Balmoral Reports 71% Increase in Vertical Extent of High Grade Martiniere West Gold Zone
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - May 2, 2012) - Balmoral Resources Ltd. ("Balmoral" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:BAR)(OTCQX:BALMF) today reported results from the first 6 holes of its winter 2012 expansion drill program targeting the high-grade Martiniere West Gold Zone on its Detour Gold Trend Project in Central Quebec. The reported intercepts extend the Martiniere West Gold Zone to a vertical depth of 218 metres, a 45% increase in the vertical dimension of the Zone. Visible gold mineralization has also been observed in association with the projected extension of the West Main Zone in hole MDW-12- 57a, the deepest hole of the current drill program, extending the Zone to a vertical depth of 255 metres - a 71% increase. Results from MDW-12-57a and 7 additional holes testing the West Zone remain pending.
Hole MDW-12-50a, the deepest hole reported, intersected the West Main Zone over a downhole interval of 8.24 metres, averaging 4.15 g/t gold over this interval. This intercept included several higher grade sections including 11.40 g/t gold over 0.86 metres, 8.32 g/t gold over 0.45 metres and 29.90 g/t gold over 0.40 metres. Balmoral has now intersected the high-grade West Zone over a strike length in excess of 370 metres and to a vertical depth of approximately 255 metres. The Zone remains open in all directions. Expansion drilling on the West Zone will resume in June.
"With the vertical dimension of the high-grade gold mineralized body at Martiniere West increasing by more than 70% and the Zone remaining open in all directions, the winter 2012 program has been highly successful" said Darin Wagner, President and CEO of Balmoral Resources. "These results, and those previously reported from the Martiniere East area located a kilometre to the east, continue to demonstrate the similarities between the expanding Martiniere gold system and a number of productive gold systems located throughout the Abitibi region."
Details
Drill hole MDW-12-45 was lost in overburden. Holes MDW-12-46a and 12-47 were 30 metre step outs from Balmoral's most easterly holes into the West Zone and confirmed continuity of the Zone to the west. Hole MDW-12-46a intersected, and terminated within, one of the broadest intervals of anomalous gold mineralization to date from the Martiniere Property.
Hole MDW-12-48 supported the current structural model for the West Zone which indicates a slight change in the strike of the Zone to the west where lower-grade gold mineralization is associated with a pinch, or inflection point, in the system before it appears to broaden again to the west. Holes MDW-12-49 and 12-50a were drilled on section to test the West Zone at depth. Hole MDW-12-50a intersected the West Main Zone at a vertical depth of approximately 218 metres, 63 metres deeper than the previous deepest hole intersecting the Zone. Please visit www.balmoralresources.com to view an updated long section and cross-section for the West Zone.
The West Zone is part of a much larger, high-grade gold system which has been traced for over 1,500 metres across the Martiniere Property. The Martiniere gold system also includes the high-grade ME-16, ME-11, ME-14, ME-9 discoveries and the broadly anomalous ME-12 and Martiniere East occurrences. All discoveries are located less than 1.1 kilometres from the center of the Martiniere West Zone and the broader system remains open for expansion in all directions.
Balmoral's Martiniere Property is part of the Company's Detour Gold Trend Project which extends for 82 kilometres along the Detour-Sunday Lake Deformation Zone in Central Quebec. In addition to the Martiniere gold discoveries, the Project hosts the near-surface Lynx and Rambo Gold Zones on the Detour East Property, the high-grade Fenelon Gold Zone and the Grasset Gold Discovery. Results from an additional 8 holes at Martiniere West, 4 holes from the Martiniere East area and 10 holes from the Grasset area remain pending. In addition drilling, funded by partner GTA Resources and Mining Inc., continues on the Company's Northshore Property near Thunder Bay, Ontario where recent results include an intercept of 240 metres grading 1.41 g/t gold from the Afric Gold Zone (see NR12-11; April 18, 2012).
Quality Control
Mr. Darin Wagner (P.Geo.), President and CEO of the Company, is the non-independent qualified person for the technical disclosure contained in this news release. Mr. Wagner has supervised the work programs on the Martiniere Property, visited the property on multiple occasions, examined the drill core from the holes summarized in this release and reviewed the available analytical and quality control results.
Balmoral has implemented a quality control program for all of its drill programs, to ensure best practice in the sampling and analysis of the drill core, which includes the insertion of blind blanks, duplicates and certified standards into sample stream. NQ sized drill core is saw cut with half of the drill core sampled at intervals based on geological criteria including lithology, visual mineralization and alteration. The remaining half of the core is securely stored on-site at the Company's Fenelon camp in Central Quebec. Drill core samples are transported in sealed bags to ALS-Chemex's Val d'Or, Quebec analytical facilities. Gold analyses are obtained via industry standard fire assay with atomic absorption finish using 30 g aliquots. For samples returning greater than 5.00 g/t gold follow-up analysis fire assay with a gravimetric finish is completed. The Company has also requested that any samples returning greater than 10.00 g/t gold undergo screen metallic fire assay. Following receipt of assays visual analysis of mineralized intercepts is conducted and additional analysis may be requested to insure the accurate representation of mineralized zones. ALS-Chemex is an ISO 9001-200 and ISO 17025 certified laboratory.
About Balmoral Resources Ltd. - www.balmoralresources.com
Balmoral is a Vancouver-based precious metal exploration and development company focused on district scale gold opportunities in North America. With a philosophy of creating value through the drill bit and with a focus on proven productive precious metal belts, Balmoral is following an established formula with a goal of maximizing shareholder value through discovery.
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On behalf of the board of directors of BALMORAL RESOURCES LTD.
Darin Wagner, President and CEO
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