VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct. 24, 2008) - Lori McClenahan, President of St. Elias Mines Ltd. ("St. Elias" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SLI)(FRANKFURT:EKL)(U.S. CLEARING SYMBOL:SELSF), is pleased to provide the following update regarding the Jales/Gralheira Gold Property (the "Property") located in northern Portugal. St. Elias owns a 51% interest in the Property and Kernow Resources & Developments Ltd. ("Kernow") owns a 49% interest in the Property.
Jales/Gralheira Gold Property, Portugal
In January 2008 (see News Release dated January 18, 2008), St. Elias and Kernow received a resource report entitled "A Report on the Mineral Assets of the Gralheira Gold-Silver property, Portugal" prepared by Wardell Armstrong International Ltd. (WAI) of Cornwall, U.K. The report estimated the following gold and silver resources at the Property:
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Gold Silver
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3.0 g/t cut off
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Classification Tonnes g/t ounces Tonnes g/t ounces
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Measured 30,000 5.92 5,768 30,000 29.8 29,067
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Indicated 569,000 5.24 95,825 569,000 22.8 417,500
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Measured & Indicated 599,000 5.27 101,593 599,000 23.18 446,567
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Inferred 975,000 4.72 142,972 975,000 15.0 483,621
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Ongoing Developments
In accordance with the Experimental Mining License through which the Property is held, St. Elias and Kernow have taken a 1.0 tonne sample of vein and gangue material from the existing adit. The sample will be treated at the Portuguese State run metallurgical laboratory in Porto with the objective of applying prior metallurgical knowledge to a large sample.
In addition, St. Elias and Kernow have mobilized a drilling rig to the property which will drill a limited number of important holes designed to reclassify Inferred Resources as Indicated Resources by decreasing the distance between known pierce points in the vein system.
A Brief history of the Jales Complex.
Jales/Gralheira Gold Property covers approximately 1,250 acres (500 hectares) and is located in northern Portugal. The Property includes the Jales Mine, which produced about 830,000 ounces of gold in ore grading up to 12.9 g/t gold between 1933 to 1992. It also covers the Gralheira Gold and Silver deposit, which has been explored by drilling, 126 drill holes (completed to a maximum depth of 511 m (metres)) over a strike length of 2,700 m, underground sampling from a 350 m long adit and 200 m of crosscuts, and a TITAN24 IP/Resistivity geophysical survey.
Qualified Person
The data contained in this News Release has been reviewed and verified by Duncan Bain, M.Sc., P.Geo., a "qualified person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects of the Canadian securities administrators.
For additional information on St. Elias and its projects, please visit us at www.steliasmines.com or call 1-888-895-5522 (toll free US and Canada).
ST. ELIAS MINES LTD.
Lori McClenahan, President
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, 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 statement.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or the accuracy of the contents of this document.