Plato Gold Completes Sampling Program at Good Hope Niobium Project

TORONTO, July 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Plato Gold Corp. (TSX-V:PGC) (“Plato” or the “Company”), an exploration company with a portfolio of properties in Northern Ontario and Santa Cruz, Argentina is pleased to announce the successful completion of a prospecting, sampling and geological mapping program on the Good Hope Niobium Property in June 2017. The Good Hope Niobium Property consists of a total of 19 claims, 263 claim units and 4,208 hectares in Killala Lake Area and Cairngorm Lake Area Townships, northwest of Marathon, Ontario.

"I am very pleased that our exploration team completed a successful mapping program which included identifying new areas of carbonatite and ijolite on the Good Hope Niobium property," said Anthony J. Cohen, President & CEO of Plato Gold Corp. "I look forward to receiving the assays from our sampling program and planning a drill program for this fall."

The mapping program consisted of due diligence sampling of previously recognized high grade samples and discovery of additional ijolite and carbonatite occurrences in four distinct areas on the Property (Figure 1). Discovery of new ijolite and carbonatite occurrences is significant because niobium mineralization in the Prairie Lake complex occurs in both ijolite and carbonatite, although carbonatites are the dominate host of the niobium mineralization. The Good Hope Property claims surround the Prairie Lake complex. The observation that ijolite and carbonatite occurs in several areas throughout the Property increases the exploration potential for niobium mineralization throughout the Property. Plato’s exploration team successfully predicted the location of the ijolite occurrences on the basis of the high magnetic anomalies and topographic highs. Plato’s exploration team is using the ijolite locations as a pathfinder to find additional carbonatite occurrences. The carbonatite is easily weathered and possibly occurs in the swamps and lakes near ijolite occurrences.

The airborne EM apparent resistivity at 33840 Hz map suggests that the Prairie Lake Carbonatite Complex proper is surrounded by a 1.0 to 1.5 km wide outer ring which includes most of the Good Hope Property (Figure 2). The peripheral region of the main complex has the potential to host late stage carbonatite dykes and veins similar to the carbonatite veins in the alkali granite breccia at Site #28. The current mapping program only covered the west side of the Prairie Lake Complex. Prospecting on the east side of the Complex has not yet been undertaken.

The four areas of mineralization identified during this mapping program are: site #28 (claim 4256251), site #21A (claim 4246269), sites #22 and 25 (claim 4256252) and site #37 (claim 4256259). Although these mineralized sites were previously known, Plato’s exploration team increased the area of the mineralized sites and found new mineralized outcrops within these sites.

Site #28 (Claim 4256251, northwestern part of property)

The claim consists of alkali granite breccia with a carbonatite matrix and minor ijolite. The alkali granite shows variable degrees of brecciation and fenitization (alteration to Na-amphibole and biotite) in drill core PL-01.

• The high ground on site #28 corresponds to an airborne radiometric total counts high anomaly related to the potassium content of the alkali granite breccia. To the north of the high ground is a swamp which corresponds to a magnetic low and possibly the location of the carbonatite.
• Detailed due diligence relogging and photographing of drill hole PL-01 by Plato’s exploration team showed an excellent correlation between the rock types found in the surface trench TR-01-PL15 and drill core (Figure 3). The relogging helped the team better understand the niobium mineralization. The drill core shows several generations of carbonatite and patches rich in pyrochlore mineralization. Drill hole PL-01 contains up to 0.450% Nb₂O₅ and 1.85% P₂O₅ over 1 m in carbonatite. Multiple generations of apatite associated with the carbonatite and the niobium mineralization were identified using ultraviolet light.
• Previous high grade samples include the Discovery Pit #1 with 1.63% Nb₂O₅ and 20.66% P₂O₅ in carbonatite (Figure 4). Plato’s due diligence assays for samples collected during this prospecting program are pending.
• 2015 Trench TR-01-PL-15, about 110 m southwest of Pit #1, had previous continuous channel sampling with 1.205% Nb₂O₅ over 1.1 m, 0.770% Nb₂O₅ over 1.0 m and 0.468% Nb₂O₅ over 1.2 m for a weighted average of 0.805% Nb₂O₅ over 3.3 m in carbonatite.  The same trench had three non-adjacent channel samples with 0.562% Nb₂O₅ over 1.0 m, 0.575% Nb₂O₅ over 1.2 m and 0.727% Nb₂O₅ over 1.0 m. A grab sample on the same trench of ferro-carbonatite with 2-3% pyrochlore contained 2.11% Nb₂O₅.
• The mapping program discovered a 70 m long ijolite dyke within the alkali granite breccia and carbonatite matrix. This ijolite dyke connects trenches TR-04A-PL15 and TR-04B-PL15 ijolite with a new outcrop of ijolite 70 m to the west (Figure 4).
• 2015 Trench TR-04A-PL15, about 50 m northwest of Pit #1, had previous channel sample of 0.32% Nb₂O₅ over 2.0 m in ijolite breccia with carbonatite matrix. In the same trench, three non-adjacent channel samples had 0.180% Nb₂O₅ over 1.0 m, 0.437% Nb₂O₅ over 0.6 m and 0.254% Nb₂O₅ over 1.0 m in alkali granite breccia with carbonatite matrix.

