VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 03, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Otis Gold Corp. (“Otis” or the “Company”) (TSX-V:OOO) (OTC:OGLDF) is pleased to announce the results of its 2017 exploration program at the Oakley Project, Cassia County, Idaho. Surface geochemical sampling has revealed significant gold- and silver-in-soil anomalies over 2 kilometres (or “km”); stream sediment sampling over 3 km of drainage indicates increasing gold and silver values toward the potential source, and rock sampling of outcrops over a large area of epithermal black matrix breccia reveal gold values up to 3.0 g/t gold (or “Au”) and silver values up to 306 g/t silver (or “Ag”).
The Oakley Project (“Oakley”) is a gold-silver exploration prospect located 21 km south of Oakley, Idaho, and 3 km north of the Idaho-Utah state line along the western flank of the Albion Mountains, part of the Albion-Raft River-Grouse Creek Metamorphic Core Complex. Oakley contains three primary targets located approximately 6 km apart, comprising the Blue Hill Creek and Matrix Creek targets located at the southern end of the project (Regional Geology map), and Cold Creek target to the north. All work reported herein was performed at the Matrix Creek target, where black matrix breccia (or “BMB”) forms the dominant host rock and is associated with regional scale detachment structures.
Highlights of the 2017 Matrix Creek Target Work
- A total of 1,334 soil samples were analyzed for gold and silver. The results define a coherent 2-km-long gold- and silver-in-soil anomaly that is coincident with a detachment structure and associated mineralized BMB body. The anomalies extend from Matrix Creek northwest toward the Blue Hill Creek deposit along what is now known as ”Discovery Ridge”. The anomalous zone is defined by gold values up to 0.988 g/t Au and silver values up to 5.4 g/t Ag.
- 58 rock-chip samples of BMB collected on Discovery Ridge along the brecciated detachment zone contained up to 3.0 g/t Au and up to 306 g/t Ag along 350-metres (or “m”) of outcrop; this target that has not been drill-tested (Regional Sampling Au Results and Regional Sampling Ag Results maps).
- 49 stream-sediment samples collected along 3 km of the Matrix Creek drainage, and into the area of its headwaters, exhibit Ag values ranging from 0.2 to 2.3 g/t and increase toward Discovery Ridge.
- 34 one and half metre chip-channel rock samples of BMB collected in, and along, the Discovery Ridge target area contained intervals that include 18.0 m averaging 0.34 g/t Au and 97.7 g/t Ag, 7.9 m averaging 0.30 g/t Au and 83.3 g/t Ag, 6.7 m averaging 0.34 g/t Au and 61.4 g/t Ag, and 2.1 m averaging 1.37 g/t Au and 132 g/t Ag. These values indicate the potential for additional gold-silver targets where the detachment extends down-dip below the surface.
In 2018, Otis plans to expand its land position as well as conduct further exploration, including drilling, to follow-up on the previous programs.
Details of the 2017 Exploration
The 2017 exploration program followed up on a 2015 program from which assays of 14 rock samples of BMB returned an average of 0.55 g/t Au and 70.4 g/t Ag; they were collected from a ridge in the Matrix Creek target area, now referred to as “Discovery Ridge”. Exploration in late Spring 2017 consisted of structural mapping and the collection of 1,334 soil samples, 58 rock-chip samples, 49 stream-sediment samples, and 34 one and a half metre long chip-channel samples of the BMB. Chip-channel samples were collected using a generator-powered electric chipping hammer. ALS Minerals of Reno, Nevada, analyzed all soil, rock and stream-sediment samples. Soil samples were dry screened to 180 microns (80 mesh); rocks samples were crushed and a 250g split pulverized to 85% passing 75 microns (200 mesh). Gold was analyzed by fire assay and Au-ICP22; 48 elements including silver were analyzed by ICP MS-61; Ag-OG62 was used for silver over-limit assay greater than 100 ppm.
About Matrix Creek and the Oakley Project
The Oakley Project hosts gold-silver, epithermal hot spring-type mineralization at two targets: Blue Hill Creek and Cold Creek, and detachment-related gold-silver mineralization at Matrix Creek. Blue Hill Creek (Technical Report dated August 8, 2016) contains an Inferred Resource of 163,000 ounces gold in 9.97 million tonnes at a grade of 0.51 g/t Au. The Blue Hill Creek resource is hosted in rocks of the Tertiary Salt Lake Formation within a northwest-trending Tertiary graben that is part of a north trending, five-mile-long by one-mile–wide zone of low-sulphidation, hot spring-type gold occurrences along the western margin of the Albion Mountains.
Matrix Creek is located 1.5 km southeast of the Blue Hill Creek resource. The BMB mineralization at Matrix Creek is distinctive from the epithermal mineralization at Blue Hill Creek in terms of style, host rock lithology and structural controls, however, both occur within the Tertiary graben setting. The BMB from outcrop section observations is at least 12 m thick and consists of quartzite fragments in a black to dark-grey matrix of fine-grained quartz and pyrite. The host rocks are part of a lower Paleozoic package of quartzite and limestone that occurs throughout eastern Nevada, western Utah, and southern Idaho.
In 2014, an Otis-Radius Gold joint venture at Blue Hill Creek intercepted gold mineralization in 3 out of 5 core holes drilled. These gold intercepts (Otis News Release dated February 5, 2015) were: 123 m averaging 0.691 g/t Au in drill hole BHC 14-01, 41.1 m averaging 0.705 g/t Au in drill hole BHC 14-03, and 113.9 m averaging 0.405 g/t Au in drill hole BHC 14-04. All three holes also contained silver intercepts that were not reported and these intercepts included: 148 m averaging 5.54 g/t Ag, 61.9 m averaging 6.03 g/t Ag, and 101.7 m averaging 4.18 g/t Ag, respectively. At Otis request, ALS Minerals performed 48-hour bottle-roll tests on the BMB with the results showing gold recoveries up to 82%, and silver recoveries up to 93%.
Otis President and CEO, Craig Lindsay stated: “We are pleased with the results generated at Oakley, and we see significant potential to aggressively expand the project. It is uncommon to see the type of surface mineralization discovered at Matrix Creek, in terms of both grade and strike length. We now have three well-defined exploration targets at Oakley in Blue Hill Creek, Cold Creek and Matrix Creek.”
The qualified person under National Instrument (NI 43-101) Standards of Disclosure for this News Release is Alan Roberts, CPG, and Vice President of Exploration, who has reviewed and approved its technical contents.
About the Company
Otis is a resource company focused on the acquisition, exploration, and development of precious metal deposits in Idaho, USA. Otis is currently developing its flagship property, the Kilgore Project, located in Clark County, Idaho and the Oakley Project, located in Cassia County, Idaho.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
“Craig T. Lindsay”
President & CEO
For additional information, please contact:
Mr. Tony Perri – Corporate Development
Tel: (604) 424-8100 Email: tony@otisgold.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as defined in the policies of the
TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
The forward-looking information contained in this press release is made as of the date hereof and Otis undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless so required by applicable securities laws.
This News Release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “US Securities Act”) or any State securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to US Persons unless registered under the US Securities Act and applicable State securities laws, or an exemption from such registration is available.
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