VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 09, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VR Resources Ltd. (TSX.V: VRR, FSE: 5VR; OTCBB: VRRCF), the "Company", or “VR”, is pleased to announce it has staked a large and previously unexplored copper-gold target in northern Ontario. The new property is named Ranoke and it extends the Company’s platform of blue-sky exploration on large footprint copper-gold systems using modern exploration technologies.
The Company has completed the scoping for three separate low-cost but high impact geophysical and geochemical surveys planned for later this spring at Ranoke. This work will refine drill targets already apparent from the compilation of regional government surveys and archived assessment reports which could be drill-tested later this year.
The Ranoke property is large. It consists of 345 claims in one contiguous block covering 7,072 ha in an area 12 x 12 kilometres in size. It is 50 kilometres north of road access to Coral Rapids, and 15 kilometers from the CNR railway which supplies Moosonee located on tide water 100 kilometres to the northeast.
Salient features of Ranoke, and its potential to host one or more large copper-gold IOCG pipes include:
- Ranoke is located at or near the apex of a robust copper anomaly evident in an Ontario Geological Survey (OGS) regional heavy mineral stream sediment survey. Ranoke is the inferred up-ice source of the anomaly which is the product of mostly southward-directed glacial dispersion (Figure 1);
- There is a strong association of gold and fluorite with the copper anomaly in the OGS survey; this is a distinctive metal signature indicative of an iron oxide copper gold source (IOCG) source;
- The Ranoke property is located along the western margin of the Kapuskasing Structural Zone (KSZ), a failed intra-cratonic rift which is a favourable tectonic setting for IOCG deposits. The KSZ is a mega-structure with a long-lived history of repeated ultramafic intrusions spanning 1.6 billion years;
- The Ranoke property covers a well defined, high intensity magnetic anomaly which delineates three or four discrete, vertical, pipe-like magnetic bodies on a structural intersection some 12 x 12 kilometres in size (Figure 2);
- A recent, high resolution magnetic survey completed by industry refines the location and shape of the magnetic feature at Ranoke. The largest anomaly is 2.5 kms in diameter, with a sharp, concentric boundary indicative of a vertical pipe-like geometry (Figure 3). Total magnetic intensity is very high at more than 5,000nT compared to country rock.
- The northern magnetic anomaly at Ranoke is coincident with a specific, circular gravity high evident in the regional gravity survey completed by the Geological Survey of Canada;
- Ranoke is previously unexplored:
• There is no record in the Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines files (MNDM) of previous mineral claims over the Ranoke target;
• there are no mineral assessment reports recorded over Ranoke, and;
• there are no drill holes located at Ranoke in the MNDM drill hole data base, nor are any evident in current satellite-based imagery.
- Ranoke is a covered exploration target;
• It occurs north of exposed Archean Superior province in northern Ontario, and below a cover of Paleozoic carbonate rocks and a local Cretaceous basin, and;
• It occurs in the lowlands of James Bay where there is no outcrop to explore.
- Two drill holes completed in the 1980s during coal exploration of the Cretaceous strata identified copper grains (chalcopyrite) in near-surface till immediately north and south of the Ranoke target (Figure 4). This adds additional support to the model that Ranoke is the source of the OGS regional copper-gold-flourite anomaly (Figure 1). Significant gold in one of the drill holes prompted additional drilling in the 1980s to evaluate the surficial gold occurrence in the Mattagami river, down-ice direction from Ranoke.
The satellite image in Figure 4 shows the influence that the Ranoke magnetic feature has on surface drainage patters. This implies that the Ranoke magnetic feature is somewhat near-surface and more resistant to weathering than surrounding rock.
The schematic cross-section in Figure 5 illustrates the potential for a near-surface, large, magnetic, dense vertical IOCG pipe at Ranoke. This cross-section is a representation of one of perhaps four such features which delineate the structural intersection at Ranoke. For comparison, the target pipes at Ranoke are considerably larger than the recently discovered copper-gold IOCG deposit at Carrapateena in Australia (800 mt @ 0.8% Cu for 12.6 Blbs, 0.3 g/t Au for 8.4Mozs; Oz Minerals, Pre-Feasibility, August, 2014).
