VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwire) -- 01/09/12 -- Rye Patch Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: RPM)(OTCQX: RPMGF) ("Rye Patch" or the "Company") through its wholly owned subsidiary Rye Patch Gold US Inc. reports assay results from the Company's 100% owned LH Claims, Rochester property, located on the Oreana trend. The property covers lands located between the Company's Lincoln Hill project to the west of the Rochester Mine, on lands around the northern, western and eastern portions of Coeur d'Alene Mine's (NYSE: CDE)(TSX: CDM) active Rochester open pit silver mine, and on lands surrounding the Packard open pit silver mine south of the Rochester Mine. The LH Claims also cover portions of the Black Fault zone to the east.
HIGHLIGHTS:
-- Five new discovery areas identified - Northwest Rochester, Mystic,
Limerick Basin, Independence Hill, and Black Fault;
-- Average assay gold and silver grade of 457 rock-chip channel samples
greater than the average gold and silver grades being mined at the
Rochester Mine open pit;
-- Mystic Breccia zone is a series of high-grade gold and silver breccias
with an average grade of 0.266 g/t Au and 290.2 g/t Ag; and
-- Drilling is planned to begin on the Mystic and Northwest Rochester
targets in late January.
The Oreana trend includes three active mines and three advance stage exploration properties. The mines are Relief Canyon, Rochester, and Packard Mines, and the advance projects are Wilco, Lincoln Hill and Spring Valley. Rye Patch Gold controls over 100 square kilometres along the trend.
"Rye Patch is excited by the initial assay results which constitute five new discovery areas. The assays demand immediate follow up, and at the Mystic and Northwest Rochester targets, drilling. Our geologic team continues to explore and develop the discoveries. Permitting is in process and drilling will commence in late January," stated William C. Howald, President and CEO of Rye Patch Gold Corp.
Based on the initial Phase-1 rock-chip sampling program, the Company has located 5 targets that returned ore-grade gold and silver assays. The targets are the: Northwest Rochester, Independence Hill, Limerick Basin, Mystic, and Black Fault regions. Targets were selected as a corollary to the striking gold and silver values returned from Phase-1 sampling assay results. These new discoveries warrant immediate follow-up, and drilling permit applications are in process with the goal of drilling to commence in late January. Table 1 summarizes the results by target area.
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Table 1: Rye Patch Gold US Inc. Rochester Target Summary Assay Statistics
(1)
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Silver
Gold assay Silver assay assay
Gold assay range average range average
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# of
Target Samples Opt Ppm opt ppm opt ppm opt ppm
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Northwest 0.0025- 0.015- 0.5-
Rochester 43 0-0.018 0.613 0.002 0.08 17.39 596.2 1.0 33.4
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Mystic 0.0025- 0.003- 0.1-
57 0-0.04 1.3 0.004 0.133 55.3 1896.6 4.2 143.3
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Mystic Breccia 0.09- 0.006- 0.2-
zone (2) 27 0.002-0.04 1.33 0.008 0.266 55.3 1896.6 8.5 290.2
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Limerick Basin 0.0025- 0.006- 0.2-
11 0-0.086 2.94 0.015 0.504 78.61 2695.7 7.3 251.2
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Independence 0.0025- 0.006-
Hill 26 0-0.255 9.1 0.014 0.481 7.15 0.2-244 1.1 38.2
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Black Fault 0.0025- 0.001- 0.05-
32 0-0.001 0.062 0.000 0.01 0.522 17.9 0.1 2.8
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(1) Based on November and December 2011 sampling and fire assay results
(2) Mystic Breccia Zone is apart of the Mystic Target
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NORTHWEST ROCHESTER
The Northwest Rochester target is comprised of altered rhyolite host rocks similar to those found at the Lincoln Hill deposit and the Rochester and Packard mines. Within the rhyolite package, a geologic contact is highly altered and is known for strong silver and gold mineralization in the Rochester open pit. There are several ore projections trending sub-parallel to the Oreana Trend northeast, and from the Rochester pit toward the northwest. The LH claims cover the north and northwest portions of the Rochester open pit - making the Northwest Rochester target a particularly exciting prospect. The Company's phase-1 sampling program yielded average assay grade of 0.08 g/t Au and 33.4 g/t Ag. The highest samples returned assays grading 0.613 g/t Au and 596.2 g/t Ag.
