Nevada Gold Copper Property Package Consolidated

 

21 July 2014

 

Galileo Resources Plc

("Galileo" or the "Company")

 

Nevada Gold Copper Property Package Consolidated at Ferber

 

Galileo (AIM: GLR), the exploration and development mining company, has executed two Exploration Lease and Option to Purchase Agreements to consolidate its land position at its Ferber project area in Elko County, Nevada, USA, through its wholly owned subsidiary, St Vincent Minerals Inc (SVM).  This increases the Company's position from 88 unpatented mining claims covering c1,760 acres to 102 unpatented and 21 patented mining claims which now cover c2,377 contiguous acres at Ferber. 

 

The Ferber property is a historic producer of gold and  copper and hosts widespread gold and copper mineralisation. Galileo is reviewing available data on the property in light of recent major gold discoveries in eastern Nevada at Long Canyon and, more recently, at Kinsley Mountain. Ferber is approximately 12 kilometres (km) east of Kinsley Mountain.

 

Highlights

 

·    Galileo acquires additional 617 acres at the  Ferber property via lease and option to purchase agreement.

 

·    Recent high grade gold discoveries in the nearby region provide strong impetus to explore for a similar gold mineralised system at Ferber. 

 

·    SVM geologists, following site visits and on-going review of all data, have identified many geologic similarities with these nearby discoveries and are formulating a near-term exploration programme. 

 

Brian Gavin, CEO of Galileo said: "Galileo initially acquired St Vincent Minerals Inc on the basis of its flagship gold-copper porphyry deposit at Gabbs, Nevada. Further review of SVM's property portfolio now indicates that Ferber could be a significant gold target in a newly emerging gold trend in eastern Nevada. Recent new gold discoveries in the nearby region provide strong evidence for a mineralised system at Ferber, which makes the property a compelling target for reinterpretation and subsequent exploration."

 

Exploration Strategy at Ferber

 

SVM geologists are currently conducting a thorough review of the newly acquired lands and geologic information in order to formulate a near-term exploration plan. Likely exploration activities include geologic mapping, data compilation, soil and rock geochemical sampling as well as ground geophysics in order to move rapidly to the drilling stage.

 

Recent discoveries close to Ferber

 

Recent Carlin-type gold discoveries at Long Canyon and Kinsley Mountain have opened up an important new exploration frontier in eastern Nevada.  The Long Canyon property was discovered and defined between 2005-2011 by a Fronteer-AuEx joint venture and is reported to host an estimated 2.2 million ounces of gold. The property was purchased by Newmont Mining in 2011 for $2.33 billion dollars.   At Kinsley Mountain, a former producer of gold controlled by "Pilot Gold" (listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange), a reinterpretation of the regional and local geology and subsequent drilling has revealed high grade gold up to 21.3g/t  over 29 metres (m) and 10.5g/t over 42.7 m. (Note: Galileo has no ownership interest in either Long Canyon or Kinsley Mountain).

 

Geology and Mineralisation at Ferber

 

The Ferber property is underlain by a stratigraphic sequence of Pennsylvania-Permian age carbonate units thought to include the Rib Hill Formation, Riepe Spring Formation, Ferguson Mountain Formation, and possibly the Pequop Formation. The sedimentary units are intruded and domed by a multi-phase diorite-quartz monzonite Tertiary-aged igneous complex. The intrusive complex has an exposed footprint of 6.1 km east-west by 1.6 km  north-south.   A contact metamorphic marble and calc-silicate zone are found at the margin of the intrusive complex. The project area is intersected by a number east-west, north-northwest and north-east trending faults. 

