CRANBROOK, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. (EPL:TSX-V) and Excelsior Mining
Corp. (TSX-V:MIN.P) have entered into an option agreement on Eagle
Plains' 100% owned Wildhorse project located 40km north of
Cranbrook, B.C. Under the terms of the Agreement, Excelsior may earn a
70% interest in the property by completing $3,000,000 in exploration
expenditures, making $250,000 in cash payments and issuing 1,000,000
shares to EPL over 4 years. Upon Excelsior exercising its option, a
60/40 joint venture between Excelsior and Eagle Plains will be formed.
The Option Agreement
Under the terms of the Option Agreement, Excelsior has an option (the “Option”)
to earn a 60% interest in the Property which may be exercised by:
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Making cash payments to Eagle Plains totaling $250,000 over four years;
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Issuing a total of 1,000,000 Excelsior common shares to Eagle Plains
over a period of four years; and
-
Incurring exploration expenditures totaling $3,000,000 over four years.
Excelsior has an option to earn an additional 10% interest (the “Additional
Option”), thereby increasing its total interest in the Property to
70%, which may be exercised by:
-
Exercising the Option;
-
Issuing a total of 300,000 Excelsior common shares to Eagle Plains; and
-
Incurring exploration expenditures totaling $1,000,000.
Excelsior has been appointed as the operator of the Property and has the
exclusive and sole responsibility of administering and carrying out the
exploration programs on the Property. The Option Agreement includes
standard representations and warranties, termination provisions and a
three kilometre area of interest. Additionally, the parties have agreed
that upon Excelsior exercising the Option to earn a 60% interest, a
joint venture will be deemed to have automatically formed and the
parties will negotiate in good faith to enter into a formal joint
venture agreement.
The property consists of 355 ha located along the Wildhorse River in
southeastern British Columbia, the site of BC's third-largest gold rush
in the latter part of the 1800's. Placer gravels yielded more than
1,000,000 ounces of gold, with active placer operations in place today
along the river.
A number of high-grade mineral occurrences are present on the property:
Dardenelles (gold):
Historically this area was known as the Dardenelles and Motherlode Crown
grants which were surveyed by the Crown in 1898. An arrastra (mill) was
built on nearby Victoria Creek to process gold-bearing massive quartz
from two adits drifted on the Dardenelles claim at the end of the
nineteenth century. A 95t bulk-sample of vein material was completed in
1975, returning 14.4 g/t (0.463 oz/t) average grade.
Eagle Plains in 2008 completed a 9-hole, 731m diamond drilling program
designed to expand the known dimensions of the vein system. Drilling
extended the known vein system both laterally and to depth.
Tit for Tat (gold):
Located approximately 800m south of the Dardenelles occurrence, high
grade vein mineralization has been reported, with gold values ranging
from trace to a high of 41.5g/t (1.334 oz/t) over widths up to 0.5m
reported by past operators.
Copper Creek (sedimentary copper-silver)
Quartzite-hosted sedimentary copper-silver mineralization has been
reported in rocks age-equivalent to those which host the Spar Lake and
Montanore deposits located near Troy, Montana. During the 1970s, the
Spar Lake mine produced 44 million tons of ore grading .74% copper and
53 g/t silver. Sampling of disseminated copper-silver mineralization in
the Copper Creek area returned 5185ppm Cu and 40 g/t Ag (widths unknown).
About Eagle Plains Resources
Eagle Plains continues to conduct research, acquire and explore metal
projects in western Canada. In addition to holding mining royalties on
various projects, the Company controls over 35 gold, base-metal and
uranium projects, several with third parties including Swift
Resources Inc. (TSX-V:SWR), Prize Mining Corp. (TSX-V:PRZ), Waterloo
Resources Ltd. (TSX-V:WAT.P), Touchdown Capital Inc. (TSX-V: TDW) and 99
Capital Corp. (TSX-V:WDG). In recent years, Eagle Plains has
completed option agreements with Teck Limited (TSX:TCK.B), Alexco
Resource Corp. (TSX-V:AXR), Billiton Metals, Rio Algom Exploration,
NovaGold Resources, Kennecott Exploration and numerous other junior
exploration companies, resulting in over 53,600m (163,370') of drilling
and over $28.3 million in exploration spending on its projects since
1998.
Expenditures during 2008 and 2009 on Eagle Plains' projects were
approximately $7,300,000, funded by Eagle Plains and third party
partners. This work resulted in approximately 6,900m of drilling and
extensive ground-based exploration work and facilitated the advancement
of numerous projects at various stages of development.
This news release has been reviewed and approved by Tim J. Termuende,
P.Geo., hereby designated as a qualified person under National
Instrument 43-101.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Signed,
“Tim J. Termuende”
President and CEO
For further information, please contact Mike Labach at 1 866 HUNT ORE
(486 8673)
Email: mgl@eagleplains.com
or visit our website at http://www.eagleplains.com
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news
release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited
to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs,
geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential
mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address
future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and
uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently
anticipated in such statements.