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CALGARY , May 21, 2014 /CNW/ - Stratabound Minerals Corp. (SB.V) is pleased to provide details of its proposed 2014 work program on 55 claims (1,375 hectares) optioned from Commander Resources Ltd.  These claims are situated adjacent to the north boundary of Stratabound's Captain/CNE block of claims, about 35 kilometres south of Bathurst, New Brunswick .  The claim boundary is 600 metres north of the CNE Mine, from which Stratabound extracted 102,342 tonnes of high-grade mineralization in 1990/91 and 2013, with a weighted-average production grade of 8.84% zinc, 3.68% lead, and 120.18 g/t silver, plus copper and gold credits.

The combined properties cover an area of 4,500 hectares (11,120 acres), comprising one of the largest land positions in the heart of the Bathurst Mining Camp, one of the world's most productive zinc-lead-silver districts.   Three world-class base metal mines occur within a 20 kilometre radius of Stratabound's holdings, namely Brunswick No. 12 (for decades the world's largest underground zinc mine), Heath Steele , and Brunswick No. 6.  Ore shipments from the CNE Mine were delivered to Heath Steele (1990/91) and Brunswick No. 12 (2013) for custom milling and concentrate production, and were found to have good milling characteristics yielding saleable concentrates.

2014 plans for the optioned Commander claims include 2,000 metres of drilling in several areas.

Target Area A. During 2012 and 2013 Stratabound completed gravity surveys which outlined a very large (1.5 km N-S x 1 km E-W) and strong (0.6 to 0.8 milligals) gravity anomaly. A UTEM survey identified several strong near-surface electromagnetic responses flanking the northern section of the prominent gravity high.  One hole was drilled to test one of the UTEM conductors within the northern part of the gravity anomaly, intersecting several narrow copper-bearing sulphide stringer intervals containing good grades of copper and silver, along with anomalously high amounts of zinc, lead, and gold (news release dated January 23 , 2014).The northern portion of this prominent gravity anomaly is flanked by stockworks of pyrrhotite-copper-cobalt sulphide mineralization.  Previous airborne and time-domain EM ground geophysical surveys completed over the gravity anomaly indicate that an EM conductor and magnetic response are coincident with the eastern edge of the gravity anomaly.  Drill testing is planned at this location.

Limited earlier drilling elsewhere within the high-gravity area has intersected chloritic alteration with iron and copper sulphides present in stockwork, disseminated, and semi-massive form.  This alteration and mineralization is of the type commonly associated with massive sulphide deposits in the Bathurst area. A deep, 600 metre vertical drill hole is planned to intersect 300 metres below the gravity centre and the known sulphide zones.  The hole will be deep enough to test for zinc-lead-silver massive sulphide accumulations below the penetration limit of ground electromagnetic surveys.  Detailed prospecting and geological mapping, supplemented by trenching, will be employed prior to drilling.

Target Area B.  A second area of interest for the 2014 field season is a two-kilometre long geophysical anomaly (IP resistivity low accompanied by a magnetic response), representing another massive sulphide target.  It is coincident with an Input 3-channel anomaly detected by Questor Geophysics during a reconnaissance airborne survey in 1977, and has been confirmed by a recent horizontal loop ground EM survey by Stratabound.

Drilling by Commander Resources in 1997 tested a portion of this target, with one of their holes intersecting semi-massive sulphide mineralization grading 2.1% lead-zinc and 8.6 g/t silver over 15.5 metres, and another with a 16.8 metre intersection of 1.8% % lead-zinc and 4.6 g/t silver, within 25 to 30 metre thick lower grade envelopes.  Between the two holes a 1,400 metre strike length remains undrilled.  The 1997 drilling was directed to intersecting sulphides at depth rather than systematically drilling off the upper levels first.

The mineralization occurs in sulphide rich iron formation at the sought-after contact between the Flat Landing Brook and Nepisiguit Formations. This is the ore horizon at the Brunswick #12 mine, as well as at the CNE and Captain deposits.  The significant sulphidation within the iron formation and underlying rocks provides encouragement that a base/precious metal massive sulphide deposit could be present along strike or at depth. Several short drill holes and surface trenching are planned to better define the upper sections of the mineralization. The southern end of this sulphide horizon target lies only one kilometre northwest of the CNE deposit.

Target Areas C and D.  An untested gravity high also lies immediately west of the known sulphide horizon in Target Area B, and an unexplained induced polarization chargeability anomaly is situated east of the iron formation.  These are also considered high priority targets.  Detailed prospecting and trenching are planned for these areas to define setup locations for drill testing.

Agreement with Commander.  Stratabound also announces that the term of its option agreement with Commander Resources Ltd. has been extended by an additional year, to December 31, 2016.   The agreement is currently in its fourth year.  Expenditures required in year four are reduced from $400,000 to $250,000 ; year 5 expenditures are reduced from $450,000 to $300,000 ; year 6 is added on with a required expenditure of $400,000 and additional consideration of 65,000 Stratabound shares, subject to regulatory approval.

Under the terms of the original agreement Stratabound could earn an initial 60% interest in the property by issuing an aggregate of 400,000 of its shares to Commander and spending $1.5 million on exploration over a five year period ending July 26, 2015.   Under terms of the revised agreement and previously announced revisions, Stratabound is required to issue an aggregate of 500,000 shares and to incur $1.6 million of exploration expenditures over a six and a half year period ending December 31, 2016.   As at December 31, 2013 Stratabound has issued 235,000 shares to Commander and has spent approximately $535,000 on exploration.

Unchanged from the original agreement, Stratabound can opt to earn an additional 5% interest by so informing Commander within 60 days of vesting the initial 60% option, issuing an additional 100,000 shares within 10 days of making this election, and funding additional exploration/development expenditures of $1.0 million .

Commenting on the new arrangement, Stan Stricker , President of Stratabound, states: "We are very pleased with this development, and continue to find Commander to be a first-class partner to work with.  As they have recently written to us, "in this low time of our business cycle, flexibility by both parties to make changes allows exploration to advance."  We look forward to following up the many signs of potential volcanogenic base metal massive sulphides here with exploration techniques that include geological, geophysical, geochemical, prospecting, trenching, and drill testing.  We are budgeting $550,000 this year for exploration on the Commander claims, and are currently working on raising the necessary funds to achieve this goal."

Stratabound is currently finalizing its plans for 2014 work on the Captain/CNE block of claims as well, and will announce these in the near future.

The technical information contained in this release has been reviewed by John Duncan , P.Geo. and Stan Stricker , P.Geol., Qualified Persons as defined in National Instrument 43-101.

Neither 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 release.

WARNING: the Company relies upon litigation protection for "forward looking" statements. The information in this release may contain forward-looking information under applicable securities laws.  This forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking information.  Factors that may cause actual results to vary materially include, but are not limited to, inaccurate assumptions concerning the exploration for and development of mineral deposits, currency fluctuations, unanticipated operational or technical difficulties, changes in laws or regulations, the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits, changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets and the inability to raise additional financing.  Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information.  The Company does not assume the obligation to revise or update this forward-looking information after the date of this release or to revise such information to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.  

SOURCE Stratabound Minerals Corp.