Tonogold Resources, Inc. Completes Drilling and Sampling Program at Nyac, Alaska Gold Project
Tonogold Resources, Inc. has completed their 2006 core drilling, sampling and mapping program at their 83,200 acre Nyac Gold Project in the Tintina Gold Belt of southwest Alaska. The Company has shipped 4,137 soil samples, 55 rock chip samples and 1,361 core samples to the assay lab, ALS Chemex. Assays are reported from the first 2,390 soil samples.
Tonogold drilled eleven holes at Nyac in 2006, testing the largest gold soil anomalies recognized during the 2005 exploration program: the Bonanza Ridge Prospect, the Shamrock Prospect and the Wallace Prospect.
Assays from the first four holes, all drilled into the gold-anomalous Bonanza Pluton, have been received. Tonogold is awaiting assays from the other seven holes. The best reported intercept was 8.6 ppm gold over 2 feet (0.6 m) from a depth of 379 feet (115 m) in drill hole #1. (Note: 1 ppm equals 1 gram per metric ton). This assay interval came from a series of quartz-calcite-pyrite-chalcopyrite-bismuthinite veinlets associated with an aplite dike in sericite-altered granodiorite. Several fractures with similar wall rock alteration yielded isolated two meter intervals grading 1.0 ppm gold. Geology in the Bonanza Ridge holes at Nyac compares favorably with geology in the walls of the Fort Knox open pit mine near Fairbanks, supporting the low-grade disseminated, intrusive model previously expected for Bonanza Ridge.
Donald G. Strachan, Vice President of Exploration, says, “Tonogold’s 2006 mapping, surface sampling, and drilling efforts have given us exciting new geologic insights at Nyac. We remain committed to the Nyac project and have begun planning a very focused exploration program for Summer 2007.”
One reason for this expansive gold exploration outlook is the thick, extensive, sericite-clay alteration cut by fractures with secondary sericite-clay selvages encountered in all four holes. The laterally and vertically extensive Bonanza Ridge alteration is located directly below the largest 2005 soil gold anomaly. The critical sericite-clay alteration increases in intensity downwards in each of the four Bonanza drill holes. Compilation of 2006 gold and trace element core assays, added to results of the proposed 2007 trench sampling and airborne Mag-EM surveys, should develop a disseminated and perhaps a higher-grade structural gold target beneath Bonanza Ridge for drilling late in 2007 or perhaps 2008.
Saddle Mountain is the second reason for Tonogold’s positive expectations for 2007. The Saddle Mountain granodiorite underlies a large and internally consistent gold soil anomaly revealed by the 2006 soil program. The size of the 2006 Saddle Mountain gold anomaly is larger than the similarly intense anomaly above the Bonanza target revealed by the 2005 soil program. In addition, gold-bearing veins and fault-breccias in the adjacent Jurassic volcanics were revealed by mapping, surface sampling, and trenching at Saddle Mountain in 2006. High-graded quartz-chalcopyrite-pyrite veins at Saddle Mountain yielded outcrop values of 132 ppm gold and greater than 1,000 ppm gold in Jurassic volcanics.
Another positive insight gained from Tonogold’s 2006 exploration program is a completely different, structurally controlled style of mineralization encountered in the two holes drilled at the Wallace prospect, at the other end of the district from Saddle Mountain and Bonanza Ridge. A coarsely crystalline quartz-calcite-pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite-pyrite vein was intercepted in drill hole #10 with a narrower counterpart in drill hole #11. Besides the favorable gangue and sulfides (20% sulfides in drill hole #10), each vein intercept is characterized by a narrow chalcedonic silica envelope surrounded by a wide propylitic envelope. Host rock is Jurassic andesitic volcanics.
Tonogold expects to publish the final 2006 report on drilling, surface sampling and mapping at Nyac in the Fall. This report will include results from the 2005 and 2006 exploration programs and recommendations for 2007.
Tonogold Resources, Inc. is a minerals exploration company based in La Jolla, California with gold and silver properties in Alaska and Nevada. Tonogold is the parent company of Prospect Uranium, Inc. For more information on the Company visit their websites at www.tonogold.com and www.prospecturanium.com.
Safe Harbor Statement Under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
This press release may contain certain forward-looking information about Tonogold Resources, Inc. (“Tonogold”) which is intended to be covered by the safe harbor for “forward-looking statements” provided by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. Words such as “plan(s),” “expect(s),” “feel(s),” “believe(s),” “will,” “may,” “anticipate(s),” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements may include, but are not limited to, financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions; statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, products and services; or statements regarding future performance. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict, and generally beyond the control of Tonogold Resources, Inc., that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include: our lack of operating revenue and earnings history; our need for additional capital to pursue our business strategy; the grade and quantity of minerals in our projects may not be economic; we do not have fee title to our properties, but derive our rights through leases and the Mining Law; we are a non-reporting company and as such do not make periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission; we trade on the Pink Sheets and there can be no assurances that a liquid market will develop in our securities; mining is subject to extensive environmental regulations and can create substantial environmental liabilities; gold and silver are commodities which have substantial price fluctuations; a drop in gold or silver prices could adversely affect future profitability and/or capital raising efforts; and mining can be dangerous and present operational hazards for employees and contractors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Tonogold does not undertake any obligation to republish revised forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
For information about this press release, please contact:
Phillip Winter Vice President of Investor Relations
Tel. 858 456-1273
