PREMIER GOLD MINES LTD (TSX:PG) and SUTTER GOLD MINING INC. (SGMI; SGM.V) are pleased to announce that they have expanded their holdings in the historic and high grade El Alamo District of Baja California Norte, Mexico to include an additional 2,800 hectares (6,919 acres) of mineral concessions. The concessions are accessible by road, located 10 kilometres (kms) west of Highway 3, some 100 kms southeast of Ensenada and about 250 kms from San Diego, California, USA.
These new concessions, together known as Santa Teresa 2 (STC2), are located north, east and southwest of the original Santa Teresa Concession (STC) and will be explored for jointly under terms defined in the recently signed joint venture agreement (JVA) between the companies. The ground is considered to be strategic by the partners as it includes the poorly explored surface prospect at San Gabriel to the east of the STC and also is located proximal to the past-producing Avelina Mine located southwest of the STC.
Premier is preparing an initial 14-hole diamond drill program of 3,650 metres (11,975 feet) on the STC in order to test the extent, continuity and grade of known gold-bearing vein structures previously evaluated only within 20 metres of the surface.
The STC is located adjacent to and on strike from the past-producing Princessa Mine (the district's largest gold producer), whose orebody was known to extend close to the STC boundary. Data suggests that potential extensions of the Princessa Mine along strike and at depth have not been tested. The El Alamo District's gold production halted at its peak owing to technological and political circumstances early in the 20th century, thus presenting a unique opportunity to the JV today.
Premier and Sutter management were attracted to the El Alamo District initially because of a unique history of high mined grades, but little modern exploration. Both the STC and STC2 are:
. Located within a proven (some 220,000 ounces of past production) gold district.
. Historical data indicates that mined grades within the district are between 1.00 and 2.00 ounces per ton (opt).
. The majority of district production occurred within 120 metres of surface, but remains open at depth.
. Has characteristics similar to the historic Mother Lode District of California.
The upcoming initial phase of exploration on the STC will conclude late in Q1 2008 and be followed up by a second phase that expands into the STC2 concessions.
Stephen McGibbon, P.Geo., Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer of Premier, is the qualified person for the information contained in this press release and is a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.
About Premier Gold Mines Limited
Premier Gold Mines Limited is a Canadian-based mineral exploration and development company with diverse property holdings that include several projects and deposits in Northwestern Ontario, a newly formed joint venture in Geraldton Ontario, and a joint venture in Mexico. In the Red Lake gold mining camp, two of these are operated in joint venture with Goldcorp Inc. (TSX:G). A strategic project is also located on the main Musselwhite Gold Mine trend (Goldcorp-Kinross). Additional information can be found on the Premier website at www.premiergoldmines.com.
About Sutter Gold Mining Inc.
The Sutter Gold project contains a 3.2 mile segment of the Mother Lode belt from which 10 historic mines produced 2.3 million ounces of gold. The historic mines bracket a one-mile-long portion of the Mother Lode belt with no historic gold production and which contains the Lincoln and Comet zones. The Lincoln and Comet zones were blind discoveries that did not outcrop at surface and which represent the first significant new gold discoveries made along the Mother Lode belt in the last 50 years. The Sutter Gold project has been the subject of considerable modern exploration activity, most of it centering on the Lincoln and Comet zones, which are adjacent to each other and together referred to as the Lincoln project. A total of 85,085 feet of drilling have been accomplished in 190 diamond drill holes, and modern underground development consists of a 2,850-foot declined ramp with 2,400 feet of crosscuts plus five raises. The historic gold production was documented in a detailed report completed by Mark Payne, the consulting geologist to Sutter Gold and a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Further information on US and Mexico operations is available at the Company's website at www.suttergoldmining.com.www.suttergoldmining.com.