GOLDEN BAND RESOURCES
Golden Band Confirms the Continuity of Very High Gold Grades at the EP Deposit, Northern Saskatchewan
9/26/2006
316 g/t over 1.4 metres and 271 g/t gold over 2.6 metres
SASKATOON, SASKATCHEWAN, Sep 26, 2006 (CCNMatthews via COMTEX News Network) --
Golden Band Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:GBN) is very pleased to announce the standard fire assay results of a drilling program carried out on its 100%-owned EP gold deposit. In total, 16 shallow holes were drilled all returning very encouraging gold values. Two holes, EP-93 and EP-95, returned spectacular gold values of 316 g/t over 1.4 metres and 271 g/t gold over 2.6 metres.
As with the 2005 EP drilling program, the objective of this work was to in-fill at an approximate spacing of 7.5 metres between previous drillholes that encountered similar high grades of up to 200 g/t gold (Figure 1) (see news releases of September 8, 2005, April 23, 2004, January 26, 2004, and November 28, 2003).
The current program, which consisted of three east-west profiles, has successfully confirmed that these high-grade gold values are continuous at this detailed scale. All holes drilled to-date on the high-grade portion of the EP deposit are shown on the map at
www.goldenbandresources.com. The assay data are summarized in Table 1. Metallic screen assays on samples that have standard fire assays above 20 g/t gold have now been commissioned as they can provide more-accurate data in cases when coarse gold is present.
Golden Band's management is extremely pleased with these drilling results. Vice President of Exploration, Klaus Lehnert-Thiel, notes "We are optimistic that the EP deposit, given sufficient reserves, may provide high-grade mill feed together with that from the Bingo deposit for the Company's Jolu mill, especially given the very high grades and shallow depth. The EP deposit, while limited in size, has been shown to be continuous both north-south and east-west and likely still remains open."
The intention is to possibly combine the high-grade mineralization of the EP deposit with those of the Company's other deposits as potential mill feed for the 100%-owned Jolu mill. A resource estimate will be commissioned once all of the data are received to establish if EP might contain economic resources
The sixteen EP deposit drill holes (483.4 m total) were completed between July 22 and August 6, 2006 on the zone which is located 200 metres east of the Company's Komis gold deposit in the Upper Waddy Lake area of northern Saskatchewan. Each hole is 63.5 mm in diameter (HQ core) and is approximately 30 m in length. Between 2003 and 2005, Golden Band drilled 60 short, vertical, drillholes that confirmed the existence of a shallow (15 to 20 m below surface), high-grade, but localized gold zone over an area of approximately 50 by 50 m.
The past four EP drilling programs were hampered by insufficient core recoveries as the mineralization consists mainly of very soft, clayey, material. Previous core recoveries over the mineralized zone were only in the 10% to 50% range, which resulted in uncertainty of the true gold contents. By employing a five-foot core barrel and a synthetic polymer drilling fluid, the 2006 core recovery approaches 100%.
The primary gold mineralization of the EP deposit is associated with subvertical extensional quartz veins and a sub-horizontal shear zone within a flat, south dipping, intermediate dyke of two to five metres in thickness that intrudes andesitic lavas. The EP gold mineralization is confined to one or more fault gouges within these sub-horizontal shear zone(s) and the occasional 10 to 30 centimetre-wide dirty quartz layer. Coarse-grained gold, quartz, and other mineral grains (bornite, native copper, and pyromorphite (lead chlorophosphate)) are found within both the fault gouge and the quartz layers.
Microscopic studies have confirmed that this gold mineralization is likely the consequence of a supergene (i.e., near surface) enrichment of these metals. Supergene enrichment is not usually preserved in glaciated terrains but the remnants of this enrichment seem to have survived the glacial erosion because of the extremely flat, sub-horizontal, dip of the EP deposit.
It is interpreted that the setting of the primary gold mineralization of the EP deposit is similar to the nearby Komis deposit which is controlled at the intersections of steep, north dipping, east-west oriented granodiorite dykes and swarms of north-south extensional quartz veins. High-grade values in excess of 100 g/t gold exist locally in the Komis deposit.
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