Canyon Resources has announced the commencement of core drilling at our Reward Property in Nevada. Please view the press release below, in its entirety.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 23, 2007 PR07-08
CANYON BEGINS CORE DRILLING AND PROVIDES
UPDATE ON ITS REWARD PROJECT IN NEVADA
Golden, CO -- Canyon Resources Corporation (AMEX:CAU), a Colorado-based mining company, is pleased to announce the start of a four-hole, 1,600-foot core drilling program at its Reward Gold Project in Nye County, Nevada. The drilling program, part of the ongoing feasibility study at Reward, will consist of four 2.5 inch-diameter holes which will provide structural and rock mechanic information and material for metallurgical testing. The rock mechanic and structural data is required for open-pit high wall design and to provide ore and waste rock characteristics. Mineralization in the remaining core will be used for metallurgical column testing.
Canyon initiated the permitting process for the Reward Project in November 2006 when it submitted its plan of operations and reclamation plan to the Las Vegas office of the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM") and to the Nevada Bureau of Mining Regulation and Reclamation. Additionally, a design report for the Reward mine heap leach facility was completed in early March and a water pollution control permit application has been prepared for the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection. Other relevant permit applications are currently being prepared.
A revised estimate of mineralized material (announced on March 2, 2007) of 12.7 million tons at an average grade of 0.025 ounce per ton (opt) of gold using a cutoff grade of 0.01 opt has recently been completed for the project. The mineralized zone remains open to the east along its southern 1,000 foot border. Disseminated gold mineralization at Reward is hosted in a north-south trending, steeply to moderately eastward dipping, quartz stockwork-vein zone from 15 to 140 feet thick and 2,000 feet long, developed within the immediate hanging wall of the Reward fault.
“These programs are important steps in our effort to quickly advance the Reward Project to a production decision. Reward is an important project for us, providing ounces, and additional exploration potential for our planned growth into a mid-tier gold producer," comments James Hesketh, President and CEO.
In January 2006, a pre-feasibility study for the Reward Project was completed. The study projects strong economic results based on a $425 gold price, $7.6 million in new capital expenditures, transfer of miscellaneous mobile equipment from the Briggs Mine, and contract crushing. At current market prices project economics increase substantially. Cash cost of operation would average $330 per ounce over a five-year project life. No silver byproduct credits were assumed in the analysis, although they may have a positive impact.
The Reward fault separates footwall Proterozoic quartzite, siltstone and dolomite on the west from hanging wall Cambrian limestone and marble on the east. Gold mineralization, while hosted in the Cambrian sedimentary rocks, is probably Tertiary in age and is considered epithermal in nature. The Reward Project area is part of the Bullfrog/Bare Mountain mining districts which sit on the southern end of the Walker Lane Structural Belt, a regionally important and complex structural zone of Miocene Age hosting numerous epithermal precious metal districts. The Walker Lane extends northwest from Las Vegas to the eastern edge of the Sierra Nevada Mountains South of Carson City. Reward is located about five miles south of the town of Beatty NV, in southern Nye County and about five miles southeast of Barrick’s now inactive Bullfrog Mine which produced over 2,000,000 ounces of gold in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Bullfrog/Bare Mountain districts, as a whole, have been very prolific, producing about 3,000,000 ounces of gold in total from several modern operations.
The drilling contractor is Ruen Drilling of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The engineering contractor responsible for assuring quality control at each drill site and for the eventual design of the open pit is Golder Associates of Reno, Nevada.
About Canyon Resources
Canyon Resources, based in Golden, Colorado, was formed in 1979. The Company has a history of precious metals exploration success and can claim a number of significant discoveries. Canyon currently owns the Briggs Mine in California and is currently evaluating the re-start of that operation. Canyon is also evaluating the potential development of the Reward Gold Project in Nevada. For additional information on Canyon Resources and its properties, please visit our website at www.canyonresources.com
This press release includes “forward-looking statementsâ?? within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as amended. Such forward-looking statements include, among others, feasibility studies for the Briggs Mine and Reward Project, mineralized material estimates, drilling capability and the potential reopening or expansion of the Briggs Mine. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include, among others: the volatility of gold prices; potential operating risks of mining, development and expansion; the uncertainty of estimates of mineralized material and gold deposits; and environmental and governmental regulations; availability of financing; the outcome of litigation, as well as judicial proceedings and force majeure events and other risk factors as described from time to time in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Most of these factors are beyond the Company’s ability to control or predict.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:
James Hesketh, President and CEO (303) 278-8464
Valerie Kimball, Investor Relations (303) 278-8464
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