Almaden Acquires Three Gold Projects
VANCOUVER, BC - Almaden Minerals Ltd. reported that it has acquired a 100% interest through staking in three new gold project located in Nevada. Two of the projects are in White Pine County and the other in Mineral County. In total 63 claims were acquired. The claims cover areas of alteration and mineralisation that the Company considers to be representative of sedimentary hosted replacement gold mineralisation similar to that of "Carlin-type" deposits of north-eastern Nevada. The Company now has a portfolio of 100% owned exploration projects in Nevada. Work is planned on all projects for the 2011 field season including a first stage drill program at the Willow project where the Company has drill permits in place. Surface work designed to identify drill targets, including rock and soil sampling and geophysics, is planned at the other projects.
J.D. Poliquin, chairman of Almaden, commented, "Our prospecting and project generation programs continue to yield results and we are very excited about the acquisition of these new projects in Nevada. We look forward to planning detailed work and drilling based on the results of this property scale work." The 100% owned BP project is comprised of 207 claims in Mineral County Nevada in an area identified during a helicopter borne prospecting program in central Nevada conducted in 2010. This prospecting program utilised geological models and Aster satellite imagery to target unrecognised Carlin type mineralisation. The claims cover an area of jasperoid and clay alteration developed in an exposed debris flow in lower plate rocks, the geologic succession that hosts many of the important gold deposits in northern Nevada. The alteration and host rocks are typical of that of major Carlin type deposits in Nevada and the prospect is located roughly 30 miles from the Carlin district along the Carlin trend. The prospect is located nearby good access but off roads and no evidence of past work was noted in the area except for several small barite workings. Surface work returned anomalous gold and trace elements typical of Carlin type systems. This early stage 100% owned Paradise Valley project located near the historic Paradise Peak gold mine in central Nevada covers an area of acid sulphate alteration interpreted to represent a high sulphidation system and was acquired by staking. A surface rock sampling program is planned for 2011. Willow, Nevada At Willow Almaden has completed geologic and alteration mapping, rock sampling, soil sampling and stream sediment sampling. Mapping has outlined a roughly 2 by 2 kilometer area of intense hydrothermal alteration characterised by minerals and features typical of high sulphidation epithermal systems including silicification and brecciation, alunite, kaolinite and dickite. In this area 174 rock samples have been taken with results ranging from 0.005 to 0.29 g/t gold. Soil sampling was conducted on a 200 by 50 meter grid. The 1,297 soil samples collected returned gold values from below detection up to 1.2 g/t gold and averaging 0.024 g/t gold (24 ppb gold). Several significant areas of greater than 0.1 g/t gold were outlined in this soil sampling program. Stream sediment samples were also taken and returned values from 0.002 g/t gold to a high of 3.4 g/t gold and averaging 0.041 g/t gold (41 ppb). These geochemical results are considered extremely important, and with the hydrothermal alteration, are interpreted to be indicative with top of a well mineralised high sulphidation gold system. Almaden plans to conduct a preliminary drill program at Willow in 2011. The company's address is Suite 1103-750 West Pender St., Vancouver, BC V6C 2T8.