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October 10, 2007
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Bell Provides Gryphon Summit Property Overview
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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct. 10, 2007) - Bell Resources Corporation ("Bell") (TSX VENTURE:BL) is pleased to provide further project information on the Company's recently announced acquisition, the Gryphon Summit Project, originally reported on September 25, 2007.
At Gryphon Summit, the Company is targeting a potentially large porphyry copper/moly deposit along with associated gold deposits. Certain geological aspects of the project are analogous with other giant porphyry Cu-Au-Mo systems, including Bingham Canyon in Utah, Resolution Cu in Arizona, and Grasberg in Irian Jaya.
Phase I deep drilling at Gryphon Summit is targeted for the fourth quarter of 2007, weather permitting.
"We are very pleased with this significant addition to our exploration portfolio," said W. Glenn Zinn, President and CEO. "With this project, Bell further reinforces its commitment to building a significant footprint in the America's major copper producing regions."
The Gryphon Summit Project
Introduction & Location
The Gryphon Summit project is located in the Sulphur Springs Range of Eureka County in NE Nevada. The project consists of more than 900 unpatented mining claims. Certain geological aspects of the project indicate parallels with other giant porphyry Cu-Au-Mo systems, including Bingham Canyon in Utah, Resolution Cu in Arizona, and Grasberg in Irian Jaya.
Over US$ 2.4 million has been spent at Gryphon Summit developing high quality geophysical and geochemical datasets, including airborne magnetics, gravity, IP, and AMT data. These data support the interpretation that the Gryphon Summit property is highly prospective for both porphyry-related copper deposits and Carlin-type gold deposits.
Geology
A series of range-bounding, N- to NNW-trending major high angle faults separate a central structural block comprising predominantly limestone units in the core of the Sulphur Springs Range from flanking blocks comprising predominantly siliciclastic rocks. The Roberts Mountain thrust, which is an important control for gold mineralization in the nearby Cortez and Carlin districts, crops out on the property on the west side of the Sulphur Springs Range and is thought to underlie all of the siliciclastic rocks. The northerly trending high angle faults, together with younger crosscutting NE, EW and WNW structures have controlled emplacement of a series of previously unrecognized and unmapped igneous dikes, hypabyssal plugs, and volcanic rocks which may range in age from Mesozoic to late Tertiary. Large-scale movement on these structures may have controlled the emplacement of a centrally located large igneous stock, well-expressed in the geophysical data sets, with a series of smaller satellitic plugs at its margin. The buried igneous stock, which predominantly underlies the limestone units, is believed to be the thermal engine that drove the large scale hydrothermal system that produced abundant veins and widespread evidence of alteration and mineralization.
This structural zone and the intrusive systems emplaced along it may have been localized in part by the intersection of the WSW continuation of the crustal boundary between Archean and Proterozoic rocks known to exist in northern Utah with the NNW trending western limit of the North American craton as defined by isotopic data. It has been suggested that NNW trending structures associated with the Carlin "trend" reflect this margin, are of a crustal scale and have controlled significant crustal fluid flow. The property also contains a fault system that is parallel to a major basement gravity lineament.
Extensive geochemical data collected from surface rocks (more than 1200 samples) and the identified mineralization and alteration patterns suggest that leakage is present in a large area (7 X 16 km) from multiple, overlapping hydrothermal systems which are related at least in part to the central intrusion. A magnetic low in a detailed aeromagnetic survey correlates with these complex leakage anomalies. A recent IP survey detected a deep IP anomaly beneath one of the key intrusive targets, and gravity data suggest the presence of significant zones of both decalcification and of silicification of the carbonates. Decalcification and silicification are alteration effects commonly observed in Carlin-type gold deposits. There is a strong geochemical correlation between gold, arsenic, thallium, and mercury with some of these zones.
Aspects of the metal chemistry and the igneous rock petrochemistry indicate parallels with other giant porphyry Cu-Au-Mo systems in the western US, particularly Bingham Cu in Utah and Resolution Cu in Arizona, as well as with Grasberg in Irian Jaya. Oxidized high sulfide veins with mineralogic and chemical similarities to the fissure veins of the Bingham district outline a footprint comparable in area to that of the Bingham district at Gryphon Summit. A second distinct sulfosalt-barite-quartz vein type has analogs in the carapace above Resolution which is a major high grade porphyry Cu discovery in the Superior (Pioneer) district of Arizona. This set of veins at Gryphon Summit indicates the presence of a high sulfidation overprint, one of the key elements of the high grade Resolution system. Although the magmatic core of the main base metal-Au system may be deep, it was intruded into a thick carbonate section capped by a thick shale section, an environment where unusually high grade porphyry systems may form. The presence of clasts of hypogene chalcocite and enargite in hydrothermal breccia veins, and both breccia pipes and pebble dikes, both cutting the carbonate section further underscore this potential. Bleaching and recrystallization, intense silica stockwork veining and development of marble occur in the carbonates in a number of areas, but do not form large obvious zones.
Other aspects of the geochemistry (major Hg, Tl, Zn and K anomalies) and alteration (silicification, Au bearing jasperoids, decalcification) strongly suggest the presence of Carlin style Au mineralization analogous to the Post and Rain Au deposits (Rain is the nearest deposit on the Carlin trend). This mineralization at Gryphon Summit is controlled by the NNW and NE faults, situated to the side of the main deep magmatic system. As in the northern Carlin trend, this mineralization appears to be superimposed on mid-Paleozoic sedex mineralization. Lastly, a late Tertiary hot spring system has added its signature to this complex set of hydrothermal systems which overlap in time and space.
Comprehensive high quality geophysical data, including airborne magnetics, gravity and reconnaissance 1000 foot dipole-dipole IP data, support these interpretations. Previous exploration included 2057 meters of drilling over 5 holes using a combination of RC and Diamond drilling (all holes were completed at depth with Diamond drilling). These holes were specifically targeted to test the Carlin style mineralization on one side of the system. Prior exploration in the area had always focused on the open pit Au potential of the area, and all exploration was with shallow rotary drilling, commonly repeated in the same areas. All of the holes contributed to a better understanding of the geology, and one of them encountered a significant classic Carlin style alteration and geochemical anomaly (Au, As, Sb, Tl, Hg and Zn). This is interpreted as a geochemical plume distal to the principal target area just as a similar geochemical plume is recognized in the northern Carlin trend above the high grade (approximately 1.0 oz/ton) Deep Star ore body.
Prior to the extensive work of Dr. Abbott, the optionor, the scale of the systems and their unique chemical and petrochemical signatures was unrecognized.
Next Phase
The next phase of exploration will be a multi-hole program of deep Diamond drilling. No prior drill test of the probable porphyry style mineralization has been previously conducted, and the most attractive, but deep, Carlin style mineralization targets have also not yet been tested. The drilling program will include deepening existing holes as well as drilling new holes. Permits have already been secured from the BLM for more than 16 drill sites. A continuing program of more detailed geologic, geochemical and geophysical studies will accompany and complement these efforts.
About Bell Resources Corporation
Bell Resources is focused on the exploration, development and production of copper in the Americas. The Company continues to target new acquisitions based on geological potential and economic viability. For further information on Bell Resources visit www.bellresources.com.
On behalf of the Board of Directors of Bell Resources Corporation
W. Glen Zinn, President and CEO
Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the 'safe harbor' provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties.
THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
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