VANCOUVER, April 30 /CNW/ - The Board of Directors of Finlay Minerals Ltd. ("The Company") is pleased to announce the results of a combined geophysical program, and a follow-up core drilling program at the Silver Hope Property located in central British Columbia.
The Company acquired the Silver Hope Property with the objective of testing for volcanogenic massive sulfide style high-grade feeder mineralization and completed multiple deep penetrating orientation geophysical surveys during the summer of 2006. These include magnetic, induced polarization (I.P.), and gravity surveys. Results of the work are posted on the Company web-site. The geophysical survey work was completed by Peter Walcott and Associates of Burnaby, B.C. Survey data was collected along six (6) cut lines, each of 2.5 kilometers length. Two lines each were cut spaced 200 meters apart over the Hope, Superstitious, and Gaul zones. The three zones cover ~two kilometers of strike length.
The geophysics defined, in a broad sense, an intense I.P. conductive zone and associated resistivity low, open at depth over all three zones. The I.P. anomalies are coincident with known zones of pyrite and associated chalcopyrite mineralization. Coincidently the gravity survey defined a deep seated positive gravity feature of 4 milligals estimated to be ~one (1) kilometer below surface underlying the three zones.
An initial Phase 1 core drilling program has been planned to test the deep silver-copper-gold breccia related mineralization (as noted below), both for extent and continuity in the Hope zone, and for the presence of silver-copper-gold breccia related mineralization deep below the Gaul zone. This drill program will consist of four (4) core holes each 400-450 meters long, three designed to test the Hope zone, and one at the Gaul zone. Drilling is planned to begin in May, 2007.
The Silver Hope Property is contiguous with the southern boundary of the past producing Equity Silver Mines Property (33,800,000 tonnes @ 0.4% copper, 64.7g/t silver, and 0.46g/t gold from open pit and underground mining) and covers prospective stratigraphy for discovery of stratabound copper-silver-gold mineralization. Prior workers conducted several drilling programs along a 2 kilometer strike length of favourable geology that partially outlined three near-surface bulk tonnage copper-silver zones with deeper higher grade copper-silver zones. The zones, named Hope, Superstition and Gaul by prior workers, occur along favourable structural horizons in pyroclastic volcanic rock notable by fracturing and discrete breccias that have been tested by approximately 40 holes.
An in-house mineral resource (not NI43-101 compliant and to be considered only as a historical resource) was calculated in 1986 for shallow mineralization in the Hope zone by Equity Silver Mines Limited of 3 million tonnes @ 0.30% copper, 35g/t silver, and 0.15g/t gold. More interesting is that deeper drill holes intersected reported grades in the Hope Zone of 4.1% copper and 637g/t silver over 2.4 meters (DDH 04SH-06), and 0.91% copper and 1030g/t silver over 3.0 meters (DDH X86CH-262).
In 1987 Teck Explorations Limited conducted a drilling program on the Gaul zone and intersected 65.4 meters of 0.71% copper and 12.9g/t silver between 36.6 - 102.5 meters hole depth, including 3.8 meters of 7.88% copper and 105.4g/t silver between 65.7 - 69.5 meters hole depth in drill hole 87TG20.
A re-interpretation of this style of mineralization along a 4 kilometer length that includes two deposits that saw production by Equity Silver and three zones on the Silver Hope Property suggests opportunity for re-classification of the deposits as volcanogenic massive sulfide style high-grade feeder mineralization.
Warner Gruenwald, P.Geo., and V.P. Exploration for the Company, is the Qualified Person, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and will conduct the exploration program on the Silver Hope project. Finlay Minerals Ltd. trades under the symbol "FYL" on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Silver Hope property is part of a strategic move to expand the Company's presence in B.C., and to complement the Company's Toodoggone projects. Documentation about the Company and properties can be viewed on the company's website at www.finlayminerals.com.
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
Robert Brown, P. Eng., President
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of this release.