LATEEGRA DEFINES SEVERAL GOLD TARGETS ON THE EL CONDOR
PROJECT, SOUTHEASTERN ECUADOR
January 18, 2007 – Vancouver, B.C.: Lateegra Gold Corp.
is pleased to report completion of the first phase of exploration at
the El Condor Concession, Southeastern Ecuador.
Results have yielded 8 anomalous zones consistent with
the geochemical signatures of other recent discoveries nearby, including
that of Aurelian Resources at Fruta del Norte. Initial work consisted
of geological mapping, regional stream sediment sampling and both rock
and soil sampling blanketing its wholly owned 243 hectare concession,
located immediately south of and on trend with Aurelian Resources world
class discovery.
Chris Verrico, CEO and Director of Lateegra states “The
initial exploration results are extremely encouraging, generating multiple
exploration targets in a world class district.
The discovery of the nearby Fruta del Norte Deposit
was no accident, but rather the consequence of aggressive exploration
resulting in the discovery of a large buried epithermal system. Dr.
Sillitoe’s recent work for Aurelain Resources at Fruta del Norte will
assist the understanding of the exploration on the El Condor concession
immensely.
Lateegra plans to explore these anomalies aggressively.”
The highlights of the work show a large 19 hectare arsenic and antimony
anomaly on the southern portion of the property. Dr. Richard Sillitoe
states in his report “Comments on Geology and Potential of the Fruta
del Norte Epithermal Gold Prospect, Ecuador, July 2006” prepared for
Aurelian Resources (see Stockwatch, Aurelian Resources news release
August 23rd, 2006) that “If the coherent arsenic and antimony anomalies
in conglomerate that help to define the corridor south of Fruta del
Norte are interpreted as upward leakage from blind gold mineralization,
as they have been shown to be at Fruta del Norte, then additional epithermal
gold mineralization may already have been located."
Dr. Sillitoe further notes that “The arsenic and antimony
anomalies located south of Fruta de Norte are thought to merit immediate
scout drill testing in search of blind gold mineralization in the underlying
andesitic volcanic sequence.”
Furthermore at El Condor, a large Gold – Copper anomaly
covering an area of 15 hectares is located in the north central region
of the property immediately south of Aurelian’s El Tigre anomaly. First
phase work by Lateegra consisted of stream sediment sampling while establishing
a grid for sample and mapping control comprising over 26 kilometers
of cut lines spaced 100 meters apart. Nine hundred and seventy one (971)
soil samples were then collected at 25 meter intervals and analyzed
utilizing MMI (Metal Mobile Ion) Technology® at ALS-Chemex laboratories.
MMI Process® was utilized for its demonstrated superior
performance throughout the diverse suite of mineralization hosted in
these tropical environments. In comparison with conventional techniques,
MMI produces a better focus for follow-up exploration by detecting mobile
ions weakly attached to soil particles emanating vertically above the
oxidizing mineralization.
Mobile Metal Ion analyses are expressed as concentrations
just like results from a conventional soil survey. However, Wamtech
Pty. Ltd, the developers of MMI Technology®, report that “… to facilitate
multi-element interpretation of MMI analytical data, it is recommended
that for each element, a background for the data is calculated, using
(say) the lowest quartile of the data.
Then a peak to background ratio (Response Ratio) is
calculated for each element for each sample…”
1. The resulting unitless value, called Response Ratio
(“RR”), quantifies sample enrichment with respect to the background.
For example, the concentration of a sample with a Response Ratio of
35 is 35 times higher than the background concentration. The following
table lists the El Condor background concentrations for the elements
reported herein
2: Element Background Concentration (PPB) Gold 0.2 Copper
111 Silver 1.8 Arsenic 3.4 Antimony 0.8 Molybdenum 2.5 Table 1. El Condor
background concentrations used to calculate Response Ratios. Resulting
analysis defined eight anomalous areas
3 within the property as describe below (for brevity
only the strongest Response Ratios are reported): Anomalous Zone 1 (AZ1)
located in the northwest corner of the property covers five (5) hectares
and shows a strong gold (RR=35), copper (RR=136 & 70) and molybdenum
(RR=66 & 54) anomaly. Anomalous Zone 2 (AZ2) located on the southwest
portion of the property shows strongly anomalous gold (RR=35 & 24),
silver (RR=38) , and arsenic (RR=245 & 73) . Anomalous Zone 3 (AZ3)
located 600 meters east of AZ1 covers approximately two and half (2.5)
hectares showing an anomaly consisting mainly of copper (RR=131 & 108).
Anomalous Zone 4 (AZ4) located 300 meters south of AZ3 covers an area
of five (5) hectares consisting mainly of gold (RR=31 & 30), silver
(RR=47) and molybdenum (RR=107, 100 & 96). Anomalous Zone 5 (AZ5) located
in the south central region of the property covers seven (7) hectares
characterized by anomalous gold (RR=26), copper (RR=103, 63 & 60) and
silver (RR=35). Anomalous Zone 6 (AZ6) flanking AZ4 and AZ5 this large,
approx., nineteen (19) hectares arsenic (RR=452, 278, 177 & 128) and
antimony (RR=92, 92, 87 & 77) anomaly potentially indicates a large
buried epithermal system. Anomalous Zone 7 (AZ7) located approx. 800
meters to the east of AZ6 consists of a north-south trending arsenic
(RR=89) anomaly 250 meters in length. Anomalous Zone 8 (AZ8) is the
largest and strongest gold (RR=45) and copper (RR=98, 76 & 75) anomaly
on the property. Located in the north central region, due south from
Aurelian’s El Tigre anomaly, is 1400 meters northwest of AZ6. This anomaly
covers over fifteen (15) hectares yielding the strongest gold value
on the property. Stream sediment sampling has also detected several
gold anomalies confirming the existence of nearby gold mineralization.
The technical information in this news release has been reviewed by,
Jeffrey Reeder, P.Geo. and Luc Pigeon, P.Geo both Qualified Persons
as defined in national policy 43-101.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
"Chris Verrico", CEO and Director MMI Manual for Mobile
Metal Ion Geochemical Soil Surveys, Version 5.04, Copyright © Wamtech
Pty. Ltd. 2004. Background concentrations and Response Ratios were determined
using the statistical procedures discussed in the “MMI Manual for Mobile
Metal Ion Geochemical Soil Surveys, Version 5.04, Copyright © Wamtech
Pty. Ltd. 2004”. Anomalous Zones (AZ) are defined as areas containing
samples with a marked enrichment of one or more element compared to
the background concentrations of the property.