 

Copper and gold mineralisation occurs in the following styles: calc-silicate skarn near the intrusive contact, as replacement zones in the marble, in silicified shear zones and veins near contacts, along structures and horizons in silicated marble and as disseminations in the stock.  Information contained in the data package acquired as part of the land acquisition show historic drilling by Royal Gold in the 1990s encountered the following intercepts on the newly acquired lands at Ferber:

 

·     10.8 m of 0.53 g/t Au in marble with iron oxides

·     4.6 m of 2.15 g/t Au in oxidized intrusive

·     4.6 m of 0.718% Cu (oxide) in intrusive

·     26.2 m of 0.415% Cu (oxide) in contact zone

·     12.3 m of 0.832% Cu (oxide) in contact zone

 

Galileo's land position at Ferber

 

SVM acquired a 100% interest in 88 unpatented mining claims (approximately 1,760 acres) at Ferber in 2010 from Newcrest Resources Inc. To consolidate mineral ownership at Ferber, SVM recently signed an Exploration Lease and Option to Purchase Agreement covering 14 unpatented claims (approximately 280 acres) and a separate Exploration Lease and Option to Purchase Agreement covering approximately 337 acres of patented mining claims. The two Exploration Lease and Option to Purchase Agreements give SVM an option to purchase the properties with a net smelter royalty ("NSR") (subject to a partial buy back at the rate of $1m per 1%) retained to the seller. All annual payments and purchase payments to the landowners are credits against any eventual purchase and the ongoing annual and quarterly advance payments (which increase steadily over a ten year period) will be against payments under the NSR arrangements which are in line with industry standard-arrangements.

 

Geologic and exploration database at Ferber

 

The Ferber district has been the site of small-scale production and sporadic exploration by a number of companies since 1960s. SVM has gathered a broad record of these past exploration activities including geologic maps, drill hole location maps, sample location maps, drilling logs and assays, rock sampling geochemistry, geophysical surveys and reports.

 

Technical Sign-Off

Brian Gavin, CEO and Director of Galileo, who holds a B.Sc. (Hons) Geology, Kings College, London and M.S. Geology and Geophysics, University of Missouri-Rolla and is Certified Professional Geologist, American Institute of Professional Geologists and a Licensed Geologist, State of Washington, USA, is a "qualified person" as defined under the AIM Rules for Companies and a competent person under the reporting standards. The technical parts of this announcement have been prepared under Brian's supervision and he has approved the release of this announcement.

 

A copy of this announcement is available on the Company's website www.galileoresources.com.

You can also follow Galileo on Twitter: @GalileoResource.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Colin Bird, Chairman	Tel +44 (0) 20 7581 4477
Brian Gavin, CEO	Tel +1 509 263 7213
Andrew Sarosi, Technical Director	Tel +44 (0) 1752 221937
Beaumont Cornish Limited: Nominated Advisor and Broker Roland Cornish	Tel +44 (0)20 7628 3396
Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited: Joint Broker Jerry Keen/Toby Gibbs	Tel +44 (0)20 7408 4090
Gable Communications Justine James / John Bick	Tel +44 (0)20 7193 7463 M  +44 (0) 7525 324431

 

 

Glossary

Carlin style	Carlin-style gold deposits are sediment-hosted finely disseminated gold deposits.
diorite	intrusive igneous rock composed principally of plagioclase feldspar
feldspar	a rock forming silicate mineral
g/t	gram per tonne
igneous	formed through the cooling and solidification of magma (mixture of molten/semi-molten rock) or lava
metamorphism	the change of minerals or geologic texture in pre-existing rocks, primarily due to heat, pressure, and the introduction of chemically active fluids.
monzonite	an igneous intrusive rock comprising approximately equal amounts of plagioclase and alkali feldspar,
Permian	a geologic period and system, which extends from 298 to 252 million years ago.
plagioclase	A calcium/sodium feldspar
sedimentary unit	a rock assemblage formed by the deposition of material at the Earth's surface and within bodies of water.
skarn	calcium-bearing silicate rocks of any age most often formed at the contact zone between intrusions of granitic magma bodies and carbonate sedimentary rocks such as limestone
Tertiary	geologic period from 65 million to 1.8 million years ago
tonne	1000 kilograms