VR’s CEO Dr. Michael H. Gunning reinforced the alignment of this latest acquisition to the Company’s exploration strategy and value creation model, stating “VR is squarely focused on the strength of the copper space, the lack of new copper discoveries in stable mining jurisdictions, and the opportunity to apply new exploration technologies and current, refined mineral deposit models towards blue sky discoveries in North America. Ranoke is in a tectonic setting favourable for large IOCG systems, and is surrounded by alkaline and ultramafic intrusions which demonstrate a long-lived history of repeated intrusions into this crustal-scale mega-structure. Ranoke is remote, covered and unexplored, yet it is proximal to infrastructure; as such, the Ranoke magnetic feature presents a unique discovery potential for a large-scale IOCG deposit which VR has the expertise to define and test. We look forward to providing further updates as our work advances.”
Technical Information
Summary technical and geological information on the Company’s various exploration properties is available at the Company’s website at www.vrr.ca.
Technical information for this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101. Justin Daley, P.Geo., Principal Geologist at VR and a non-independent Qualified Person oversees and/or participates in all aspects of the Company’s mineral exploration projects. The content of this news release has been reviewed on behalf of the Company by the CEO, Dr. Michael Gunning, P.Geo., a non-independent Qualified Person.
About VR Resources
VR is an emerging junior exploration company focused on greenfields opportunities in copper and gold (TSX.V: VRR; Frankfurt: 5VR; OTCBB: VRRCF). The diverse experience and proven track record of its Board in early-stage exploration and discovery is the foundation of VR. The Company is focused on exploring large copper-gold mineral systems in the western United States. VR is the continuance of 4 years of active exploration in Nevada by a Vancouver-based private exploration company. VR is well financed for its exploration strategy. VR owns its properties outright, and evaluates new opportunities on an ongoing basis, whether by staking or acquisition.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS:
“Michael H. Gunning”
_____________________________
Dr. Michael H. Gunning, PhD, PGeo
President & CEO
| For general information please use the following: | ||
| Website: Email: Phone: | www.vrr.ca info@vrr.ca 604-262-1104 | |
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, and similar expressions or are those which, by their nature, refer to future events. Forward looking statements in this release include but are not limited to: “ … drill targets already apparent from the compilation of regional government surveys; … the Ranoke magnetic feature presents a unique discovery potential for a large-scale IOCG deposit.”
Although the Company believes that the use of such statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. All of the Company’s public disclosure filings are available at www.sedar.com; readers are urged to review these materials.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in Policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Figure 1. The Ranoke property is a cluster of magnetic anomalies (yellow stars) which delineate a structural intersection in the up-ice source area of a robust copper anomaly defined by a regional, heavy mineral stream sediment survey completed by the Ontario Geological Survey (OGS) in northern Ontario in 2000 – 2001 (n=3,106 samples). The anomaly includes fluorite and gold, and is believed to have an IOCG mineral deposit source.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b4169199-984c-48cf-849f-089b45037720
Figure 2. First vertical derivative magnetic map of the Ranoke property, from the Geological Survey of Canada regional magnetic survey. The magnetic data indicate that Ranoke is a cluster of sharply defined (high magnetic contrast to country rock), vertical, pipe-like bodies emplaced at a structural intersection.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/06fbf19f-31c7-46de-bd5b-3fbe995956ab
Figure 3. First vertical derivative magnetic map of the northern magnetic anomaly at Ranoke, from a detailed, property-scale airborne magnetic survey. The northern anomaly is the largest, the highest magnetic intensity, and the most sharply and completely defined amongst the cluster of anomalies at Ranoke.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c9425571-d934-4ea0-a5e9-8e75ccf87682
Figure 4. Satellite image of the Ranoke property, showing the location of copper and gold grains documented in coal exploration drill holes nearby to the Ranoke magnetic anomalies. The map shows all drill holes recorded in the MNDM government assessment data base for the Ranoke area. The CNR railway servicing the town of Moosonee located 100 kilometers to the northeast is visible in the lower right corner of the satellite image.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/5444e4d7-b8b6-4590-bc64-83d244f1c3e6
Figure 5. Geologic cross-section of a pipe-like magnetic anomaly exploration drill target at Ranoke. Stratigraphic thicknesses shown on the right are from government drill hole data base records. Copper grains shown at surface are from drill holes shown on Figure 4; the copper grains are inferred to be sourced by a near-by IOCG pipe on the Ranoke property. The magnetic pipe is shown to be near-surface because it influences surface topographic features (see Figure 4).
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/15b43bc0-2504-45db-b81a-f8c5d6ce41ce