MYSTIC
The Mystic target is located immediately adjacent and north of the Packard open pit mine. The Mystic target is a swarm of breccia zones trending northeast directly toward the Rochester Mine open pit. The Mystic target has the highest average silver assays of all of the new Rye Patch discoveries on the Rochester Property. The highest silver assay is 1,896.6 g/t Ag, with an overall average grade of 0.133 g/t Au and 143.3 g/t Ag based on 57 rock-chip channel samples. The Mystic breccia zone shows the highest grades in gold and silver. The breccia zone is defined by a series of northeast oriented structural zones covering 1,000 metres wide by 3,000 metre long zone. The Mystic zone trends northeast toward the Rochester open pit. Average grade in the Mystic breccia zone is almost double the average for the entire Mystic target, with 0.266 g/t Au and 290.2 g/t Ag based on the 27 rock-chip channel samples collected in the breccia zone.
LIMERICK BASIN
The Limerick Basin target is 1.5 km northwest of the Rochester pit and approximately 3.5 km northeast of Lincoln Hill. Limerick Basin includes the historic Plainview mines located on the eastern edge of the target. Plainview, predominantly mined for silver, produced silver and gold from intrusive dikes and breccia zones similar to the Company's 100% controlled Lincoln Hill project. Rye Patch's highest silver assay from the Phase-1 sampling program was taken from the southwestern edge of the Limerick Basin target. The sample yielded assays grading 2.06 g/t Au and 2,695.7 g/t Ag. The average assay grade for all of Limerick Basin is 0.504 g/t Au and 251.2 g/t Ag.
INDEPENDENCE HILL
Independence Hill is adjacent to and borders the southern boundary of the Lincoln Hill project, and it is 2.5 kilometres west of the Rochester pit. Rochester Rhyolite underlies the target with northwest trending tourmaline-rich Lamprophyre dikes and breccia zones. These features are also found at the nearby Lincoln Hill project and are associated with higher gold and silver values. The Phase-1 sample program assays reinforce this occurrence of higher gold and silver anomalies associated with intrusive and fractured zones. Average assay grades in the Independence Hill region are 0.481 g/t Au and 38.2 g/t Ag, with the highest sample running 9.1 g/t Au and 244 g/t Ag.
BLACK FAULT
The Black Fault target, as the name indicates, is located along a major structure (Black Fault) immediately east of the Rochester and Packard pits. The Black Fault is a roughly north-south trending structure that is directly or closely related to the Rochester, Relief Canyon, and the Spring Valley mines. Major structures are often associated with high-grade mineralization, especially in Nevada. Furthermore, an exposed intrusive on the east boundary of the Black Fault, also known to be associated with mineralization in the Spring Valley deposit adds another layer of icing to the prospecting cake.
As a comparison of the phase-1, rock-chip program with current mining adjacent to the LH claims. Table 2 summarizes the average resource grades from nearby operating gold and silver mines with the assay results garnered from the Rye Patch phase-1 sampling program.
Table 2: Comparison of Rye Patch Gold Surface Assays and Adjacent Mine
Operations
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GOLD SILVER
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Areas opt g/t ppm ppb opt g/t ppm ppb
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Coeur Rochester (1) 0.005 0.171 0.171 171.45 0.570 19.545 19.545 19545
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Florida Canyon (2) 0.018 0.614 0.614 613.79 n/a n/a n/a n/a
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Hycroft (3) 0.013 0.446 0.446 445.70 0.293 10.047 10.047 10047
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Rye Patch Gold (4) 0.002 0.067 0.067 66.50 0.817 28.03 28.03 28030
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(1) Figures based on January 1,2011 Coeur Rochester Technical Report
(2) Figures based on October 19-20, 2002 GSN Fall Field Trip Guidebook
(3) Figures based on Allied Nevada November 07, 2011 3Q Report
(4) Figures based on Rye Patch Gold US INC November 19, - December 05, 2011
sampling (457 samples)
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The Rochester property covers 30.3 square kilometres (7,493.2 acres), and the District Court has enjoined the Company from conducting exploration activities on approximately 7.4 square kilometres (1,839.3 acres) in the immediate Rochester Mine area. It is the Company's position that the LH claims within the enjoined area are and continue to be valid senior unpatented mining claims containing up to 20% of Rochester's reserves and a significant portion of the known resource, based on Coeur's December 5, 2011, news release.
As announced on May 18, 2010, May 11, 2009, and June 2, 2009, in respect of the Lincoln Hill, Wilco, and Jessup projects, Rye Patch Gold's resource inventory along the Oreana trend now totals 1,182,780 ounces of gold and gold equivalent in the measured and indicated category plus 2,727,100 ounces of gold and gold equivalent in the inferred category. Table 3 summarizes Rye Patch Gold's precious metal inventory in Nevada, USA excluding any resources within the LH claims.
