Mr. Raymond Threlkeld reports
RAINY RIVER RESOURCES ANNOUNCES 6.2 MILLION OUNCES OF GOLD IN MEASURED AND INDICATED RESOURCES, AND 2.3 MILLION OUNCES OF GOLD IN INFERRED RESOURCES
Rainy River Resources Ltd. has provided an updated mineral resource statement for the Rainy River gold project (RRGP) in Northwestern Ontario. Mineral resources were estimated by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc. and are reported in accordance with Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 43-101. Resources are reported at an elevation of approximately 500 metres below surface, and the same cut-off grades as those reported in the February, 2012, mineral resource statement.
All comparisons have been referenced to the filed technical report for the February, 2012, resource statement.
Highlights:
- Measured and indicated mineral resources expand to 6.2 million ounces of gold, 13.3 million ounces of silver;
- Measured and indicated mineral resources increase by 9 per cent for contained gold and 12 per cent for contained silver ounces, driven by a 5-per-cent increase in tonnage and grade increases of 3 per cent and 6 per cent for gold and silver, respectively;
- Inferred mineral resources total 2.3 million ounces of gold, 7.0 million ounces of silver, continuing to provide a basis for future feed;
- 257,000 ounces of gold and 565,000 ounces of silver were added within the conceptualized open pit outline in the measured and indicated categories;
- Additionally, indicated silver in the Silver zone increased by 89 per cent, to 1.2 million ounces, further increasing ounces within the pit.
CONSOLIDATED MINERAL RESOURCE STATEMENT, RAINY RIVER GOLD
PROJECT, SRK CONSULTING, OCT. 10, 2012
Tonnes Au Au Ag Ag
(000s) g/t (000s) oz g/t (000s) oz
Measured 27,550 1.32 1,168 1.90 1,681
Indicated 112,271 1.11 4,012 2.51 9,048
Measured and indicated 139,821 1.15 5,180 2.39 10,728
Inferred 19,353 0.88 550 1.40 870
OUT-OF-PIT RESOURCES
Tonnes Au Au Ag Ag
(000s) g/t (000s) oz g/t (000s) oz
Indicated 14,466 0.80 373 3.84 1,785
Inferred 73,555 0.68 1,610 2.53 5,980
UNDERGROUND RESOURCES
Tonnes Au Au Ag Ag
(000s) g/t (000s) oz g/t (000s) oz
Measured 88 4.97 14 2.76 8
Indicated 4,148 4.50 600 6.12 816
Measured and indicated 4,236 4.50 614 6.05 824
Inferred 897 4.18 120 4.63 134
COMBINED RESOURCES: IN PIT, OUT OF PIT AND UNDERGROUND
Tonnes Au Au Ag Ag
(000s) g/t (000s) oz g/t (000s) oz
Measured 27,638 1.33 1,182 1.90 1,689
Indicated 130,885 1.18 4,985 2.77 11,649
Measured and indicated 158,523 1.21 6,167 2.62 13,338
Inferred 93,805 0.75 2,280 2.32 6,984
MINERAL RESOURCES FOR THE SILVER ZONE, RAINY RIVER GOLD PROJECT,
SRK CONSULTING (CANADA) INC. OCT. 10, 2012, IN PIT
Tonnes
(000s) Grade Metal
Au Ag AuEq Au Ag AuEq
g/t g/t g/t (000s) oz (000s) oz (000s) oz
Indicated 1,534 0.41 25.03 0.85 20 1,235 42
Raymond Threlkeld, president and chief executive officer of Rainy River Resources, commented: "We are very pleased to announce our latest resource update, which continues to reflect both the quality of the Rainy River gold project and its potential to grow. The new mineral resource statement incorporates 145 new core holes (79,238 metres) in 2012, for a total resource base of 1,424 diamond drill holes (657,500 metres).
"Combined open pit and underground mineral resources in the measured and indicated categories total 6.2 million ounces of gold and 13.3 million ounces of silver, while combined inferred resources total 2.3 million ounces of gold and 7.0 million ounces of silver. Relative to the February, 2012, mineral resource statement, measured and indicated mineral resources increased by 504,000 ounces of gold and 1.4 million ounces of silver, representing increases of 9 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively. Inferred mineral resources continue to provide a basis for future exploration targets and conversion to higher confidence ounces.
