VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - August 20, 2015) -
- Leapfrog®, Official 3D Modelling Partner, to offer Leapfrog Gold Rush software licences to all registrants
- WSP to provide Geoscience technical support and supervision
- Integra Gold Rush Challenge timeline released, countdown underway for official launch September 15th, 2015
- Pre-registrants from 39 countries and counting
- Winners to be announced at PDAC in March 2016
Integra Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: ICG) (ICGQF) ("Integra" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that both Leapfrog and WSP I Parsons Brinckerhoff ("WSP") have partnered with the Company for its Integra Gold Rush Challenge ("Gold Rush" or the "Challenge") -- the $1M crowd sourced prize for finding Val-d'Or's next big gold discovery.
Leapfrog the Official 3D Modelling Partner
A Gold Rush edition of Leapfrog software will be provided to all Challenge participants, and will serve to help them analyze and interpret the data. Leapfrog is a cutting edge geological modelling tool for dealing with large, complex data sets and is one of the most intuitive modelling software on the market, which lends itself perfectly to the 75 years of proprietary mining and exploration data being offered in the Challenge.
Shaun Maloney, CEO of ARANZ Geo, the developers of Leapfrog comments, "We know that many of our Leapfrog users will be keen to take part in the Challenge. By offering all participants a Leapfrog Gold Rush license for the duration of the competition we're creating an even playing field and opening up the competition to a wider pool of online prospectors. Leapfrog will let competitors get truly creative and fully explore their ideas and develop multiple models and hypotheses."
Leapfrog Gold Rush software is expected to be released in early September, prior to the official launch. Leapfrog will support new users with "Getting Started" videos. While Leapfrog Gold Rush licences will be available, the use of Leapfrog will not be a requirement for an acceptable submission.
Integra Gold Rush Challenge Timeline
- September 15th, 2015, official launch
- December 1st, 2015, first round submissions due
- January 15th, 2016, top 20 finalists announced
- February 15th, 2016, top 5 finalists announced
- PDAC 2016, winners awarded
WSP named Geoscience Partner
WSP has joined with the Company to provide technical support and supervision throughout the Challenge process. WSP is one of the world's leading engineering firms with more than 32,200 employees located in 39 countries on 5 continents. WSP maintains an office in Val-d'Or, Québec and has extensive experience working on the high-grade, underground gold mines of the prolific Abitibi region, including the historic Sigma and Lamaque Mines.
Using their expertise in the field of geoscience, WSP will play an integral part in the Challenge by finalizing submission requirements with Integra's technical team, and providing initial proposal reviews for all Gold Rush submissions. All proposals submitted for the Challenge will first be reviewed and screened by experts from WSP's world-wide geology group. WSP will then select a group of proposals which will be moved forward for judging, with the judging panel to be chosen by WSP.
"Innovative is one of our five corporate values," noted WSP's Mining Vice-President, Quebec, Léandre Gervais. "In our minds, the Gold Rush Challenge embraces this value to its core, pushing an industry to partake in new concepts to make new discoveries. WSP has deep roots in the Abitibi region of Northern Québec, and given our office in Val-d'Or, a city that many WSP employees call home, it seemed logical for us to contribute our expertise as miners, engineers and geologists to support Integra Gold with this challenge."
Gold Rush Update
Since announcing the Gold Rush challenge on June 23, 2015, individuals and teams from over 39 countries worldwide have pre-registered. The video (see link below) describing the Challenge has now been viewed over 8,000 times in more than 120 countries across the globe.
To view an animated video summarizing the Integra Gold Rush Challenge, please click on the following link:
www.vimeo.com/131487265
"Integra is very pleased to have two of the world's leading geoscience firms, Leapfrog-Aranz Geo and WSP, involved in the Gold Rush Challenge in different capacities," mentioned Integra Gold Chairman George Salamis. "Both firms will provide the necessary professional support to the Challenge, which has already garnered a lot of attention in the international scientific scene."
