Monday, May 14, 2007
Golden Reign Resources Ltd. Signs Letter of Intent with Russian Bank to Acquire Interest in Two Mining Licences in Far East Russia
News Release - #07-03
Golden Reign Resources Ltd. (the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed a Letter of Intent with Status LLC ("Status"), the mining division of CentroCredit Bank of Moscow, wherein the Company has the right to acquire a 50% interest in the Butarni and Dorozhni mineral properties, located in the Magadan Region of Far East
Russia.
The Company will finance exploration expenditures totalling US$6,000,000 over a three-year period to acquire an initial 50% equity interest in Newco, a private Russian company which will hold the 20-year comprehensive exploration-mining licences for both properties. Status, in addition to the licences, will contribute US$2,000,000 over the same three-year term for its 50% equity interest in Newco. Upon earning its initial interest, Golden Reign will have the right to increase its interest to 75% in Newco. Technical and other activities of Newco will be conducted jointly by the Company and Status. A formal agreement will follow shortly.
Butarni Property
Recent exploration, conducted by both Russian government agencies and a private Russian company during the period of 1992 to 2004, included 6,826 metres3 of trenching, 1,544 metres of
Diamond drilling and regional geological mapping and geochemical surveys. The property is under-explored.
The property is underlain by clastic sediments consisting of sandstone, siltstone and argillite. A small amount of carbonate rich sediments also occur and these have locally been metasomatized to form skarn. The sediments have been intruded by biotite granite stock with dimensions of approximately 3.0 kilometres x 1.6 kilometres. The sediments and intrusive are locally covered by Late Cretaceous andesitic and basaltic volcanics.
Five known mineralized quartz vein zones are outlined within the stock, with a length ranging from 700 metres to 1,500 metres. Mineral veining consists commonly of quartz plus arsenopyrite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, bismuthinite and gold. Major veins are between 0.1 and 1.5 metres in width, 100 to 150 metres in length and are accompanied by a zone of parallel veinlets.
Historical grab and channel sampling of the veins returned gold values from 1 g/t up to 334.4 g/t, with average grades of 21.3 g/t Au from 45 grab samples and 29.6 g/t Au from 22 channel samples. Additionally, two trenches exposed nine mineralized veins ranging in width from 0.1 to 1.5 metres and in grade from 8 to 70 g/t Au. The average gold grade for all nine mineralized veins is 28 g/t Au.
The model envisioned for this property is one of a series of subparallel veins and veinlets which carry high-grade gold together with lower grade mineralization in altered granite, to provide reasonable gold mineralization over broad widths. During 1995-1996, two
Diamond drill holes intersected intervals of 14 metres grading 1.7 g/t Au and 12.9 metres averaging 1.2 g/t Au. The present of sheeted veins and veinlets and generally minor wall rock alteration in a granite host rock, suggests an affinity to the Fort Knox style of mineralization.
The presence of gold mineralization in veinlets distributed within sediments indicates the potential for a sediment hosted bulk tonnage gold deposit. Quartz veins in the sediments contain up to 50 g/t Au and veins containing gold mineralization have been identified as far away as 300 metres from granite outcrops. These occurrences clearly demonstrate that gold deposition is not restricted to the environment of the granite stock. Sediment hosted gold targets were not thoroughly examined during previous exploration programs and require further evaluation. A combination of the large tonnage of mineralized rock and historical gold grades suggests significant potential for discovery of an open-pittable gold deposit.
The Butarni property is located 310 kilometres north of Magadan City and covers 9.3 square kilometres. It is accessible by an all-weather gravel road. Electrical power lines pass within 6 kilometres of the property, from a generating plant some 55 kilometres away. Status acquired the 20-year exploration-mining licence via a state auction in March 2007, which allows the holder to carry out all exploration and mining activities until May 4, 2027.
