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P.O Box 11144, Royal Centre
#2270 -1055 West Georgia Street Vancouver, BC Canada, V6E 3P3
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TSX-V: ICG; OTCQX: ICGQF
Integra Gold Announces Six Judges for the Gold Rush Challenge
Press Release Highlights:
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6 internationally recognized judges representing academia, finance and mining named to review Gold Rush submissions.
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Since the Challenge database was officially made available on September 16, 2015, over 740 individuals have gone through the sign-up process to receive access to the data, including 50 teams and representatives from over 65 countries
VANCOUVER, BC: Integra Gold Corp. (TSX-V: ICG, OTCQX: ICGQF) ('Integra' or the 'Company') is pleased to announce the panel of judges who will preside over the Integra Gold Rush Challenge ('Gold Rush' or the 'Challenge'). The judging panel will use their experience, knowledge and skills to choose the best Gold Rush submissions.
The judges named to the panel are:
Neil Adshead: Ph.D. Geologist, Investment Strategist at Sprott Asset Management LP Andrew Brown: M.Sc. Geologist, Chief Geologist- West Africa for B2Gold Corp
Benoît Dubé: Ph.D. Geologist, Senior Research Scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada James Franklin: Ph.D. Geologist, Geological Survey of Canada Chief Scientist (retired)
David Rhys: M.Sc. Geologist, Panterra Geoservices consulting geologist Brian Skanderberg: M.Sc. Geologist, President and CEO of Claude Resources. More detailed biographies of the judging panel can be found below.
George Salamis, Chairman of the Company notes, 'Integra has assembled a phenomenal team of world- renowned judges from various geoscientific backgrounds representing mining research, academia, industry and finance. We are very grateful to the judges for accepting this challenge and look forward to their review of Gold Rush submissions.' He further adds, 'Given the unprecedented demand generated by the Gold Rush Challenge, the judges expect to receive an above average quality of innovative submissions to the Challenge.'
The Gold Rush Challenge is an incentive prize challenge powered by the popular HeroX crowdsourcing platform. After registering for the Challenge, competitors from any background or location will be given access to an unprecedented database built from six terabytes and 75 years of historic mining and exploration data from Integra Gold's formerly producing Sigma/Lamaque mines in Val-d'Or, Québec. The individual or group whose submission represents the best prospect for the next big gold discovery on the Sigma/Lamaque properties, based on a weighted set of criteria as outlined in the Challenge rules, wins their share of the C$1 million prize.
WSP, the Geoscience Partner for the Challenge, will be responsible for reviewing all of the initial submissions and reducing the field to 20 semi-finalists which will then be presented to the judging panel. The panel will be responsible for determining the five finalists which will be asked to present their submissions to both the judges named above and a panel of industry veterans at a 'Shark-Tank' style charity event during the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada ('PDAC') convention in Toronto in March 2016. The C$1,000,000 in prizes will be awarded during this event. Details regarding tickets to the event will be made available on the Company website in the near future with proceeds going towards a number of Val-d'Or charitable organizations.
Challenge Update
The Integra Gold Rush Challenge launched on September 16, 2015. Since its official launch 2 weeks ago, more than 740 registrants and 50 teams from over 65 countries have signed up for the challenge to be digital prospectors. Registrants for the Challenge come from various backgrounds including the geoscientific consulting industry, academia and non-geoscientific research.
Stephen de Jong, Company President and CEO, 'The Gold Rush Challenge has captured the collective imaginations of more than 740 researchers around the world. Given the response to the Challenge, we expect to receive a plethora of innovative and creative ideas from within and outside of the geoscientific community,' commented Stephen de Jong, Company President and CEO, 'Though the higher demand for the Challenge will lead to a higher number of submissions to review, we continue to encourage researchers around the world to join the Challenge. Given the size and quality of the database that we've distributed on an open-source basis, we are convinced that the very best idea for the next discovery in the Sigma-Lamaque area is still in the hands of a researcher somewhere in the World and we hope to unlock it with this C$1 million prize Challenge.'
