of activities to advance the project toward production of silver from the tailings and will continue the drilling effort to develop new mineral resources.
Tailings Production: The Company plans to conduct a full examination of the tailings to confirm its decision to proceed with production, which will come prior to the second quarter of 2012. The next key steps include assays of the individual auger drill samples, resource modeling, metallurgical test work, creation of engineered process design drawings, and economic return calculations. It is expected that these activities will return positive results and the company can then move toward construction. Construction of the vat leach facilities is expected to get underway and be completed sometime in the third quarter of 2012. Silver and gold production is anticipated to be underway by the fourth quarter of 2012. A feasibility study has not been completed and there is no certainty the proposed operation will be economically viable.
2012 Drilling Program: The Company is planning to continue its evaluation of the potential low-grade halo target found along the El Tigre vein. Upwards of 5000 meters is planned to continue to obtain penetration into the zone and test the presence of any high-grade vein material left by the early mining operation. This work is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2012, which will include extensive road building to prepare drill pads.
The technical content of this news release has been approved by Steven D. Craig, CPG and Vice President of Exploration for El Tigre, a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101.
About El Tigre Silver Corp:
The Company, through its subsidiaries, holds the rights to 100% of nine mineral concessions comprising 431 square kilometres located in north-eastern Sonora, Mexico (the “El Tigre Property”). A technical report has been prepared for the El Tigre Property and can be found on the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company’s website at www.eltigresilvercorp.com .
Cautionary Statements:
This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include planned drilling and production activities, exploration and development programs and planed construction of facilities. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include those risks set out in the Company’s public documents filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com . Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “U.S. Securities Act”) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the benefit or account of, any U.S. Person unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.
The TSX Venture Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved of the contents of this press 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 press release.
Contacts:
El Tigre Silver Corp.
Stuart Ross
President and CEO
(780) 977-7187
[email protected]El Tigre Silver Corp.
Rob Grace
Corporate Communications
(604) 639-0044
(604) 608-6163 (FAX)
[email protected]El Tigre Silver Corp.
Steven Craig
VP Exploration
(775) 815-8456
[email protected]www.eltigresilvercorp.com
