TORONTO, CANADA October 15, 2012 Mr. George A. Brown, President of MacMillan Minerals Inc., (TSX-V:MMX) is pleased to announce additional results from the diamond drilling, trenching, and sampling programs at the Las Cucharas Gold and Silver Project in Mexico. Mr. William Hamilton, P. Geo., Manager of Exploration, is a Qualified Person under the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for all technical information contained in this news release.
The Las Cucharas Gold and Silver Project is currently comprised of 13 titled claims covering 3,643 hectares situated in the northern part of Nayarit State in Mexico. Additional information regarding the Las Cucharas Project is available in a Technical Report dated February 27, 2012 by R.A. Lunceford, M.Sc. CPG, titled Geological Report and Summary of Field Examination, Las Cucharas Project as filed on SEDAR on March 29, 2012. The Las Cucharas Project covers a series of generally northwest trending vein structures which occur mianly within a six kilometre long by two kilometre wide mineralized corridor (see attached Figure 1 – Map of the Las Cucharas Project).
The diamond drill program consisted of three holes on the La Raizura Target (see news release dated September 27, 2012 titled MacMillan La Raizura Drilling Reports Grades Of Up To 4.138 g/t Gold And 159.0 g/t Silver Over A 3.15 Metre Intercept, two drill holes on the El Molino Target, and one drill hole on the La Azurita Target. The drilling was completed under contract with Alamo Drilling S.A. de C.V. under the supervision of Company geologists.
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La Azurita Target
The La Azurita Target (see attached Figure 2) is located approximately 1,050 metres east-northeast of the La Raizura Target and 300 metres east of the El Molino Target on the 100% owned and titled El Oro claim. The target zone has been traced on surface and underground over a distance of approximately 100 metres and remains open in all directions. The old workings are described in Mexican Government geological reports as consisting of a tunnel 85 metres long. However, only the first 27 metres are now accessible to the point where a cave-in has occurred. The initial entrance of the tunnel represents a cross-cut designed to intersect the mineralized structure, which was encountered by Company personnel approximately six metres before the area of the cave-in. The tunnel varies in width from 1.2 metres near the entrance to 3.45 metres in the area where the cave-in occurred. The target zone is characterized by argillization, with malachite, azurite and pyrite associated with fine-grained, grey quartz veinlets. The veinlets strike 328º and dip 65º to 75º southwest. The structure is hosted by andesitic and rhyolitic volcanic rocks. On surface, the zone is characterized by two large depressions occurring over a distance of approximately 30 metres, which reflect at surface where the main underground workings have caved-in. Three samples were collected from the six metre length of the mineralized zone exposed in the tunnel. One sample reported 0.459 g/t Au, 23.0 g/t Ag, and 0.737% Cu over 1.2 metres. A second sample reported 0.638 g/t Au, 50.8 g/t Ag and 0.464% Cu over 1.5 metres. The last sample taken near the caved-in area reported 1.325 g/t Au, 65.2 g/t Ag, 1.7% Cu, 1.64% Pb and 1.34% Zn over 1.5 metres; however, the entire width of the zone could not be sampled. Surface sampling reported best values averaging 1.67 g/t Au, 62.0 g/t Ag and 0.977% Pb over 4.4 metres of sample width. The true width has not yet been determined.