In Val-d'Or, Québec, the team of geologists, engineers, and technicians at InnovExplo Inc. are nearing completion in the construction of the geological database to be distributed to registrants of the challenge. The database at the root of the Gold Rush Challenge is based on the historical mining and exploration data of the Sigma and Lamaque mines, which together produced more than 9M oz of gold over a period of 75 years. This data-set will include +35,000 drill holes, roughly 700,000 gold assays, all of the underground openings and mappings, thousands of sections, and certain surface geology and data for the area. While based on an initial size of over 6 terabytes, the final digitized database will be manageable for a standard modern computer. More information on this database will be released closer to the official Challenge launch in September.
About the Gold Rush Challenge
On June 23, 2015 Integra announced it would be issuing a challenge for online prospectors who will analyze and interpret the Sigma/Lamaque data to come up with a plan on where they think Integra has the best chance of making a major gold discovery. The prize of $1,000,000 CAD, which will be broken out into a number of categories, will be awarded to whomever comes up with what the Gold Rush Challenge judging panel and advisors believe is the highest probability location for a major gold discovery. Integra has already made significant headway in raising the award money through sponsorships, and plans to announce the winners next March in Toronto at the PDAC 2016 mining conference.
History of the Sigma and Lamaque Mines
The Lamaque and Sigma Mines are located 500 metres from one another and are hence being treated by the Company's exploration and geological team as one system. These mines each produced more than 4.5 million ounces of gold, however, the Sigma Mine was mined roughly 700 metres deeper than Lamaque. The Lamaque Mine ceased operations in 1985 due to falling commodity prices, labor unrest, and development limitations due to insufficient infrastructure, not, as Integra believes, as a result of the mineralized system being exhausted at its lowest levels. The Lamaque Mine was the largest gold producer in Québec for 30 years, from 1955 until it shut down in 1985.
This historic data compiled by the Company provides compelling evidence that a down-dip extension of the gold-bearing system of the Lamaque Mine Main Plug continues at depth. The Company believes detailed targeting work on Lamaque Deep as well as other targets in the vicinity will be much more efficiently realized by harnessing the power of a crowd sourcing competition.
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 and reviewed and approved on behalf of the company by Hervé Thiboutot, P.Eng., a qualified person.
Project and Company Profile
Integra's Lamaque South Gold Project and Sigma-Lamaque Mill and Mine Complex are located directly east of 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 in the region.
The Company's primary focus is on exploring and subsequently developing, subject to further underground exploration, its high-grade Lamaque South gold 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 in the South Cluster. The recently acquired Sigma Mill, located 1 kilometer from the Parallel Zone and 3 kilometres 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.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Stephen de Jong, CEO & President
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 Notes:
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: Certain disclosures in this document constitute forward-looking statements, including the ability of any participant to determine the location of any prospective area of mineralization and exploration plan, the potential for prospective area of mineralization and exploration plan at Integra's Sigma-Lamaque gold property, timing and process for the release of data and completion of the Integra Gold Rush Competition, expected number of participants, and timing for completion of the digitization of the data. 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 contest in accordance with the terms described herein, that the data will be adequately digitized, that participants will be able to access and analyze the data in accordance with the terms of the competition, that the Company will be able to secure sponsorships, that the Company is able to obtain any government or other regulatory approvals, that the Company is able to procure personnel, equipment and supplies required for its exploration and development activities in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis and that actual results are consistent with management's expectations. 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.
Third Party Sources: Certain information in this document, including statistics regarding the historical production from the Sigma and Lamaque mines and production from the Abitibi gold belt, is based on publicly available information from third parties and as such, this information may not be complete, up to date or reliable. Although the Company has no knowledge that would indicate that any such information contained in this document is untrue or incomplete, the Company assumes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given to the accuracy of such information.
For additional information on the Company's Lamaque Project see "Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate Update for the Lamaque Project (according to National Instrument 43-101 and Form 43-101F1)" dated March 27, 2015.