Bitterroot hits high-grade gold at Mineral Creek

VANCOUVER — A recent drill program at the Mineral Creek project held by Bitteroot Resources (BTT-V) and private partner Mineral Creek Ventures has returned 74.5 grams gold per tonne over a 1-metre interval from the 1050 zone. The partners are testing the zone and others on the Vancouver Island property for their potential to host “bonanza-style” epithermal gold mineralization.

The high-grade mineralization was encountered about 20 metres down-dip of a previously reported interval that graded 402 grams gold over a core length of 0.4 metre. The true width of the new interval is estimated at about 0.9 metre, while the true width of the previously reported intercept is about 0.35 metre.

Bitteroot can earn up to a 75% interest in the project (previously known as the Debbie property) by spending $2 million on exploration, issuing 400,000 shares and paying $160,000 to its partner by the end of April, 2010.

Bitteroot reports that drilling has intersected the high-grade 1050 zone along a strike length of 130 metres and about 60 metres down-dip. The drill has been moved about 1 km east-southeast of the 1050 zone to test the area below the high-grade 900 zone.

The company is also rehabilitating a 200-metre-long, 3-metre by 3-metre adit into the 900 zone in order to carry out an underground exploration program. Mapping and sampling are scheduled to begin shortly, and will be followed by drilling in the first quarter of 2006.

The 5,566-hectare project is situated 10 km east of Port Alberni, on Vancouver Island, and covers areas with a limited and intermittent production history dating back to the 1860s.

The project was explored by a previous operator in the mid-1980s through 1991, with $13 million spent on surface and underground exploration. Past work was focused on the Linda, 900, 1050 and Mineral Creek zones, which host quartz veins with high-grade gold mineralization along a 2-km-long trend.

The gold targets are hosted by Sicker Group volcanic and sedimentary rocks, which also host volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits and occurrences in the region.