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A 65.5 metre long drill hole was drilled to test the central section of the Azurita Target below the old working (see attached Figure 3). Due to the onset of the rainy season, and faster access from the down-dip side of the target zone, this hole was drilled perpendicular to the strike, but down-dip on the target zone. The drill hole reported the following intercepts:
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|Azurita|From |To |Intercept|Estimated|Au |Ag |Cu |Pb |Zn |
|Hole |(m) |(m) |Width | |g/t |g/t |% |% |% |
|BAZ-1 | | |(m) |True | | | | | |
|65.5 m | | | |Width | | | | | |
| | | | |(m) | | | | | |
|———————————————————————-|
|Upper |12.20|13.20|1.00 |NYD* | |343.1|0.025|0.539|0.676|
|zone | | | | |5.704 | | | | |
|———————————————————————-|
|Main |57.00|57.35|0.35 |0.20 |16.092|119.1|2.050|0.145|4.750|
|zone | | | | | | | | | |
————————————————————————
*NYD represents estimated true width not yet determined
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El Molino Target
The El Molina Target (see attached Figure 4) is located about 750 metres to east-northeast of the La Raizura zone and about 300 metres to the west of the La Azurita prospect. The area contains four vein-like structures within an area which measures 100 metres wide by a minimum of 350 metres long that is open on both ends. The main structures strike northeast with variable dips to the northwest and southeast. The principal structure within the northeast trending vein system has been traced over a length of 270 metres with an azimuth of 050º and a dip of 77º southeast. Out of the 23 samples collected from this zone, 13 reported values exceeding 0.1 g/t Au with high values of 3.049 g/t Au and 1.2 g/t Ag over two metres (sample RTA-106), 2.450 g/t Au and 3.0 g/t Ag from float material (sample RCP-395), and 0.360 g/t Au and 136.0 g/t Ag also from float material (sample RCP-394). Drill hole BMOL-001 intersected the northeastern extension of this zone between 10.1 metres and 11.6 metres, however, it only reported 0.295 g/t Au and 1.2 g/t Ag across a 1.5 metre intercept width. This drill hole failed to intersect another northeast trending zone which reported surface values of up to 1.890 g/t Au and 198.0 g/t Ag over 1.1 metres (sample RCP-387) and 1.417 g/t Au and 95.4 g/t Ag from float material (sample RTA-53).
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A vein blowout measuring about 60 metres long and 30 metres wide outcrops and is inferred to represent part of the main structure in the target area. The blowout hosts erratic quartz veinlets oriented from 350º to 030º and dipping steeply northeast, northwest and southeast. Two old pits were located within the blowout. Three samples from one of the old pits reported 1.133 g/t Au and 143.3 g/t Ag over 3 metres (samples RCP388, 389 and 391). The other pit yielded 1.156 g/t Au and 26.5 g/t Ag over 2.05 metres (samples RCP-385 and 386). Results from nine other samples collected from this zone reported Au values ranging from 0.131 g/t to 4.844 g/t Au with Ag values of 5.2 g/t to 95.4 g/t. Drill hole BMOL-002 was designed to test this zone, however, reported no significant values.
The El Molino Target mineralization consists of coarsely crystalline, black tourmaline and quartz-filled vein-like breccias and banded veins and is distinct in alteration and mineralization from that seen elsewhere in the Las Cucharas district. In addition to quartz and tourmaline, the veins contain iron and manganese oxides, local specularite, and traces of pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, and copper carbonates. The colour of the quartz veins varies from light gray to dark grey to black depending on the tourmaline content. The veins locally exhibit banding. The tourmaline often occurs as radiating rosettes of thin, 0.5 millimetre to 3 millimetre long needles within a pale gray quartz matrix. The mineralization is also geochemically distinct from the epithermal veins characteristic of the Las Cucharas district displaying high arsenic levels often exceeding 10,000 ppm, anomalous antimony and tellurium that typically correlate with the high arsenic levels, and lead in significantly more anomalous amounts than the zinc and copper values.
The presence of the widespread gold and silver values and the width of the zones on surface remains to be explained subsequent to these the two drill holes. Further surface exploration will be required to determine the structural orientation of these targets before future drill testing.
In Summary
Mr. George A. Brown, President of MacMillan states: We are extremely pleased to have these results showing very good grades of gold, silver, copper, lead, and zinc. These add further valuable indications that the two kilometre by six kilometre Las Cucharas corridor not only has the potential to host a discovery of significant mineralization of precious minerals including gold and silver, but also displays significant potential for the mineralization to include values for copper, lead, and zinc. We look forward to releasing results from three additional drill holes in the upcoming months.
QUALITY ASSURANCE / QUALITY CONTROL
The samples were shipped to Inspectorate Assay Laboratory, for preparation in Durango, Mexico and analysis in Reno, Nevada. Analyses were carried out for gold (50 gram sample fire assay with an AA finish), as well as a multi-element ICP analytical package. Gold values over 10 grams and silver values over 100 grams were assayed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish. A rigorous quality assurance/quality control program is in place, with standard and blank samples inserted in every batch of 20 samples. Results indicate acceptable precision and lack of inter-sample contamination. The exploration work was carried out under the supervision of William Hamilton, P.Geo, a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101.
