TORONTO, Feb. 27, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Teranga Gold Corporation ("Teranga" or the "Company") (TGZ.TO) (TGCDF) is pleased to announce that ongoing, early-stage drilling has intersected additional high-grade, near surface and deeper gold mineralization at its newest discovery, Jackhammer Hill, situated on the Golden Hill property in Burkina Faso, West Africa.

Teranga has an earn-in agreement on the Golden Hill property with Boss Resources Limited (ASX:BOE) pursuant to which Teranga, as the operator, can earn an 80% interest in the joint venture upon delivery of a feasibility study and the payment of AUD2.5 million. Teranga is aggressively drilling all five prospects at Golden Hill. Each prospect is located within approximately five kilometres from a central point (Figure 1 in Appendix 1).

Diamond drill results returned to date are confirming that the Jackhammer Hill discovery is a large mineralized system hosting a high-grade central core. Drilling has intersected multiple mineralized zones that are often associated with visible gold, especially within the central area of the prospect.

Jackhammer Hill Prospect Highlights

• 9 m @ 34.25 g/t Au including 1 m @ 294.4 g/t Au (GHDD-221) - uncut
• 8 m @ 10.49  g/t Au including 1 m @ 71.93 g/t Au (GHDD-222) - uncut
• 8 m @ 4.36 g/t Au including 1 m @ 10.19 g/t Au (GHDD-197)
• 12 m @ 2.68 g/t Au including 4 m @ 5.83 g/t Au (GHDD-225)

Jackhammer Hill – Prior Selected Drill Highlights (Released November 2017)

• 15 m @ 5.72 g/t Au including 4 m @ 16.37 g/t Au including 1 m @ 42.1 g/t Au (GHDD-104) - uncut
• 14 m @ 110.6 g/t Au including 5 m @ 306.7 g/t Au including 1 m @ 1,499 g/t Au (GHDD-111) -uncut

“Today’s positive results continue our strong momentum at the Golden Hill Project and confirm its status as one of the most exciting gold projects in West Africa,” said Richard Young, Teranga Gold’s President & CEO. “We have discovered five high-grade prospects at Golden Hill to date, including Jackhammer Hill, increasing our confidence that this project may represent Teranga’s third gold mine in West Africa.”

“Jackhammer Hill continues to provide a series of high-grade gold intersections,” said David Mallo, Teranga’s Vice President, Exploration. “Although we are still at an early stage of evaluation, we recognize strong potential for considerable upside with continued exploration success as we extend our drilling evaluation program at Jackhammer Hill, both along trend beyond the initial target area and to depth where the mineralized structures remain open for further expansion.”

The Golden Hill property is comprised of three adjacent exploration permits covering 470 km² located in southwest Burkina Faso in the central part of the Houndé Greenstone Belt. This belt hosts a number of high-grade gold discoveries, including the Siou, Yaramoko and Houndé deposits, the latter property being contiguous with Golden Hill. To the south of Golden Hill is another large land position where active exploration programs are well underway.

Jackhammer Hill Prospect

Sixteen diamond drill results from recent drilling at the Jackhammer Hill prospect are reported within this news release (Table 1).  Cumulative results from Jackhammer Hill drilling are available on the Company’s web-site www.terangagold.com under Exploration.

The gold mineralized zones identified thus far comprise a series of southeast dipping horizons hosted within an altered and sheared diorite intrusive unit. Drilling has been initiated along an approximate 1,000-metre strike extent, predominantly to vertical depths of 50 - 75 metres and locally to vertical depths of approximately 125 metres (GHDD-197). The Jackhammer Hill drilling program completed to date is outlined on Figure 2 in Appendix 1. Additionally, two representative sections demonstrating excellent continuity of mineralization are also included (Figures 3 and 4 in Appendix 1).

A central core portion of the Jackhammer Hill prospect includes a number of intersections reflective of higher-grade visible gold occurrences in the drill core over a current strike extent of 160 metres (Section 0+80 SW to Section 2+40 SW in Figure 2 in Appendix 1).  A number of the higher-grade intervals associated with the visible gold occurrences will be re-analyzed by metallic screen (total gold) analytical methods.

Drilling Results Tables

Table 1: Jackhammer Hill Prospect – Selected Drill Highlights

Competent Persons Statements

Teranga's exploration programs in Burkina Faso are being managed by Peter Mann, FAusIMM. Mr. Mann is a full time employee of Teranga and is not "independent" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”). Mr. Mann has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralization and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a "Qualified Person" under NI 43-101. The technical information contained in this news release relating to exploration results are based on, and fairly represents, information compiled by Mr. Mann. Mr. Mann has verified and approved the data disclosed in this release, including the sampling, analytical and test data underlying the information. The RC and diamond core samples are assayed at the BIGGS Laboratory in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Mr. Mann has consented to the inclusion in this news release of the matters based on his compiled information in the form and context in which it appears herein.