Altair Ventures Incorporated (“Altair” or “the Company”; TSX-V: AVX) and Consolidated Spire Ventures Ltd (“Spire”; TSX-V: CZS) are pleased to provide further details of the imminent diamond drilling program on the South Discovery Zone of the Prospect Valley property in southern BC.
The Phase I drill program will consist of approximately 1,500 metres in 12-14 holes designed to test the continuity of gold mineralization intersected in the South Discovery Zone in 2006 and 2007. Those programs included drill intercepts such as 50.6 metres of 1.36g/t gold in DDH 2006-21, 66.8 metres of 0.90g/t gold in DDH 2007-02 and 96.5 metres of 0.74g/t gold in DDH 2007-05. Should sufficient continuity exist, the results will be used to estimate an initial NI 43-101 compliant resource for the South Discovery Zone.
Previous drilling identified an extensive system of gold mineralization associated with disseminated pyrite in amygdaloidal basalts. The zone appears to strike northeasterly and dip moderately to the northwest and sits adjacent to a normal fault. Alteration within the mineralized zone is strong and consists of silicification, sericitization and hematization, while the rock below the fault is strongly chloritic and non gold-bearing.
A compilation of previous exploration data, including the recently completed infill soil sampling program shows that gold mineralization appears to correlate quite well with both soil geochemistry and Induced Polarization (IP) chargeability anomalies. As such, the new diamond drilling program will focus on the areas within the South Discovery Zone where these features are strongest. If this correlation can be better established then subsequent drill programs will test IP anomalies that appear to be deeper and have no surface expression through the soils.
The South Discovery Zone is part of a geochemical and geophysical anomaly extending nearly two kilometres in total strike length and up to 400 metres wide. The northeast trend appears to reflect the aforementioned fault that is spatially related to gold mineralization. The results of a magnetic survey flown over the property indicate that this trend continues to the northeast and also that several parallel features exist on the property. As no exploration has yet been conducted on these other trends, it is possible that they could reflect similar gold mineralized systems.
The Prospect Valley Gold Project is only 30km south of the world class Highland Valley Copper Mine, and sits within a complex tectonic zone that contains numerous deep-seated structures that could have provided the plumbing systems for mineralizing fluids. In many regions of the world, it is common to getlarge deposits of varying commodities occurring in near proximity to one another when the geological environment is sufficiently complex. High grade gold veins are known in the Prospect Valley area yet it is believed that this part of southern BC has not been explored for a low grade, bulk mineable epithermal gold system.
The Qualified Person for this news release is Mr. Warner Gruenwald, P.Geo. and VP Exploration for Altair Ventures Inc.
Altair has an option to earn up to a 90% interest in the 107.9 sq km Prospect Valley Property, situated within the Spences Bridge Gold Belt, approximately 3 hours driving time from Vancouver and one hour west of Merritt, BC.
For further information please contact Fayyaz Alimohamed at (604) 641-1305, fax at (604) 688-8309 or e-mail [email protected]
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD
“Fayyaz Alimohamed”
Fayyaz Alimohamed, President & CEO
