VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Almadex Minerals Limited ("Almadex" or the "Company") (AMZ.V) (AXDDF) is pleased to announce it has received the final assay results from the final 2017 drill holes EC-17-043 (Raya Tembrillo) and 044 (El Porvenir). The Raya Tembrillo area is the very northern part of the large Villa Rica Zone of the El Cobre property and is located approximately two kilometers south of the Norte Zone where most of the previous drilling since 2016 on the El Cobre property has been carried out. The Porvenir Zone is located roughly 3 km to the southeast of the Norte Zone and 1.8 km southeast of the Raya Tembrillo area of the Villa Rica Zone. Highlights from these holes include the following intercepts all of which are also shown on the attached plan and sections:

J. Duane Poliquin, Chairman of Almadex commented, “We are very excited to report these final assays from the very successful 2017 drill program. In 2017 we stepped out roughly 2 kilometers to the south of the Norte Zone and hit significant mineralisation in first pass drilling in the northern part of the large Villa Rica Zone. We believe that the results from Raya Tembrillo are proof of large scale porphyry potential in this part of the project. The drill results from 2016 and 2017 clearly show that we are dealing with a large cluster of porphyry systems all of which hold the potential to be important porphyry copper-gold deposits. We are currently defining a large 2018 drill program and look forward to reporting that shortly.”

About the El Cobre Project

The El Cobre Project has a total area of 7,456 hectares and is located adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico, about 75 kilometers northwest of the major port city of Veracruz, Mexico and has uniquely excellent infrastructure. The project area is situated 200 meters above sea level with extensive road access and is located less than 10 kilometers from a power plant, highway, gas line and other major infrastructure. Major power lines cross the property area. Almadex recently received new drill permits from SEMARNAT which have a five year duration and permit the construction of up to a total of 640 drill pads across areas covering the Norte, Villa Rica, and Porvenir Zones. 

Diamond drill testing at Encinal, El Porvenir, and Norte has returned wide intercepts of porphyry copper-gold and narrow zones of intermediate sulphidation epithermal gold-silver vein mineralization, with selected intercepts as follows:" data-reactid="17">The four copper-gold porphyry targets currently known within the El Cobre Project, Encinal, El Porvenir, Norte and Villa Rica are defined by distinct Cu-Au soil anomalies, discrete, positive magnetic features and a large IP chargeability anomaly. The largest target area is the Villa Rica Zone and apart from the current drilling has never been drill tested in past programs. Limited past RC and Diamond drill testing at Encinal, El Porvenir, and Norte has returned wide intercepts of porphyry copper-gold and narrow zones of intermediate sulphidation epithermal gold-silver vein mineralization, with selected intercepts as follows:

Diamond and RC drill holes many of which intersected important porphyry mineralisation. Drilling has demonstrated that the system persists at least to 400 m depth. Significant copper and gold grades were intersected such as 0.16% Cu and 0.39 g/t Au over 290 m in hole DDH04CB1. In addition, hole EC-13-004 intersected 0.23% Cu and 0.36 g/t Au over 106 m, to a depth of 504 m, again indicating potentially significant mineralization at depth." data-reactid="18">El Porvenir Zone: Since 1998, the El Porvenir area has seen 19 past Diamond and RC drill holes many of which intersected important porphyry mineralisation. Drilling has demonstrated that the system persists at least to 400 m depth. Significant copper and gold grades were intersected such as 0.16% Cu and 0.39 g/t Au over 290 m in hole DDH04CB1. In addition, hole EC-13-004 intersected 0.23% Cu and 0.36 g/t Au over 106 m, to a depth of 504 m, again indicating potentially significant mineralization at depth.

Encinal Zone: Hole CB5 intersected a highly altered breccia pipe containing fragments of stockwork veining and porphyry mineralisation across which 18.28 meters returned 1.42 g/t Au and 0.10% Cu. The breccia pipe occurs in a large alteration zone, IP chargeability high and magnetics low which has not been tested to depth. On June 19, 2017 Almadex announced that a new area of exposed stockwork quartz veining and gold mineralisation had been identified in the Encinal Zone. On June 29, 2017 Almadex announced the results of initial drilling on this exposed stockwork (Hole EC-17-025) which returned results including 34.47 meters grading 0.73 g/t Au and 0.20% Cu.

Norte Zone: All five holes drilled in the Norte Zone prior to 2016 intersected porphyry-style mineralization. Hole 08-CBCN-022, one of the deepest holes drilled at Norte in 2008, returned values of 0.14% Cu with 0.19 g/t Au over 259 m and 08-CBCN-19 intersected 41.15 meters averaging 0.42 g/t gold and 0.27% copper to the end of the hole at 187.45 meters. Drilling at the Norte Zone in 2016 and 2017 has resulted in the highest grade intersections to date at Norte, including 114.60 meters grading 1.33 g/t Au and 0.48% Cu (Hole EC-17-018, see press release of April 5, 2017), 80.50 meters grading 1.34 g/t Au and 0.46% Cu (Hole EC-16-012, see press release of October 24, 2016), 70.45 meters grading 2.32 g/t Au and 0.59% Cu (Hole EC-17-026, see press release of July 25, 2017), and 534.90 meters grading 0.90 g/t Au and 0.30% Cu (Hole EC-17-029, see press release of August 15, 2017). Since the Norte Zone discovery, Almadex has been carrying out a systematic drill campaign to define this target. Future Norte drilling will focus on defining the high grade zone now emerging from the Norte drill program.