VANCOUVER, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - Radius Gold Inc.
(TSXV: RDU) is pleased to provide an update on work completed at
its Yukon projects during the
summer 2011 field season. Early stage work programs were completed
at the Scarlet, Face, and Newt projects, and diamond drill testing
of gold targets continued at the Sixty Mile projects.
Results from all programs have been delayed due
to the major backlogs at the Yukon
assay laboratories. Results will be released when received,
compiled and interpreted.
Sixty Mile
Drilling
In 2010, Radius made two bedrock gold
discoveries, which were named the Graben fault zone and the Thrust
fault zone, while searching for the source of the extensive placer
gold produced from the stream beds and riverbeds of the Sixty Mile
River gold district. Initial drill testing of both targets in 2010
returned broad intercepts of strongly anomalous gold values (see
Radius news release dated November 16,
2010).
This summer's program was primarily directed at
testing the Graben fault zone incorporating CSMAT geophysics with
follow-up drill testing of the targets identified by that survey.
Sixteen holes were drilled along the eight-kilometre-long belt of
strongly altered Carmacks volcanic
rocks. Also, four holes tested the quartz sulfide veins hosted by
the metasediments of the Thrust zone. Results will be reported when
the assays have been received - to date, results have been received
for only a small percentage of a total of 3,500 samples submitted
to the assay laboratory.
Rackla Belt
Radius owns 230 claims -called the Scarlet East
property- covering the prospective stratigraphy along the southeast
edge of ATAC Resources Ltd.'s claim block in Yukon's exciting Rackla Belt. The Scarlet East
property covers what is believed to be the eastern extension of the
belt of rocks that host ATAC Resources' Osiris and Conrad
discoveries northeast of Keno City. The Rackla belt is developing
into a potentially major cluster of Carlin-type gold systems.
In July, Radius reported the preliminary
ridge-and-spur soil sampling results from Scarlet East (see Radius
release dated July 13, 2011). Highly
encouraging first-pass results outlined anomalous
Au-As-Hg-Sb-thallium soil geochemistry in an area of
orange-weathering limestone along a ridge.
To follow up these positive early stage results,
Radius's geologists completed a detailed, grid-based in-fill soil
sampling program this summer, collecting over 8,700 samples on a 50
x 50m grid. The grid is underlain by an orange-weathering silty
limestone unit that lies on the north-dipping limb and crest of a
southeast-trending anticline. Radius expects that full results for
the soil program will not be available until December because of
the massive sample backlog at the Yukon assay labs. In addition to the soil
grid, Radius's team collected 164 rock and 239 stream sediment
samples.
Radius also completed a magnetic and radiometric
airborne survey over the Scarlet East property (STW claims) during
the summer of 2011. Further geophysical surveys are planned over
the Scarlet West (Car and Lin claims) and Face properties (see
below) for October 2011.
Radius will not be able to drill at Rackla
during the 2011 field season, so this winter's work will include
planning for initial drill testing of Carlin-type anomalies in
2012.
Mineralization in the Rackla belt shares many of
the characteristics of Carlin-type gold deposits, including similar
alteration assemblages and association with the low-temperature
arsenic sulphides, realgar and orpiment. Host rocks are two 150- to
250-metre-thick limestone debris flow and turbidite units, referred
to as the Osiris and Isis horizons, which occur within basinal
silty mudstones.
The Face Claims
The Face property comprises 270 contiguous
claims in western Yukon, 8km due
east of Eagle, Alaska. The initial
claims were staked in September 2010
and are centred on a government regional silt survey Au anomaly,
located over carbonate rocks analogous to the Atac Resources'
Rackla belt, and with a similar spatial relationship to the
Dawson thrust.
A first pass reconnaissance ridge-and-spur soil
sampling and stream sampling survey was undertaken in the summer of
2011 with 155 soils and 31 stream sediments collected on the
western half of the property. Results define a roughly east-west
striking zone with coincident Au-Ag-Tl-Hg-Sb-As-Pb-Cu anomalies, in
both soils and stream sediments. Based upon these results, the
claim block was extended in August of this year.
A magnetic and radiometric airborne survey is
planned for October 2011 to cover the
Face property, and a full soil grid survey is planned for the
summer of 2012 to further delineate and extend the anomalous zones
and to identify potential drill targets.
The Newt Claims
The Newt claims lie southwest of Dawson City close to the Yukon-Alaska
border. The claims were staked to cover a conceptual epithermal
gold target in a similar structural setting to the Sixty Mile River
valley target. Some 779 soils, 31 silts and 11 rock samples were
collected this summer in ridge-and-spur traverses and streams
sediment sampling where feasible. No results are available yet.
Laboratory
All samples were sent to Acme Analytical
Laboratories Ltd. preparation facility in Whitehorse. The pulps and sieved samples
were analyzed at Acme's laboratory in Vancouver. Gold in rock samples were
determined by a 30 gram fire assay fusion - ICP-ES (code
3B01). An additional 36 elements were analyzed by ICP-MS
using a 0.5 gram sample. Soil samples, dried and sieved to
-80 mesh, were analyzed for a 37 element suite, including gold, by
ICP-MS (code 1F05) using a 15 gram sample. Stream sediment
samples, dried and sieved to -150 mesh, were analyzed for gold by
lead collection fire assay using a 50 gram split code
(3B01+3B04). An additional 30 gram split was analyzed for 53
elements, including gold, by aqua regia digestion and ultratrace
ICP-MS analysis (code 1F03).
Chain of Custody
All sampling is conducted under the supervision
of the Company's project geologist. Samples are tracked by
the project geologist from the project site to the sample
preparation facility and transported by Company personnel or
expediters employed by the Company.
Qualified Person
Roger Hulstein,
BSc, P.Geo., is a member of the Association of Professional
Engineers and Geoscientists of British
Columbia and is the Company's Qualified Person as defined by
National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Hulstein is responsible for
the accuracy of the technical information in this news release.
About Radius
Radius has been exploring for gold in
Latin America for nearly a
decade. It has assembled interests in a portfolio of
promising gold projects throughout the region, including carried
stakes in two small-scale developing gold projects in Guatemala and Nicaragua, and a number of 100% owned
exploration plays, including the HB property in Guatemala. As well, Radius is in the process
of spinning out its properties in the Yukon, including those in the Rackla Belt and
Sixty Mile placer gold district, to create two strategically
positioned companies, one focused on Latin America and the other focused on the
Yukon.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
"Simon Ridgway"
Simon Ridgway, President &
CEO
Investor relations: Ralph
Rushton / Erin Ostrom
Symbol: TSXV-RDU; OTCBB-RDUFF
Shares Issued: 86.6-million
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the
Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy
or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking Statement
Some of the statements in this news release contain
forward-looking information that involves inherent risk and
uncertainty affecting the business of Radius Gold Inc. Actual
results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in
such statement.
SOURCE Radius Gold Inc.