To view an animated video summarizing the Integra Gold Rush Challenge, click here: www.vimeo.com/131487265
3D Video of the Sigma-Lamaque Database
Integra's 3D Modeling Partners, Leapfrog, have provided the Challenge with some 3D video clips showing the Sigma-Lamaque digital database in a Leapfrog format. The Sigma-Lamaque database includes: 25 gigabytes derived from a database that started as over six terabytes of mining and exploration data from the Sigma and Lamaque gold mines, 75 years of mining history, more than 35,000 drill holes, over half-a-million gold assays and more than 450 km of underground workings.
Two 3D videos of the database can be found by clicking on the links below: Video 1: https://vimeo.com/140702990
Video 2: https://vimeo.com/140697369
Detailed Biographies of the Judges
Neil Adshead: Dr. Neil Adshead presently works as an Investment Strategist at Sprott Asset Management LP, one of Bay Street's best known resource-focused investment firms. Prior to joining Sprott in early 2012, Neil was a Senior Mining Analyst with San Francisco-based Passport Capital for more than seven years. During his ten-plus years on the buy-side Neil has been responsible for investment origination and tracking, interacting extensively with issuer management teams, providing trading recommendations, conducting technical reviews and visiting hundreds of projects around the world. His education concluded with a Ph.D. in Economic Geology from James Cook University of North Queensland in the mid-1990s and between university and joining the financial side of the mining sector he worked for ten years in various exploration, mine geology and corporate roles for Placer Dome, one of Canada's largest and most successful mining companies at the time.
Andrew Brown: Andrew has worked in the mining and exploration industry for the past 20 years. He is currently Chief Geologist, West Africa for B2Gold Corp. Andrew was previously President and CEO of Laurentian Goldfields Ltd., a Vancouver-based exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. Prior to Laurentian, Andrew worked for Bema Gold Corp, providing mineral resource evaluation expertise to Bema's exploration and mining operations in Far Eastern Russia, South Africa and North America. Prior to joining Bema in 2004, Andrew was the exploration Project Geologist and later, Mine Geologist, on the team that brought FNX Mining's McCreedy West Ni-Cu PGE Mine from the exploration stage to production. Most of Andrew's career has focused on gold. Andrew has conducted both advanced and grassroots exploration for WMC International (Meliadine) and for Placer Dome Canada (Musselwhite, Timmins, Courageous Lake). Andrew has a B.Sc. (Hons) Geology and M.Sc. Geology from Laurentian University in Sudbury, ON.
Benoît Dubé: Dr. Dubé received his B.Sc. Ing. and M.Sc. degrees from Laval University and his Ph.D. from Université du Québec at Chicoutimi (1990). He is a senior research scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada where he has conducted for more than 25 years studies on various types of gold deposits in ancient deformed and metamorphosed terranes in Canada and abroad. In recent years, he has lead multidisciplinary and multi-agency projects designed to study gold deposits in the Superior and Churchill provinces, Canada. He is an associate professor at Université du Québec (Institut national de la recherche scientifique) and at Laval and Laurentian universities. He has senior-authored and co- authored more than 55 refereed publications in scientific journals and more than 150 reports in economic geology. He has been the 1997 Geological Association of Canada Robinson Lecturer and a member of the Editorial Board of Economic Geology (2004-2008). In 2006, he received the Jean Descarreaux award from the «Association de l'Exploration Minière du Québec». He is recipient of the Society of Economic Geologists 2007 Brian J. Skinner Award and of the Mineral Deposits Division of the Geological Association of Canada 2011 Duncan Derry Medal. In 2014, he received, as co-author, the CIM Barlow Medal for Best Geological Paper published in the Exploration and Mining Geology Journal.
