VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Strongbow Exploration Inc. (SBW: TSXV) is pleased to announce that it intends to complete a sonic drilling program at the Midway and Ridgeway gold projects, South Carolina. The four week program is expected to start during the first week of May. Including five holes already completed during a short test program in early April, between 25 and 30 drill holes will evaluate a number of the highest priority target areas at both projects. Each hole is expected to sample overburden and bedrock to depths of between 15 and 45 metres in an effort to better define the complex geology within each target area, as well as characterize any bedrock alteration and possible mineralization that is identified. The drilling is not intended to definitively test each target but will provide important information to better position exploration drill holes for a follow up diamond drilling program.
The Midway project consists of over 3,400 acres within the prospective, 16 kilometre (10 mile) Haile-Brewer gold trend in South Carolina. All of the Midway properties are located adjacent to either the past producing Brewer gold mine or properties owned by Romarco Minerals Inc. (R-TSX) including the Haile gold mine and Buzzard properties. Current measured and indicated resources reported by Romarco for the Haile gold mine consist of 4.0 million ounces gold with additional inferred resources of 0.8 million ounces gold. Gold mineralization at the Haile and Brewer mines, as well as at the nearby Buzzard prospect, is hosted within volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Carolina slate belt (CSB). As part of the initial sonic drilling program completed in early April, two areas with well-developed gold-in-soil anomalies, along trend from the Brewer deposit, were evaluated. Extensively developed disseminated pyrite, hosted within felsic fragmental volcanic rocks, was intersected in each of the drill holes.
The Ridgeway project area is located approximately 50 kilometres to the southwest of Midway, and consists of 18 properties covering approximately 1,300 acres located along strike to the east of Rio Tinto’s past producing Ridgeway gold mine. The Ridgeway mine is also located within the CSB and produced approximately 1.5 million ounces of gold between 1988 and 1998. Strongbow has completed detailed geochemical surveys of part of the project area and surveys are underway on the remainder of the properties. Two properties have seen historical drilling which defined a zone of gold mineralization (the Lloyd zone) over a 250 m strike length. Gold assays from this drilling ranged from background values up to 2.4 g/t over 25.9 m. This mineralization was encountered at depths ranging from 5 to 20 metres and will be tested as part of the upcoming sonic drilling program.
Strongbow’s exploration programs are conducted under the supervision of David Gale, P.Geo.(BC), Vice-President of Exploration for Strongbow and a qualified person under NI 43-101.
STRONGBOW EXPLORATION INC.
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/s/“Kenneth A. Armstrong” |
| Kenneth A. Armstrong |
| President and CEO |
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