VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - May 23, 2012) - Balmoral Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:BAR)(OTCQX:BALMF) ("Balmoral" or the "Company") today reported a new discovery of nickel-copper-platinum group metal mineralization on the Company's wholly owned Grasset Property. Drill hole GR-12-09 intersected a 9.17 metre interval which returned 0.51% nickel, 0.09% copper and 0.50 g/t platinum+
palladium+gold. Individual assays returned a high of 1.34% nickel, 0.17% copper and 0.71 g/t platinum+
palladium+gold over 0.40 metres from a band of semi-massive sulphide mineralization.
The magmatic, Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide discovery is hosted in an ultramafic intrusion near its contact with the Sunday Lake Deformation Zone. Mineralization occurs in the form of disseminated pyrrhotite and pendlandite with a pyroxenite body. The mineralized interval is located at, or near, the extreme southeastern end of a 1,000 metre long airborne electromagnetic conductor. The same suite of ultramafic rocks had previously returned anomalous Ni-Cu-PGE mineralization over 8,300 metres to the northwest on the Company's Fenelon Property. There is little drill testing along the interpreted trend of the ultramafic host unit between the discovery announced today and the historic work noted above. A map highlighting the new discovery can be viewed at
www.balmoralresources.com.
"The Abitibi is home to a wide array of deposit types including nickel producers," said Darin Wagner, President and CEO of Balmoral Resources. "The discovery of nickel-copper-PGE mineralization at Grasset continues to enhance the potential of our Detour Trend Project and adds another target for follow-up and expansion. With a kilometre long conductor remaining to be tested, and anomalous mineralization of this nature known over 8.0 kilometres to the northwest, there is an opportunity for a nickel-copper-PGE system of considerable scale to emerge across the Grasset and Fenelon properties."
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Inter- Plati- Palla-
Hole From To val(i) Nick- Copp- num dium Gold 3E(ii)
Number (metres) (metres) (metres) el % er % (g/t) (g/t) (g/t) (g/t)
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GR-12-09 171.40 180.57 9.17 0.51 0.09 0.15 0.33 0.02 0.50
Including 178.85 179.25 0.40 1.34 0.17 0.16 0.54 0.01 0.71
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(i) Reported drill intercepts are not true widths. At this time there is
insufficient data with respect to the shape of the mineralization to
calculate true orientations in space.
(ii) 3E = Platinum+palladium+Gold and is a common method of reporting
precious metals in Ni-Cu deposits.
Gold Mineralization
Drilling continued to intersect zones of anomalous gold mineralization proximal to the contact between sedimentary and volcanic/intrusive rocks along the Sunday Lake Deformation Zone on the Grasset property. A number of anomalous intersections were returned from broadly spaced drilling as outlined below. A map showing the location of the 2012 drill holes is available on the Company's website.
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Hole From To Interval(i) Gold
Number (Metres) (Metres) (Metres) (g/t)
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GR-12-06 276.00 303.00 27.00 0.17
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GR-12-07 188.45 189.00 0.55 9.17
249.00 252.00 3.00 3.42
276.00 279.00 3.00 1.57
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GR-12-08 135.00 137.00 2.00 0.99
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GR-12-09 145.66 146.66 1.00 1.60
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GR-12-10 Lost in Overburden
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GR-12-11 126.15 129.40 3.25 0.52
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GR-12-12 No Significant Intercepts
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GR-12-13 Lost in Overburden
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(i) Reported drill intercepts are not true widths. At this time there is
insufficient data with respect to the shape of the mineralization to
calculate true orientations in space.
Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide Target
Drill holes GR-12-14 and GR-12-15 were drilled approximately 1400 metres north-northwest of the Grasset gold discovery to test a 400 metre long coincident airborne magnetic-electromagnetic anomaly. Both holes collared in a sequence of felsic volcanic rocks and intersected a four to five metre wide zone of massive to semi-massive magnetite, pyrrhotite and pyrite with minor chalcopyrite. The mineralized zone occurs at or near the contact between rhyolite and mafic/ultramafic volcanic rocks. The mineralization is associated with moderate to strong chlorite alteration and interpreted to be of VMS origin.
Balmoral's Grasset 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. The Grasset Property is located approximately 10 kilometres east of the Company's Fenelon gold zone, 40 kilometres east of the Martiniere gold discoveries and 90 kilometres east of Detour Gold deposit. Pending results from the winter 2012 drill program include results from 8 holes at Martiniere West and 4 holes from the Martiniere East area - all of which are awaiting final QAQC confirmation. Drilling is anticipated to resume on the Project during the first two weeks of June.
In addition the Company has been advised by funding partner GTA Resources and Mining Inc. that 6 holes have now been completed on the Northshore Property near Thunder Bay, Ontario. Recent results from Northshore 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 Grasset Property, visited the property on multiple occasions, examined the drill core from the holes summarized in this release and reviewed the 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 Minerals 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 ensure the accurate representation of mineralized zones. Base metal analyses are performed at ALS Minerals North Vancouver, B.C. facility via industry standard 35-element ICP-AES with an aqua regia dissolution. Base metal values returning greater than 1% are automatically re-assayed by standard fire assay. PGE analyses are performed by standard fire assay with an ICP-AES finish with a 30 gram aliquot. ALS Minerals is an ISO 9001-200 and ISO 17025 certified laboratory.
About Balmoral Resources Ltd. -
www.balmoralresources.comBalmoral 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.
On behalf of the board of directors of BALMORAL RESOURCES LTD.
Darin Wagner, President and CEO
This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities laws. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including statements regarding the anticipated content, commencement, duration and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program results, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, the timing of the receipt of assay results, and business and financing plans and trends, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions or are those which, by their nature, refer to future events. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include those related to weather, equipment and staff availability; performance of third parties; risks related to the exploration stage of the Company's projects; market fluctuations in prices for securities of exploration stage companies and in commodity prices; and uncertainties about the availability of additional financing; risks related to the Company's ability to identify one or more economic deposits on the properties, and variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located on the properties; risks related to the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities on the properties; and risks related to the Company's ability to produce minerals from the properties successfully or profitably. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. All of the Company's public disclosure filings may be accessed via
www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including the latest technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.
This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.