Reverse circulation drilling now complete at Gömeç, three diamond drill holes planned to test deep targets for higher grade gold
August 17, 2015 – Toronto, Ontario: Royal Road Minerals Limited (TSXV:RYR) (“Royal Road Minerals” or the “Company”), a gold and copper focused mineral exploration and development company, is pleased to announce interim drill results from its Gömeç gold project in Balıkesir province of Western Turkey. Please note that all reported intersections are down-hole widths as true widths cannot be determined from the currently available information.
The Gömeç project comprises five contiguous exploration licenses and is an early-stage gold exploration project located in the hinterland of Balıkesir province. Gold extends discontinuously over an approximately 10km long, northeast trending ridge comprised of Oligocene age volcanic and intrusive rocks. Gold mineralization is dominantly disseminated low-sulfidation epithermal in style and appears to be both stratabound and structurally controlled.
In late 2014 the Company conducted an exploratory reverse circulation drilling program at the Gömeç project, notable results from that program included GRC-014, 76 meters at 1.0g/t (including 24 meters at 2.0g/t gold and 18.7g/t silver), GRC-013, 56 meters at 1.0g/t (including 22 meters at 2.0g/t gold and 15.6g/t silver) and GRC-015, 40 meters at 1.0g/t gold in contiguous drill holes located 100 meters away from each other. A follow-up reverse circulation drilling program commenced on June 14 this year. Results from the first three drill holes of this program (GRC 021, 022 and 023) were press released on July 15 this year and included 118.0 meters at 1.0 g/t gold (open at depth); including 22.0 meters at 3.9 g/t gold and 21 g/t silver.
Results from the next four drill holes have now been returned (see Table 1 and Figure 1) with significant (greater than 1g/t) intersections as follows:
A notable characteristic of drilling results at Gömeç are the long low grade intersections which host the greater than 1 gram per tonne gold intervals (see Table 1). For example, GRC-024 (10 meters at 1.0 g/t gold) returned 110 meters at 0.5 g/t gold from 62 to 172 meters down-hole depth and GRC-027 returned 82 meters at 0.7 g/t gold from 92 to 174 meters down-hole depth. Management believe that these long low-grade intervals, which are hosted in fault zones and along layering in a sequence of volcanic rocks, may be indicative of underlying higher grades in crystalline basement rocks located structurally beneath the volcanic pile.
Step-out and scout reverse circulation drilling have been completed at other localities along the Gömeç mineralized system and results are awaited. The reverse circulation drill rig could not reach the depths required to test potentially higher grade gold targets below the lower grade volcanic rocks and so the drilling contractor has agreed to replace the reverse circulation drill rig with a diamond drill rig at the same cost per meter. A further three diamond drill holes will be drilled at the property to test deeper targets.
“Drill hole GRC-027 is located 200 meters away to the east of the broadly northwest oriented fault zone intersected in previous drilling” said Tim Coughlin, Royal Road’s President and CEO “There is no obvious structure at surface near GRC-027 which hints at more than a simple fault control to gold mineralization at Gömeç and provides some further encouragement in terms of size potential. We are awaiting the re sults of step-out drilling into basement-hosted alteration zones and along the ridge to the southeast at Gömeç, but reverse circulation drilling has now ceased and has been replaced with diamond drilling, at no additional cost, to drill a further three drill holes testing deep targets at the project.”
Table 1.
Figure 1.
The information in this news release was compiled, reviewed and verified by Dr. Tim Coughlin, BSc (Geology), MSc (Exploration and Mining), PhD (Structural Geology), FAusIMM, President and CEO of Royal Road Minerals Ltd and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Royal Road Minerals employees are instructed to follow standard operating and quality assurance procedures intended to ensure that all sampling techniques and sample results meet international reporting standards. Reverse circulation drill chips are bagged on-site in 1 meter intervals and split on site into 2 meter composite samples. All assay work for released results are carried out by ALS-Chemex certified analytical laboratory in Izmir, Turkey. More information can be found on Royal Road Minerals web site at www.royalroadminerals.com
About Royal Road Minerals:
Royal Road Minerals is a gold and copper focused exploration and development company. The Company has projects in Western and Southeast Turkey. In the West the Company is advancing gold and copper projects under an earn-in agreement whereas in the East it is conducting early-stage exploration in a remote, under-explored and highly prospective gold and copper mineralized magmatic belt.
About the Oremine Option Agreement:
The Oremine agreement covers the Gömeç, Uğur Tepe and Ispir license areas. Royal Road Minerals has been granted the option to earn a 50% interest in the JV Companies holding the license rights over these projects. In order to earn this interest, the Company must spend an aggregate of US$2,000,000 on exploration and development work at these projects to earn a 20% interest in the JV Companies and a further US$2,000,000 of such expenditures to earn an additional 30% interest in the JV Companies, in each case, before December 31, 2016. In addition, on or before December 31, 2016, the Company must pay an amount equal to US$3,000,000 to the sole shareholder of the companies as consideration for the waiver or agreement not to participate in a capital increase or in connection with any applicable share transfer transactions, which would result in the Company or RRM Turkey acquiring a 50% shareholding in each of the JV Companies.
Cautionary statement:
Neither 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 release. This news release may contain certain information that constitutes forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as “plan,” “expect,” “project,” “intend,” “believe,” “anticipate” and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” occur and include statements regarding the Option Agreement. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. These factors include the inherent risks involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties, mine site planning and development, the uncertainties involved in interpreting drilling results and other geological data, fluctuating metal prices, permitting and licensing and other factors described above and in the Company’s most recent annual information form under the heading “Risk Factors”, which has been filed electronically by means of the Canadian Securities Administrators’ website located at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements if circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions should change. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
For further information please contact:
Donna Pugsley Investor Relations Manager USA-Canada toll free 1800 6389205 +44 (0)1534 887166 +44 (0)7797 742800 info@royalroadminerals.com
In Colombia Royal Road Minerals operates through its wholly-owned Colombian companies Minerales Camino Real SAS founded in 2015 and Exploraciones Northern Colombia SAS acquired from previous owners in 2019. In Argentina Royal Road Minerals operates through its wholly owned Argentinian company, Minerales Camino Real Argentina. In Saudi Arabia and Morocco the Company operates through its 50% owned Saudi Arabian registered subsidiary, Royal Road Arabia.
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