Livengood results lift International Tower Hill (June 26, 2008)

Vancouver – A long, well-mineralized intercept from its Livengood gold project in Alaska had International Tower Hill Mines (ITH-V, THM-X) up as much as 35% in June 26 trading.

Results from the first seven holes drilled this year at Livengood include 199.6 metres grading 1.38 grams gold per tonne starting just 10.7 metres down hole 8, including 30.5 metres of 4.11 grams gold. Hole 8, an infill hole, was collared near the southeast corner of the Lillian zone.

From the eastern edge of the zone, roughly 100 metres northeast of hole 8, hole 1 cored 65.5 metres averaging 1.56 grams gold from 139 metres downhole. Near the middle of the zone, hole 7 cut 45.7 metres grading 1.43 grams gold from 25 metres depth followed by 59.4 metres of 1.96 grams gold from 128 metres downhole.

And step-out hole 5, collared past the western edge of the zone, returned 1.63 grams gold over 32 metres from surface.

On June 26 the drill results lifted Tower Hill as much as 35% in mid-day trading; by day’s end its price had settled slightly for a gain of 31 or 25% to close at $1.56. The company has a 52-week trading range of $1.19 to $3.10 and has 39.9 million shares issued.

The Lillian zone is the 2-sq. km portion of the project that has been explored to date; the deposit that it hosts is called Money Knob. Tower Hill emphasizes that the Lillian zone covers only about one-quarter of the area of known mineralization at Livengood, leaving significant potential for Money Knob to grow.

To that end the 2008 program drill program is a combination of infill holes to upgrade the inferred resource and step-out holes to expand it. Results to date have already expanded the deposit to the west, north and south and increased the size of the high-grade core. The deposit remains open in all directions.

Indeed the recent results represent some of the best drill intersections returned from the property to date. Many recent intercepts show greater length and grade than those used in calculating the February resource estimate, which came in at 188 million inferred tonnes grading 0.54 gram gold for 3.3 million contained oz., using a 0.3 gram gold cut-off.

The 2008 program will test an area three times the size of the Lillian zone, using two reverse circulation drills and one core drill. Tower Hill expects to complete 25 holes each month until December. Midway through the program the company will commission an updated resource estimate for release in the fall.

Mineralization at Livengood is hosted in both sedimentary and volcanic units from surface it outcrops at surface to the current drill depth of roughly 250 metres. The deposit is thought to be related to the same Cretaceous magnetic event that produced the Pogo and Fort Knox deposits. Pogo is now a mine owned by Sumitomo Metal Mining and Teck Cominco (TCK.B-T, TCK-N); Fort Knox is a mine operated by Kinross Gold (K-T, KGC-N).

Indeed, the Livengood inventory compares closely in size and grade to the Fort Knox mine located some 50 km to the southeast, where Kinross has proven and probable reserves of 160 million tonnes averaging 0.53 gram gold.

Situated just off the paved Elliot Highway and along the Trans Alaskan Pipeline Corridor, Livengood has good logistics and infrastructure potential should it move to development. The project is 85-road km north of the Alaska State power grid.

In other Tower Hill news, the company just inked an agreement to take over AngloGold Ashanti‘s (AU-N) remaining interests in the Terra and LMS project, also in Alaska. In exchange for 450,000 shares, valued at just over $750,000, Tower Hill gets Anglo’s 40% interests in Terra and LMS. The deal brings Anglo’s ownership in Tower Hill up to 16% from 15%.

Terra is a high-grade gold-silver system located some 200 km west of Anchorage, Alaska that hosts an inferred resource of 428,000 tonnes grading 12.2 grams gold and 23.11 grams silver per tonne, using a 5-gram gold cut-off. The resource is currently from only one portion of one of four high-grade vein systems defined along a 5-km long belt.

The LMS project is located 40 km south of the Pogo mine. An initial inferred resource of 9.7 million tonnes grading 0.61 grams gold is confined to on of five gold targets along a 6-km long mineralized trend.