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TORONTO, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Sept. 9, 2011) – QUEENSTON MINING INC. (TSX:QMI)(FRANKFURT:QMI) (“Queenston” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce an initial mineral resource estimate on the 100% owned Amalgamated Kirkland (“AK”) property located in Teck Township near Kirkland Lake, Ontario. The mineral resource estimate was prepared in accordance with NI 43-101 by Dave Gamble Geoservices Inc., of Kirkland Lake, Ontario and incorporates 36 new surface diamond drill holes (18,510 m) and 98 historic holes (10,988 m) completed by previous operators Battle Mountain (Canada), Golden Dragon, Cyprus Minerals and Queenston prior to the 2010-1011 current and ongoing drilling program.
Indicated and inferred mineral resources have been determined in six, vertically dipping gold zones that extend along the Battle Mountain – Cyprus Break for 1,100 m and to a depth of 585 m. The zones remain open horizontally along strike and vertically to depth. Drilling continues to test the AK deposit up-dip towards surface and below 600 m.
Highlights
Charles Page, Queenston president and CEO, said, “We are pleased with the mineral resource defined at the AK gold deposit. The deposit was originally discovered in 1990 and after a number of drilling campaigns the current program has confirmed continuity and defined a primary core of the deposit that remains open. The new resource at AK adds to the Company’s total NI 43-101 resource base where our combined measured and indicated resources have grown to 7.7 million tonnes grading 5.61 g/t (1.39 million oz) and inferred resources to 11.3 million t grading 5.30 g/t (1.92 million oz)”.
The AK property was originally operated under joint venture with Battle Mountain Canada who completed geophysics, trenching and diamond drilling that led to the discovery of the AK gold deposit in 1990. In 1993 Cyprus Canada optioned the property, completed further diamond drilling and outlined a non-compliant NI 43-101 mineral resource of 1,800,000 t grading 5.5 g/t Au. In 1996 Queenston regained full title of the property and formed a joint venture with Franco Nevada Mining Corporation who later merged to form Newmont Mining Corporation. In 2002 Queenston purchased Newmont’s interest in the property and completed further drilling.
The AK deposit consists of lode-style gold mineralization hosted by altered and pyritic Timiskaming volcanic rocks. The deposit strikes 070º, dips vertically to steeply south and exhibits a westerly plunge. Gold mineralization is developed in 6 zones related to the Battle Mountain – Cyprus Break. The core of the deposit is the AKB and AKC zones that host approximately 90% of the mineral resource where mineralization is characterized by cream to blue-grey coloured, brecciated and “wormy”, quartz-ankerite veins and stockwork which contain up to 10% fine-grained pyrite and locally lesser amounts of galena, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, molybenite and visible gold.
| Table 1: AK Mineral Resource(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7) | ||||||
| Zone | INDICATED (cut) | INFERRED (cut) | ||||
| Tonnes | Au (g/t) | Au (oz) | Tonnes | Au (g/t) | Au (oz) | |
| AKB | 227,000 | 4.00 | 29,000 | 326,000 | 4.07 | 43,000 |
| AKC | 840,000 | 4.67 | 126,000 | 962,000 | 4.44 | 137,000 |
| AKD | 21,000 | 2.57 | 2,000 | 40,000 | 2.44 | 3,000 |
| AKE | 22,000 | 3.33 | 2,000 | 66,000 | 3.33 | 7,000 |
| AKF | 35,000 | 4.53 | 5,000 | 89,000 | 4.78 | 14,000 |
| AKG | 47,000 | 2.09 | 3,000 | |||
| TOTAL | 1,145,000 | 4.47 | 164,000 | 1,530,000 | 4.21 | 207,000 |
| (1) | Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The estimate of mineral resources may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, taxation, socio-political, marketing, or other relevant issues. |
| (2) | The quantity and grade of reported Inferred resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these Inferred resources as an Indicated or Measured mineral resource and it is uncertain if further exploration will result in upgrading them to an Indicated or Measured mineral resource category. |
| (3) | The mineral resources in this press release were estimated using the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM), CIM Standards on Mineral Resources and Reserves, Definitions and Guidelines prepared by the CIM Standing Committee on Reserve Definitions and adopted by CIM Council. |
| (4) | Grade capping of 50 g/t was utilized on raw assays. |
| (5) | A bulk density of 2.89 t/m3 was used for all tonnage calculations. |
| (6) | A gold price of US$1,200/oz and an exchange rate of US$0.95US=C$1.00 was utilized in the Au cut-off grade calculations of 2.0 g/t. Underground mining costs were assumed at C$50/t, with process costs of C$20/t and G&A of C$5/t. Process recovery was assumed at 95%. |
| (7) | Values in the table may differ due to rounding. |
The uncapped indicated resource totals 1,145,000 t grading 4.65 g/t (172,000 oz) and the uncapped inferred resource totals 1,530,000 t grading 4.38 g/t (215,000 oz) which represents only a 4% difference compared to the capped resource. This minor grade variability indicates the uniform nature of the gold mineralization within the deposit.
Qualified Persons
The mineral resource estimate was completed by David Gamble, P.Geo., a Qualified Person under NI 43-101. The NI 43-101 technical report on the mineral resource estimate will be filed on SEDAR within 45 days of this news release. Mr Gamble has reviewed the contents of this press release.
Quality Control
The AK project is supervised by David Gamble, P. Geo., a consultant to Queenston. A detailed review of Queenston’s QA/QC procedures is filed in the 2010 Annual Information Form on SEDAR. The drill core is logged and split with half-core samples shipped to Swastika Laboratories of Swastika, Ontario and analyzed employing the appropriate gold fire assaying technique. For QA/QC purposes the Company as well as the lab inserts standards and blanks for every 25 samples submitted. Approximately 5% of sample rejects and/or pulps are sent to other laboratories for check assaying.
This news release was reviewed by Queenston’s Vice President Exploration and QP, William McGuinty, P.Geo.
About Queenston
Queenston is a Canadian mineral exploration and development company with a primary focus on its holdings in the historic Kirkland Lake gold camp that comprises 230 km². Late in 2010 the Company entered into a strategic alliance with Agnico-Eagle Mines Limited with the objective of advancing its key, 100% owned gold projects (Upper Beaver, Upper Canada, McBean, Anoki and Bidgood) at the Kirkland East project towards feasibility and ultimately production. The Company has cash of approximately $65 million no debt and a fiscal 2011 exploration budget of $25 million. NI 43-101 technical reports for the mineral resources are filed on SEDAR or available on the Company’s web site.