Site #21A (Claims 4246269, 4246255 and 4256253, southwestern part of Property)

• The mapping program covered a 1.5 by 2.5 km area within these claims, the majority of which were not previously prospected or sampled.
• The due diligence sampling included visiting known ijolite and carbonatite occurrences around the original site #21A. Previous high grade sample with 0.906% Nb₂O₅ and 9.89% P₂O₅ was collected by Rudy Wahl.
• The mapping discovered a 700 m long northeast trending alkali granite breccia with carbonatite matrix pointing towards Prairie Lake. It is not known if the carbonatite continues under the lake.
• The mapping also discovered a 1.8 km long northwest trending ijolite characterized by a magnetic high anomaly. This ijolite trend has an exploration potential to host niobium mineralization as ijolite hosts niobium mineralization in Prairie Lake complex.

Site #22 and 25 (Claim 4256252, south of Deadhorse Creek Road)

• The mapping program sampled ijolite and silico-carbonatite in this claim.
• The mapping program discovered a 70 m northwest trending ijolite which corresponds to a magnetic high anomaly. The ijolite is on a topographic high and the carbonatite is possibly in the adjacent topographic low ground.

Site #37 (Claim 4256259, west of Site #28)

• Due diligence sampling of carbonatite including previous sample with 0.157% Nb₂O₅ and 1.50% P₂O₅ collected by Rudy Wahl.
• This claim contains similar alkali granite with carbonatite as site #28.

Assays from Plato’s mapping program are pending and will be released once received and interpreted. Plato is planning a drill program in the fall to investigate the topographic low grounds/swamps with high potential to host niobium mineralization in carbonatite.

The Good Hope Niobium Project is being supervised by Dr. Julie Selway, Ph.D., P.Geo, who is the project’s Qualified Person. Dr. Selway has prepared and supervised the preparation of the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release.

About the Good Hope Niobium Project

The Good Hope Niobium Property consists of a total of 19 claims, 263 claim units and 4,208 hectares in Killala Lake Area and Cairngorm Lake Area Townships, northwest of Marathon, Ontario. The Good Hope Property is located approximately 45 kilometers northwest of Marathon and 28 km north of Highway 17. The property is readily accessible from Trans-Canada Highway 17 and Dead Horse Road. The Property is also in close proximity to the Hemlo gold mining camp.

About Dr. Julie Selway

Julie Selway, Ph.D., P.Geo. is the Principal Geologist for J-J Minerals, a mineral exploration consulting firm based in Sudbury, Ontario. Dr. Selway has over 25 years of work experience for academia, government and industry. Dr. Selway’s specialties are writing NI 43-101 reports, QA/QC reviews of drill core assays, data compilations and project management. She is the co-author of twenty-six NI 43-101 Independent Technical Reports, twenty-three scientific journal articles and thirteen Ontario Geological Survey publications. She has worked on a wide variety of deposit types including: carbonatites, lithium pegmatites, Cu-Ni-PGE deposits, gold, stratiform Cu, VMS, porphyry Cu and banded iron formation.  Dr. Selway is a Qualified Person ("QP") as defined by National Instrument 43-101.  

About Rudy Wahl

Rudy Wahl has been prospecting in the Marathon – Hemlo – Terrace Bay area since 1989 and has optioned more than 30 properties to different mining companies. Between 2005 and 2014, Mr. Wahl found 17 new rare earth and 2 new Uranium occurrences within the Prairie Lake – Killala Lake Area. He made the Niobium discovery of up to 1.63% Nb₂O₅ and up to 20.6% P₂O₅ on the Good Hope Property in 2014. In recognition of this Niobium discovery, he received the Bernie Schnieders Discovery of the Year Award for 2014 from the Northwestern Ontario Prospectors’ Association (NWOPA). He has also made numerous gold and diamond discoveries and in 2012 was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Work as a Prospector in Northwestern Ontario from the NWOPA. Mr. Wahl was presented with an Honorary Doctorate in Science from Lakehead University in June 2017.

About Plato Gold Corp.

Plato Gold Corp. is a Canadian exploration company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange with projects in Marathon Ontario, Timmins Ontario and Santa Cruz, Argentina.

The Good Hope Niobium Project consists of a total of 19 claims, 263 claim units and 4,208 hectares in Killala Lake Area and Cairngorm Lake Area Townships, near Marathon Ontario.  In May 2017, Plato signed an option agreement with Rudy Wahl and co-owners to acquire 100% interest in the Good Hope Property.  A drill program is planned for 2017.  

The Timmins Ontario project includes 4 properties: Guibord, Harker, Holloway and Marriott in the Harker/Holloway gold camp located east of Timmins, Ontario.  The Holloway and Marriott properties are under option with Kirkland Lake Gold Inc.  Plato holds 50% interest in the Guibord property with the remaining 50% held by Osisko Mining Inc. (“Osisko”).  Osisko also holds 80% interest in the Harker property with Plato holding the remaining 20%.

In Argentina, Plato owns a 75% interest in Winnipeg Minerals S.A. (“WMSA”), an Argentina incorporated company.  The Lolita Property, held by WMSA, is comprised of a number of contiguous mineral rights totaling 9,672 hectares.  Work has advanced on this exploration property to the point that it is drill-ready or ready to be optioned to a partner.

For additional company information, please visit: www.platogold.com.