"The aim of the 2012 drill program was to convert as much of the inferred mineral resources within the conceptual pit shell into the Measured or Indicated classifications. Not only have we seen an excellent conversion of ounces within the pit, but we have also found new ounces, showing a conversion of waste to mineralized material within the resource pit. With more refined drilling, we have seen an increase in grade as well: open pit measured and indicated resources now measure 140 million tonnes at 1.15 g/t gold and 2.39 g/t silver, for 5.2 million gold ounces and 10.7 million silver ounces reported. In addition, indicated silver resources in the Silver zone, hosted within the open pit, have increased by 89 per cent, to 1.2 million ounces.
"The underground portion of the Rainy River gold project has now expanded to 614,000 ounces of gold and 824,000 ounces of silver in the measured and indicated categories, for increases of 39 per cent and 64 per cent respectively compared to February, 2012, estimate, and this resource remains open at depth.
"We are also pleased to have a continued strong source of future feed, with 2.3 million ounces of gold, 7.0 million ounces of silver in the inferred category.
"This new resource estimate will serve as the resource base case for the upcoming feasibility study, to be released in first half 2013. We anticipate that additional ounces in the measured and indicated categories will be incorporated in the already-robust 10-year mine plan presented in the August, 2012, PEA.
"Currently, three diamond drill rigs are active at the Rainy River gold project. The drills on site are focused on regional exploration along a prospective six-kilometre-long trend."
Sensitivity analysis
Block model quantities and grade estimates at the Rainy River gold project are sensitive to the selection of cut-off grades.
BLOCK MODEL QUANTITIES AND GRADE ESTIMATES AT
SELECTED CUT-OFF GRADES -- POTENTIAL OPEN PIT MINING MATERIAL
Cut-off grade Tonnes Au Au Ag Ag
(0.30 g/t Au) (000s) g/t (000s) oz g/t (000s) oz
Measured 30,333 1.23 1,197 1.84 1,795
Indicated (in pit) 131,702 1.00 4,214 2.40 10,150
Indicated (ex pit) 18,276 0.70 413 3.56 2,093
Measured and
indicated 180,311 1.01 5,824 2.42 14,038
Inferred (in pit) 23,799 0.78 596 1.32 1,007
Inferred (ex pit) 97,406 0.59 1,857 2.28 7,154
Cut-off grade Tonnes Au Au Ag Ag
(0.40 g/t Au) (000s) g/t (000s) oz g/t (000s) oz
Measured 25,189 1.41 1,140 1.95 1,579
Indicated (in pit) 97,431 1.22 3,834 2.61 8,161
Indicated (ex pit) 11,628 0.91 339 4.10 1,534
Measured and
indicated 134,248 1.23 5,313 2.62 11,274
Inferred (in pit) 16,265 0.98 513 1.48 774
Inferred (ex pit) 55,103 0.78 1,387 2.87 5,081
BLOCK MODEL QUANTITIES AND GRADE ESTIMATES AT SELECTED
CUT-OFF GRADES -- POTENTIAL UNDERGROUND MINING MATERIAL
Cut-off grade Tonnes Au Au Ag Ag
(2.0 g/t Au) (000s) g/t (000s) oz g/t (000s) oz
Measured 113 4.37 16 2.67 10
Indicated 6,773 3.67 800 5.37 1,169
Measured and indicated 6,886 3.69 816 5.33 1,179
Inferred 1,417 3.47 158 4.13 188
Cut-off grade Tonnes Au Au Ag Ag
(3.0 g/t Au) (000s) g/t (000s) oz g/t (000s) oz
Measured 69 5.58 12 2.96 7
Indicated 3,067 5.21 513 6.82 672
Measured and indicated 3,136 5.22 526 6.73 679
Inferred 639 4.77 98 4.97 102
Technical description
Gold mineralization at the Rainy River gold project has a volcanogenic origin associated with minor amounts of copper, lead, zinc and silver. Sulphide zones are generally subparallel to foliation, which strikes at approximately 300 degrees and dips 50 degrees to 70 degrees to the south. These zones contain low-grade gold mineralization. Higher grade gold mineralization is associated with shear zones that trend 20 to 30 degrees to the main foliation and plunge steeply to the southwest. The gold mineral resources are based on drilling data received up to June 10, 2012, and include 1,424 drill holes (657,500 metres). Since the previous mineral resource estimate (see press release dated Feb. 24, 2012), the company has drilled and added 145 new core boreholes (79,238 metres) to the resource database. The Rainy River gold project hosts three types of sulphide mineralization: gold-rich polymetallic sulphide mineralization, subordinate silver-rich polymetallic sulphides and copper-nickel PGE (platinum group elements) sulphides. Resources attributed to all the gold- and silver-rich zones are reported within this release. Rainy River Resources does not deem these resources to represent a material change for company, therefore, an updated NI 43-101-compliant resource report will not be necessary at this time. All resources, however, will be part of an NI 43-101-compliant report that will follow the release of the feasibility study in 2013.