Jim Franklin: Jim has spent his career thus far unravelling the reasons for the exceptional mineral endowment of the Canadian Shield. His post Ph.D. research initiated a career-long engagement, including a new discovery, in the Sturgeon Lake VMS camp. After six years as Associate Professor at Lakehead University, he joined the GSC in 1975, where he expanded his work to northern Manitoba, and initiated research on Shield orogenic gold deposits. In 1981 he took a 10-year 'excursion' to lead the GSC's Marine Minerals Program, discovering the largest seafloor deposit to date, and with the International Ocean Drilling Program, he was the first to drill an active 'black smoker' system. His understanding of genesis of giant VMS deposits enabled the development of robust geological guidelines that help steer successful modern exploration. Since his 1998 'retirement' as the GSC's Chief Scientist he has advised industry on VMS-related exploration world-wide. He is an adjunct professor at Queens, Laurentian and Ottawa Universities, and a board member of four companies, He has received GAC's Logan and Duncan R Derry medals, CIM's Selwyn Blaylock, A.O. Dufresne, Distinguished Lecturer and Julian Boldy Memorial awards and, SEG's Thayer Lindsley and Distinguished Lecturer awards, and SEG's top honor, the Penrose Medal. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a registered professional geologist in the Province of Ontario. He is a Past President of both the Geological Association of Canada and the Society of Economic Geologists. He has published over 196 papers and book chapters, and innumerable abstracts.
David Rhys: Mr Rhys is a consulting geologist based in Vancouver, Canada. He studied at the University of British Columbia, and subsequently has worked since 1990 in the mining industry applying geological studies with a structural focus to exploration, development and mining, including extensive work on gold deposits and their setting in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. Mr. Rhys has extensive experience in gold, base metal and uranium deposit evaluation, having worked globally on numerous districts for both major and junior companies. His focus is on advanced projects and active mining operations, aiding in the interpretation of mine site ore controls and applications of mine geology to local and district scale exploration activities, and training of applied field based interpretive methods to staff.
Brian Skanderberg: Mr. Skanderbeg joined Claude Resources Inc. in April 2007. He was appointed as President and Chief Executive Officer in November 2014. Prior to his current position at Claude, Mr. Skanderbeg was the Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. He previously worked for Goldcorp, Inco Ltd. and Helio Resources, holding positions in both exploration and operations. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Manitoba, and a M.Sc. from Rhodes University, South Africa. Mr. Skanderbeg brings extensive experience in gold systems and include operational management, cost and asset optimization and strategic analysis. Brian played a significant role in the discovery and development of the Santoy Gap orebody, which is a key high grade gold value driver for Claude Resources.
Project and Company Profile
Integra's Lamaque South Gold Project and Sigma-Lamaque Mill and Mine Complex are located directly east from the city of Val-d'Or along the prolific Abitibi Greenstone belt in the Province of Québec, Canada, approximately 550 km northwest of Montréal. Québec is rated one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world. Infrastructure, human resources and mining expertise are readily available.
The Company's primary focus is on advance stage exploration, including upcoming underground exploration, at its high-grade Lamaque South project. The Lamaque South property is divided into three clusters, the North, South and West cluster. The primary targets are the high-grade Parallel Zone in the North Cluster and the Triangle Zone and No. 4 Plug in the South Cluster. The recently acquired Sigma
Mill, located 1 km from the Parallel Zone and 3 km from the Triangle Zone, is a fully-permitted, 2,200 ton per day mill and tailings facility. The Sigma-Lamaque Mill and Mine Complex include the historic Sigma and Lamaque Mines which operated for 75 and 52 years respectively and produced more than 9 million ounces of gold in total.
Twitter:@integragoldrush
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntegraGoldRush
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Stephen de Jong
CEO & President
INTEGRA GOLD RUSH CONTACT INFORMATION
Mark Stockton [email protected] 604-629-0891
MEDIA CONTACT - INTEGRA GOLD
Ann Gibbon [email protected] 604-263-0634
MEDIA CONTACT - HEROX
Lynda Kaye [email protected] 250-266-5293
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Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain disclosures in this document constitute forward-looking statements, including the timing and completion of the Integra Gold Rush Challenge. In making the forward-looking statements, the Company has applied certain factors and assumptions that are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company, including that the Company is able to execute the challenge in accordance with the terms described herein and that participants will be able to access and analyze the data in accordance with the terms of the competition. Although the Company considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to it, they may prove to be incorrect, and the forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such risk factors include, among others, those matters identified in its continuous disclosure filings,
including its most recently filed MD&A. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.