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International
Bethlehem Enters into Agreement to Acquire Interest in "Monte
Cristo" Gold Property Located in Nevada
January 29, 2008
West Vancouver , British Columbia
- January 29, 2008 - International Bethlehem Mining Corp. ("International
Bethlehem" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that,
subject to regulatory approval and completion of a definitive agreement, the
Company has entered into a Letter of Intent (the "Agreement") with
Gold Summit Corporation of Reno, Nevada ("Gold Summit") to acquire
up to a 50% interest in Gold Summit's Monte Cristo property (the "Monte
Cristo Property"). Under the terms of the Agreement, the Company has the
right to earn up to a 50% interest in the Monte Cristo Property by incurring
$3 million in exploration expenditures over four years and issuing 600,000
common share (200,000 shares on approval of the Agreement by the TSX Venture
Exchange; 200,000 shares once International Bethlehem has spent $1.5 million
and has earned its initial 25% interest in the Monte Cristo Property; and
200,000 shares once International Bethlehem has spent an additional $1.5
million and has earned its 50% interest of the Monte Cristo Property). The
Company will have the right to accelerate its work payments and share
issuances if initial exploration results are favourable.
The Monte
Cristo gold-silver Property is located in the historic Gilbert mining
district, 50 km (30 miles) northwest of the town of Tonopah, Nevada. The
Monte Cristo Property consists of 337 unpatented lode mining claims, covering
an area of approximately 2,677 hectares (7,500 acres). The Monte Cristo
Property and the surrounding area have been the focus of precious metal
exploration and small-scale mining since the discovery of high-grade gold
mineralization near the Gilbert townsite in 1924.
The Monte
Cristo Property lies within the 400 km long "Walker Lane"
structural zone, a region dominated by Tertiary volcanic rocks and
right-lateral strike-slip faulting that holds several significant gold (and
silver) deposits. Collectively, they produced approximately 18 million ounces
of gold. The largest was the historic Comstock Mine (200 km to the north of
the Monte Cristo Property) with 8 million ounces of gold and 200 million
ounces of silver production from several "high grade" bonanza style
ore deposits.
Geologically,
the Monte Cristo Property covers an 11 km long north-northeast trending fault
zone in Tertiary volcanic rocks. Gold Summit has identified numerous
geological and geochemical drill targets along this zone. Currently, the most
significant target within the Monte Cristo Property is the "McLean
Lode", which has an NI 43-101 inferred resource of 331,000 tonnes averaging
6.5 g/T gold and 20 g/T silver. Gold Summit believes that the McLean Lode
may lie within a much larger gold bearing zone, potentially similar to the
multiple gold bearing systems found in the Comstock Mine. Gold Summit
previously reported an intersection from the McLean Lode zone (core drill
hole: MCC 12) from 197.6 metres to 200.9 metres (3.3 metres) averaging
47.2 g/T gold, including an interval of 116.8 g/T gold over 1.2 metres.
Gold Summit anticipates receipts of a Plan
of Operations Permit in early February and drilling is currently planned to
both expand the size of the McLean Lode and to test several of the better
drill targets along the Monte Cristo mineralized trend.
In accordance with the terms of the
Agreement, Gold Summit will be the operator for the exploration programs,
however, such programs and related budgets will be subject to International
Bethlehem's review and approval.
John Kowalchuk, P.Geo., has reviewed this
news release and is the Qualified Person for the Company's Monte Cristo
Property project.
The Company is in the business of the
exploration and development of natural resource properties. For further
information, please contact Mr. Clive Shallow, investor communications, at
604-922-2030 or visit the Company's website at www.bethlehemmining.com .
International Bethlehem Mining Corp.
"Ronald A. Coombes"
_________________________________
Ronald A. Coombes, President & CEO
The TSX
Venture Exchange has not reviewed this news release and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
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