Vancouver, BC -- Roughrider Exploration Limited (TSX-V: REL) ("Roughrider" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that further to its news release dated June 24, 2020, it has signed a definitive agreement ("Empire Option Agreement") on the Empire Mine Property, located on northern Vancouver Island, B.C. The Company also announces that it has completed initial exploration sampling work on the Empire Mine Property.
Adam Travis, CEO and Director comments, "I am pleased that we were able to finalize a definitive agreement on the Empire Mine Property and complete a small exploration sampling program as part of our due diligence. Now that we have signed the definitive agreement, our team will be working on First Nation consultations and drill permitting. We eagerly await the results of our initial sampling that was focused outside the historical resource published by Grand Portage in 2008 as an early indication of exploration potential along trend of this resource. We were also able to conduct a 474 line kilometre airborne survey over our Scottie West Property thanks to the help of our friends at Scottie Resources."
Empire Mine Property (Northern Vancouver Island)
Empire Mine Property
- The Empire Mine Property is an exploration stage property comprised of 23 mineral claims and 57 fee simple crown grants covering approximately 15,000 hectares that is easily accessed through a large network of forest service roads with elevations ranging from 100 metres ("m") to 1370 m thus providing for near year round exploration.
- The Empire Mine Property covers 22 mineral occurrences, including 3 past producing open pit and two underground past producing mines for magnetite, copper, gold, and silver.
- Historical measured and indicated resource of 960,000 tonnes at 2.03 g/t gold, 5.64 g/t silver, 0.34% copper, 0.013% cobalt and 16.1% iron using a 0.50 g/t gold cut-off completed November 30, 2008 by Gary Giroux. The resource was noted as open to depth and no further work on the resource has been completed since 2008 (1, 2).
Definitive Agreement
Under the terms of the Empire Option Agreement, Roughrider can acquire a 100% interest in the Empire Mine Property from Mirva Properties Ltd. ("Mirva") by making aggregate cash payments of $1,250,000, issuing 3,000,000 common shares of the Company and undertaking work commitments totaling $2,000,000 over a five (5) year period, including making an initial cash payment of $50,000 and issuing 200,000 common shares of the Company upon receiving final TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") approval. Mirva will retain a 2% NSR on the Property of which 1% may be purchased for $1,000,000 at any time up to 120 days after commencement of commercial production. The agreement was structured such that this NSR plus all other NSRs which may currently exist and be payable on the Empire Mine Property do not exceed in aggregate 2.5% before buydowns.
The Empire Option Agreement is subject to TSX-V approval and all shares issued under the Empire Option Agreement will be subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from the date of issuance.
Exploration Program
Roughrider completed a small exploration program on the Empire Mine Property which consisted of the collection of 251 soil samples, 81 rock samples, 28 chip samples and 100 rock channel cut samples that were taken at 1.0 m intervals. Results of this program will be announced once the Company has received and completed its QAQC procedures.
Scottie West Property Update (Golden Triangle, Stewart B.C.)
Roughrider is also pleased to announce it has completed a magnetic and EM geophysical survey over the Scottie West Property located approximately 35 kilometres ("km") northwest of Stewart. The magnetic and EM survey was carried out by Precision GeoSurveys Inc. ("Precision") from September 14 to 16, and was completed at 100m line spacing, using a Triumph AirTEM(tm) time-domain electromagnetic system. A total of 474-line km were completed over the eastern two thirds of the property commencing from the claim boundary with Scottie Resources Corp. The Company is awaiting processing and final reporting of this data.
Mr. Travis comments, "We are grateful to Scottie Resources for allowing us to add onto their survey westward across our property. Both companies used Precision which helped minimize staff travel and exposure to the smaller communities."
Qualified Person
The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been prepared, reviewed and approved by David Tupper, P.Geo. (British Columbia), Roughrider's VP Exploration and a Qualified Person within the context of Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument ("NI") 43-101; Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects.
Cautionary notes related to news release
This news release contains information about adjacent properties on which Roughrider has no right to explore or mine. Readers are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on the Company's properties.
1 Historical information provided in this news release regarding the Company's project cannot be relied upon as the Company's QP as defined under NI 43-101 has not prepared nor verified the historical information. A Qualified Person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as a current mineral resource and Roughrider is not treating this historical estimate as current mineral resources.
2 NI 43-1010 Technical Report: Giroux, G.H., & Raven, W. (November 30, 2008). Technical Report on the Copper Gold Resources for the Merry Widow Property. Filed on SEDAR January 22, 2009. The 2008 Grand Portage resource estimate was completed by Gary H. Giroux, P.Eng, MASc, of Giroux Consulting Ltd. in Vancouver, B.C. The estimate was based on a 3D geological model integrating 4,448 metres of diamond drilling of 43 drill holes, 2,290 assays, with 104 down-hole surveys collected between June and December 2006. The resource was reported utilizing gold cut-off grades ranging from 0.10 g/t to 3.00 g/t gold, as more particularly set out in the report. A complete copy of the report is available on Grand Portage's public filings on SEDAR (www.sedar.com). A gold cut-off grade of 0.50 g/t gold was selected as representing one possible mining scenario. For the purposes of the calculations, lognormal cumulative frequency plots were used to assess grade distribution to see if capping of high values was required and if so at what levels. For all elements, capping levels were established based on the individual grade distributions as follows: Gold -- a total of 18 gold assays were capped at 32.0 g/t gold, Silver --a total of 9 silver assays were capped at 165 g/t silver, Copper -- a total of 7 assays were capped at 11.7% copper, Cobalt -- a total of 5 assays were capped at 0.48% cobalt, Iron -- all iron assays were capped at 50% iron (the analytical detection limit).
About Roughrider Exploration Limited
Roughrider's current exploration focus is on the Empire Mine property located on Northern Vancouver Island, B.C. and covers three past producing open pit mines and two past producing underground mines for magnetite, copper, gold and silver. Roughrider's other properties include its 100% owned Eldorado, Gin and Bonanza properties located in the Golden Triangle of Northern B.C. which are adjacent to the Red Chris Mine as well as its 100% Sterling property which is located in Central B.C. Management is also continuously reviewing strategic precious metals opportunities in Western North America.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors:
"Adam Travis"
Adam Travis, Chief Executive Officer and Director
For further information, please contact:
Roughrider Exploration Limited
Adam Travis, CEO
625 Howe Street, Suite 420
Vancouver, B.C. V6C 2T6, Canada
P: 250-878-7554
E: adam@roughriderexploration.com
NR20-10
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.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION
Certain information contained or incorporated by reference in this press release, including any information regarding the proposed Transaction, private placement, board and management changes, as to our strategy, projects, plans or future financial or operating performance, constitutes "forward-looking statements." All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are to be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Roughrider, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, geological and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Although Roughrider believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include but are not limited to: economic and global market impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuations in market prices, exploration and exploitation successes, continued availability of capital and financing, changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations, expropriation or nationalization of property and general political, economic, market or business conditions. Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can affect our actual results and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements made by, or on behalf of, us. Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, therefore, readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such uncertainties. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release, or incorporated by reference, are qualified by these cautionary statements. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.