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Table 3: Rye Patch Gold's NI43-101 Resource Inventory(1)
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Contained
Gold Silver Contained Contained Gold & Gold
Resource Tonnes Grade Grade Gold Silver Equivalent
Property Category (X 1,000) (g/t) (g/t) Ounces Ounces Ounces (4)
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Wilco (2) Measured 7,526 0.69 4.595 164,000 1,111,000 186,220
Indicated 30,844 0.51 3.601 522,000 3,638,000 594,760
Inferred 121,838 0.41 5.075 1,660,000 19,871,000 2,057,420
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Jessup(2) Measured 7,775 0.51 8.745 128,000 2,184,000 171,680
Indicated 12,642 0.41 7.167 172,000 2,906,000 230,120
Inferred 4,494 0.55 7.922 77,000 1,146,000 99,920
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Lincoln Measured
Hill(3) - - - - - -
Indicated - - - - - -
Inferred 17,215 0.69 17.143 380,000 9,488,000 569,760
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Total Oreana Trend Measured & Indicated
Resources 986,000 9,839,000 1,182,780
Total Oreana Trend Inferred Resources 2,117,000 30,505,000 2,727,100
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(1) All resources on 100% basis. Metallurgical recoveries and net smelter
returns are assumed to be 100%. Conforms to 43-101 resource definitions;
(2) Cutoff grade for Wilco Measured and Indicated resource is reported at
0.2 g/t Au for oxide mineralisation and 1.45 g/t Au for sulphide
mineralisation. The Inferred resource cut-off grade is reported at 0.2 g/t
Au for oxide, sulphide and carbonaceous ore types; however, a higher opt
Au cut-off grade may be required to upgrade the inferred resource to the
measured and indicated resource category. Cut-off grade for Jessup is
reported at 0.2 g/t Au for oxide mineralisation and 0.34 g/t Au for
transition and sulphide mineralisation; and
(3) The Inferred resource is reported at a cut-off grade of 0.34 g/t (0.01
opt) Aueq for oxide and transitional ore types;
(4) Wilco, Jessup and Lincoln Hill resources includes Au equivalent ounces
(Aueq.); where Aueq. = (Au ozs) + (Ag ozs X $Ag/oz)/$Au/oz, for Au/oz =
$1,200, and Ag/oz = $24.
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Mr. William Howald, AIPG Certified Professional Geologist #11041, Rye Patch Gold's CEO and President, is a Qualified Person as defined under National Instrument 43-101. He has verified the information contained in, and has reviewed and approved the contents of, this news release.
Rye Patch Gold Corp. is exploring well-known mineral trends in Nevada - the world's fourth-richest gold region. Starting with 150,000 inferred ounces of gold in mid-2007, this well-funded Company now has 1.2-million ounces of gold and gold equivalent in the measured and indicated category, plus 2.7-million ounces of gold and gold equivalent in the inferred category (see Rye Patch's news releases dated May 18, 2010, May 11, 2009, and June 2, 2009). Rye Patch Gold is a Tier 1, Nevada-focused and discovery-driven company seeking to build a sizeable inventory of gold and silver resource assets in the mining friendly state of Nevada, USA. The Company's seasoned management team is engaged in acquisition, exploration, and development of quality resource-based gold and silver projects. Rye Patch Gold is developing gold and silver resources along the emerging Oreana trend, located in west-central Nevada, and is exploring 66 square kilometres along the Cortez trend near Barrick's two new gold discoveries. The Company has established gold and silver resource milestones and time frames in order to build a premier resource development company. For more information about Rye Patch Gold, please visit our website at www.ryepatchgold.com.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
William C. (Bill) Howald, CEO & President
This news release contains forward-looking statements, which address future events and conditions, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual results, programs and financial position could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of numerous factors, some of which may be beyond the Company's control. These factors include: the availability of funds, the financial position of Rye Patch to pursue legal undertakings; the outcome of legal action relating to the Rochester property and the LH unpatented claims, the timing and content of work programs; results of exploration activities and development of mineral properties, the interpretation of drilling results and other geological data, the uncertainties of resource and reserve estimations, receipt and security of mineral property titles; project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses, fluctuations in metal prices; currency fluctuations; and general market and industry conditions. Litigation is inherently uncertain and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include unexpected judicial findings of fact, previously unknown facts arising, and decisions which depart from past legal precedent and similar events.
Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements.
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Rye Patch Gold Corp.
(604) 638-1588
(604) 638-1589 (FAX)
info@ryepatchgold.com
www.ryepatchgold.com