Mineral resources are reported over an area measuring approximately two kilometres by one kilometre to a depth of 700 metres. Mineral resources have been estimated using a geostatistical block model approach constrained by seven major zones subdivided into 23 resource domains. Block size was set at cubes five metres in size. These zones are termed the ODM/17, 433, HS, New, Cap, 34, Western area and other zones. The bulk of the mineral resources occur in the ODM/17 and 433 zones. Metal grades were estimated using ordinary kriging as the principal estimator. Metal grades were estimated separately in each domain from capped composite data within that domain. Kriging parameters were derived from variogram models with grade estimation completed in two successive passes. The first estimation pass is generally considered search neighbourhoods adjusted to full variogram ranges. The size of the search ellipse was usually doubled for the second estimation pass. Mineral resources are classified as measured, indicated and inferred, considering the geological continuity, data quality, block distance from the nearest informing composites and variography results.
A pit optimizer was used to determine the quantities of material offering reasonable prospects for economic extraction by an open pit. Results from the pit optimization are used solely for assisting with the preparation of the mineral resource statement and do not represent a thorough economic study as is required to evaluate mineral reserves. SRK considers that the material above the final depth of the conceptual pit shell (approximately 500 m below surface) offers reasonable prospects for economic extraction from an open pit, because continuing drilling results suggest that the zone of gold mineralization is broader than currently modelled and that new drilling information should positively impact future pit optimizations. Input assumptions used for the conceptual pit optimization and to derive the cut-off grade of 0.35 g/t gold for open pit mineral resources include:
- Gold price: $1,100 (U.S.) per ounce;
- Silver price: $22.50 (U.S.) per ounce;
- Metallurgical recoveries include 88 per cent for gold in the open pit resources and 90 per cent for gold in the underground resources, with a silver recovery of 75 per cent;
- Operating costs of $2.00 (Canadian) per tonne for mining, $7.25 (Canadian) per tonne for processing, including 48-degree average pit wall angle.
The block model quantities and grade estimates below pit bottom were also reviewed to determine the portions of the Rainy River deposit having reasonable prospects for economic extraction from an underground mine. Assumptions used to derive the cut-off grade of 2.5 g/t gold for underground resources include:
- Gold price: $1,100 (U.S.) per ounce;
- Silver price: $22.50 (U.S.) per ounce;
- 90-per-cent gold recovery, 75-per-cent silver recovery;
- Operating costs of $55 (Canadian) per tonne for mining, $7.25 (Canadian) per tonne for processing, including general and administrative.
Qualified persons
Rainy River's exploration program in Richardson township (part of Chapple township) is being supervised by Kerry Sparkes, PGeo, vice-president exploration, a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Sparkes is also the person responsible for the content of this news release. The company has a rigorous quality assurance/quality control program in place to ensure best practices in sampling and analysis of drill core. All drill core is marked for sampling and then split in half with a diamond saw blade. Samples are placed in sealed bags with security tags. All samples were assayed using a standard fire assay, 30-gram nominal sample weight with an AA finish. Overlimit samples were reassayed with a gravimetric finish, and then by 1,000-gram screen fire assay as a check. Samples with visible gold were automatically analyzed for ore grade by 1,000-gram screen-fire assay, with coarse and fine fractions being combined proportionately, and the fine fraction being assayed twice. Standards, blanks and duplicates are inserted every 25 metres. ALS Canada Ltd. performed primary assaying, with duplicates being analyzed at Activation Laboratories Ltd. ALS Canada Ltd. and Activation Laboratories Ltd. implement independent QA/QC protocols that include the insertion of certified blanks and standards as part of their routine analysis. Resource estimation work by SRK was completed by Dorota El-Rassi, PEng, and Glen Cole, PGeo, both employees of SRK and independent qualified persons as this term is defined in National Instrument 43-101.
We seek Safe Harbor.
© 2025 Canjex Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.