Balmoral's Area 51 Gold System I.P. Program Commences, Detour Gold Trend Project, Quebec

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 16, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Balmoral Resources Ltd. (“Balmoral” or the “Company”) (TSX: BAR; OTCQX: BALMF) announces that it has commenced its largest ground geophysical survey in over four years, targeting the Area 51 gold system on its wholly-owned Fenelon Property in Quebec. The Fenelon Property forms part of the Company’s district-scale Detour Gold Trend Project in Quebec.

Balmoral’s Detour Gold Trend Project adjoins the holdings of Detour Gold Corp. - the subject of a pending $4.5+ billion takeover offer^* - on its western end, controls the largely untested extensions of the rapidly expanding Area 51 gold system (see Figure 1), and features Balmoral’s wholly-owned, resource-stage Martiniere gold and Grasset nickel deposits.

Area 51 – Fenelon Induced Polarity Survey

The I.P. survey currently underway on Balmoral’s Fenelon Property will provide first-pass coverage of the untested Area 50 and Area 51 West exploration targets. It will also add to the existing I.P. coverage of the Area 52 target (see Figure 1). The latter target area has been confirmed to host both the southern continuation of the Area 51 gold system (see NR19-17, Sept. 16, 2019) and Balmoral’s recent high-grade Ripley Zone gold discovery (see NR19-26, Dec. 4, 2019). 

In total Balmoral plans to complete a minimum of 46 line kilometres of surveying. Results from the initial phase of I.P. work in Area 52 proved effective for targeting both A51 style sulphide-rich and more “classic” shear zone hosted gold mineralization, as evidenced by the Ripley discovery.

Several I.P. targets remain untested from the first-pass survey at Area 52, and these have been permitted for drilling. Permitting will continue as results are received from the current program with the goal of having drill targets permitted and prioritized shortly after the surveying is completed. Commencement of drill testing would then be planned for early in the first quarter of 2020 and would carry on through the winter months with the full extent of the drill program to be determined by results.

To date well over 500 drill holes have been drilled testing the Fenelon-Area 51 gold system on the adjacent Fenelon Mine Property. Only 16 drill holes have tested the three target areas on Balmoral’s much larger Fenelon property, with 14 of the 16 holes having returned gold mineralization.

“We have only just begun to scratch the surface on the potential of the Area 51 gold system at Fenelon,” said Darin Wagner, President and CEO of Balmoral Resources “With geophysical surveying underway, data arriving daily, funds in place, and drilling set to commence in the next few weeks we are looking to continue to build on the positive momentum along the Detour Gold Trend.”

* See Detour Gold Corporation News Release dated November 25, 2019 at www.detourgold.com for details

Qualified Person and Quality Control

Mr. Michael Tucker (P. Geo. B.C., Ont. and Temporary Permit, Que.), Exploration Manager for the Company, is the non-independent qualified person for the technical disclosure contained within this release. Mr. Tucker supervised the recent Area 52 drill program described herein and has worked on the Fenelon property since 2014. Mr. Tucker has reviewed and approved of the technical information contained within this release.

Balmoral has implemented a quality control program for all of its drill programs, to ensure best practice in the sampling and analysis of the drill core, which includes the insertion of blind blanks, duplicates and certified standards into sample stream. NQ sized drill core is saw cut with half of the drill core sampled at intervals based on geological criteria including lithology, visual mineralization and alteration. The remaining half of the core is stored on-site at the Company’s Val d’Or field office in Quebec. Drill core samples are transported in sealed bags to ALS Minerals’ Val d’Or, Quebec analytical facilities. Gold analyses are obtained via industry standard fire assay with atomic absorption finish using 30 g aliquots. For samples returning greater than 5.00 g/t gold follow-up fire assay analysis with a gravimetric finish is completed. The Company has also requested that any samples returning greater than 10.00 g/t gold undergo screen metallic fire assay. Following receipt of assays, visual analysis of mineralized intercepts is conducted and additional analysis may be requested. ALS Minerals is ISO 9001:2008 certified and the Val d’Or facilities are ISO 17025 certified for gold analysis.

About Balmoral Resources Ltd. – www.balmoralresources.com

Balmoral is a multi-award winning Canadian-focused exploration company actively exploring a portfolio of gold and base metal properties located within the prolific Abitibi greenstone belt. The Company’s flagship, 1,000 km² Detour Gold Trend Project hosts the resource-stage Bug and Martiniere West gold deposits and the Grasset nickel-copper-cobalt-PGE deposit. Employing a drill-focused exploration style in one of the world’s preeminent mining jurisdictions, Balmoral is following an established formula with a goal of maximizing shareholder value through the discovery and definition of high-grade, Canadian gold and base metal assets.

On behalf of the board of directors of
BALMORAL RESOURCES LTD.

“Darin Wagner”

President and CEO

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, “forward looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities laws.  All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including statements regarding the anticipated content, commencement, duration and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program results, the potential continuation of certain geological features, and the potentially discoveries of mineralization on the properties are forward-looking statements.  Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believes, may, could, expects, planned, appears to, potential, anticipates, intends, estimate, postulate and similar expressions or are those which, by their nature, refer to future events.  Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.  The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual events and results to differ materially from the Company’s expectations include those related to weather, equipment and staff availability; performance of third parties; timing of receipt of assay results from third party analytical facilities; risks related to the exploration stage of the Company’s projects; market fluctuations in prices for securities of exploration stage companies and in commodity prices; and uncertainties about the availability of additional financing; risks related to the Company’s ability to identify one or more economic deposits on the properties, and variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located on the properties; risks related to the Company’s ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities on the properties; and risks related to the Company’s ability to produce minerals from the properties successfully or profitably.  Trading in the securities of the Company should be considered highly speculative. All of the Company’s public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including the latest technical reports filed with respect to the Company’s mineral properties.

This news release contains information with respect to adjacent or similar mineral properties in respect of which the Company has no interest or rights to explore or mine. Readers are cautioned that the Company has no interest in or right to acquire any interest in any such properties, and that mineral deposits on adjacent or similar properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on the Company’s properties.

This press release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c4b96565-90e4-4eca-bde1-60bcb72904cd

Figure 1

Area 51 Gold System 2019-2020 IP Survey, Fenelon Property