MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA-(April 30,
2008) - Mackenzie I. Watson, President and CEO of Freewest Resources
Canada Inc., (TSX VENTURE:FWR) and Henry A. Miller, COO of Rockport
Mining Corp. ("Rockport"), today report the results of additional
diamond drilling completed on the Clarence Stream gold property (the
"Property"). The Property comprising 11,296 hectares is located
close to infrastructure, 70 kilometres southwest of Fredericton and 10
kilometres east of the Mount Pleasant tin-tungsten-molybdenum-indium facility
in Charlotte County, southwestern New Brunswick.
Management is further encouraged by the resource expansion of the Deep Zone
and by the discovery of the New Zone which returned 17.25 g/t Au over a
width of 5.00 metres in CS08-290. Collectively, continued drilling of both
zones along strike and to depth should significantly add to the gold
mineral resource at Clarence Stream, a prime goal of the 2008 drilling
campaign. In addition, planned drilling will continue to test the
mineralized trend along it's 15 km length in areas such as the East Zone
where previous shallow drilling encountered mineralization grading 12.51
g/t Au over a width of 3.0 metres (CS07-246) and 12.45 g/t Au over 4.5
metres (CS07-240).
Previous drilling along this 15 km trend has been shallow, generally above
the 100 meter level. The continued success of the current
"deeper" drill program has demonstrated the scale of this large
gold system and its resource potential at depth. Rockport Mining Corp. is
currently funding an aggressive first-year $3,000,000 exploration program
at Clarence Stream under the operatorship of Freewest. The prime objective
is to increase the project's mineral resource to the million-ounce plus
range during 2008. Due to the ongoing success, Freewest and Rockport are
currently outlining plans to further accelerate the resource expansion
drilling at Clarence Stream.
Recent drilling was directed at continuing to expand on the dimensions of
the Deep Zone. Highlighting the results obtained from prior drilling of the
Deep Zone are drill intercepts of 7.98 g/t Au over 12.00 metres (CS08-272)
and 7.11 g/t Au over 5.00 metres (CS08-273) (see Freewest news release of
February 29, 2008). Additional intercepts include 16.60 g/t Au over 2..00
metres (CS08-290), 3.86 g/t Au across 4.00 metres (CS08-289) and 3.50 g/t
Au over 4.00 metres, in drill-hole CS08-284. The significant drill results
obtained from the recently completed drilling program are summarized below
in Table 1.
The Deep Zone currently has been traced over a strike length of 550 metres
(line 500E to line 1050E) and at depths ranging from 200 metres to 450
metres below surface. It currently remains open-ended along strike and to
depth (see Figure 1 - Longitudinal Section of the Proximal Deposits is part
of this news release and is posted on the Freewest website at
www.freewest.com). Mineralization occurs in a high-strain zone in quartz
veins, quartz stock-work and disseminations, hosted within
biotite-cordierite hornfels as well as microgranite and gabbro dikes and
sills.
While drilling the Deep Zone, a new parallel zone of gold mineralization
was encountered immediately to the north of the Deep Zone, within its
hanging wall. The zone known as the New Zone, has been currently tested
over a strike length of close to 650 metres (from line 500E to 1150E) and
to a maximum depth of about 300 metres below surface. It too, remains
completely open along strike and to depth.
Highlighting the results obtained from the New Zone are drill intercepts of
17.25 g/t Au over a width of 5.00 metres (CS08-290), 3.86 g/t Au over 4.00
metres (CS08-289) and 26.60 g/t Au over a core length of 0.50 metres
(CS07-270). The style and nature of mineralization in the New Zone is
similar to that of the Deep Zone, with gold occurring in quartz veins and
wall-rock disseminations within metasedimentary rocks in close association
with microgranite sills. In hole CS08-290, appreciable visible gold occurs
with arsenopyrite, sphalerite, pyrite, pyrrhotite and stibnite in sheared
recrystallized quartz veins.
The significant drill results obtained from the New Zone are summarized in
Table 2 below.
Under the terms of
an agreement with Freewest (October 2007), Rockport may earn a 30% interest
in the Property by spending $3,000,000 on exploration on or before October
2008. They may earn a cumulative 50% interest by spending $4,500,000 on
exploration prior to October 2011. A cumulative 65% interest may be
obtained by Rockport by funding the Property through to a feasible study.
Rockport is a well-funded St. Andrews-based mineral exploration company.
Glen Lutes, P. Geo. (New Brunswick) is the qualified person on-site at the
Clarence Stream property. Donald Hoy, P. Geo. (Ontario), Vice President of
Exploration and a Director of Freewest Resources Canada Inc. is responsible
for the preparation of this news release.
Freewest is a well-funded mineral exploration corporation, with working
capital in excess of $9 million, exploring for gold and base-metals in
Eastern Canada. Corporate information can be accessed on the Internet at
www.freewest.com. Freewest' shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange
under the symbol FWR.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not approved and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or of this press release.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Freewest Resources Canada Inc.
Mackenzie I. Watson
President and CEO
514-878-3551 or 1-888-878-3551
Fax: 514-878-4427
info@freewest.com
http://www.freewest.com
or
Rockport Mining Corp.
Henry A. Miller
Chief Operation Officer
506-529-8206
Fax: 506-529-8595