Dorozhni Property
Earliest exploration and mining work on the Dorozhni property commenced in the 1930's. The property has been explored on surface, by adits and
Diamond drilling. Soil geochemical surveys and ground magnetic and electric geophysical surveys were performed. During 1946-1947, limited mining of high-grade quartz veins was undertaken and included the richest part of one quartz vein, which yielded 30 kg (approx. 1,000 oz) of gold. The extent of mineralized veins at depth remains unknown. In 1989, Russian C2 and P1 category resource estimates of 3.5 tons (approx. 115,000 ounces) of gold, under the Russian Classification System*, were reported for four quartz veins, grading on average 20 g/t Au. Historically, high-grade quartz veins were the focus of exploration; however, the Company believes that the property has potential for a low-grade bulk tonnage gold deposit, which should be the primary exploration focus.
The property contains sediments and metasediments intruded by granite and granodiorite. Gold mineralization occurs in quartz veins, forming a northeast trending subparallel system of veins. Mineralized veins reach lengths of 380 metres, with a thickness ranging from 0.4 to 2.4 metres. Typically, gold mineralization is associated with arsenopyrite, pyrite and galena. Chalcopyrite, sphalerite, magnetite and sulphosalts such as jamesonite and boulangerite, are also present. Gold distribution is extremely irregular, with a published highest grade of 6,322.2 g/t (approx. 196.5 oz/t). Silver content remains to be evaluated.
The Dorozhni property lies approximately 640 kilometres north of Magadan City, covers 8.8 square kilometres and is accessible by all-weather gravel road. The nearest service centre is Susuman. Electrical power lines pass within 7 kilometres of the property, from a generating plant located 60 kilometres to the west. The 20-year comprehensive license, allows for all forms of exploration, development, and mining activities.
*The Russian Classification System for calculating mineral reserves and resources does not conform to the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) standards and definitions for resource estimates, as set out in the Canadian National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101). As such, these mineral resource estimates can not be relied upon without further evaluation.
About CentroCredit Bank
CentroCredit Joint Stock Commercial Bank, established in 1989, is headquartered in Moscow with branch offices in
Russia and London, England. It has a wide network of correspondent relations with several major foreign banks including: JP Morgan Chase Bank NA; Raiffeisen Zentrabank Oesterreich AG in Vienna; Banque Commericale pour l'Europe du Nord S.A. (Eurobank);and, Commerzbank, Frankfurt. CentroCredit is a member of the Association of Russian Banks, the Moscow Banking Union, and National Stock Association participating in the Russian Trading System (RTS), the Moscow Stock Exchange (MSE) and the Saint-Petersburg Stock Exchange. It operates under Russian and international accounting standards (IAS) and its IAS auditors are Deloitte & Touche CIS. As of January 2006, it was ranked #38 largest in equity capital amongst the top Russian banks.
About Magadan
The Magadan Region is considered one of the world's richest mining areas, with gold being the main resource of the region. There are approximately 2,000 placer gold deposits, 100 gold ore deposits and 48 silver deposits. Total probable gold reserves in the Magadan Oblast are estimated at 4,000 tons (128,000,000 ounces) (source: Kommersant).
About Golden Reign:
Golden Reign Resources Ltd. is a publicly listed (TSX-V: GRR) mineral exploration company engaged in the business of exploring and developing a portfolio of precious metal assets in Far East
Russia.
Qualified Person
John M. Kowalchuk, P.Geo, an independent geologist and qualified person (as defined under National Instrument 43-101) has reviewed the technical information contained in this news release.
For additional information please visit our website at www.goldenreign.com and SEDAR www.sedar.com.
On behalf of the Board,
"Kim Evans"
Kim Evans, CGA
Director & CFO
Forward-Looking Statements: Some of the statements contained herein may be forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, risks and uncertainties relating to political risks involving the Company's exploration and development of mineral properties interests in Russia, the inherent uncertainty of cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses, commodity price fluctuations, the inability or failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and other risks and uncertainties. Such information contained herein represents management's best judgment as of the date hereof, based on information currently available.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.