TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sep 11, 2015) - Solvista Gold Corporation ("Solvista "or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SVV)(SVVZF) announces that the Company has received notice from IAMGOLD Corporation ("IAMGOLD") that IAMGOLD has terminated its option agreement with the Company on the Caramanta Property, Colombia. The Caramanta Property covers multiple copper gold discoveries identified by Solvista prior to the 2013 option agreement with IAMGOLD. IAMGOLD's exploration efforts since acquiring the option on the Caramanta Property totalled in excess of US$2.5M. While IAMGOLD advanced the geological understanding of the property they were unable to obtain key permits for drilling in the main discovery area of El Retén despite its hard work and patience.
The Company will continue to work on securing authorization to complete diamond drilling at El Retén and other locations once the return of the property is complete and the Company has received all of the data generated by IAMGOLD.
President & CEO Ken Lapierre stated, "While we are disappointed we completely understand and respect IAMGOLD's decision. The contributing factor in their decision was the difficult and time consuming nature of permitting which hampered IAMGOLD's ability to get access to drill and delineate our discoveries at Caramanta."
As previously disclosed by Solvista, exploration of the Company's targets within the DMI was temporarily halted by Corantioquia (Environmental Local Authority) until the Company's application for removal of the Integrated Management District (DMI by its initials in Spanish) designation had been considered. However, in October 2013, Corantioquia informed the Company that exploration activities on the targets within the DMI could carry on upon the receipt by Corantioquia of an acceptable environmental management plan. IAMGOLD filed an Environmental Management Plan (PMA by its initials in Spanish), regarding those specific targets to Corantioquia in March 2014. However, additional information for the PMA was requested by Technical Concept No.130CA-14091335 of Corantioquia in September 2014. Accordingly, a response to that requirement was submitted in November 2014. In April 2015, IAMGOLD submitted additional information for the analysis of the PMA, based on the technical inspection conducted by the Local Environmental Authority on March 2015. After several meetings with Corantioquia and due to the fact that the PMA remains under study, as the authority repeatedly states, IAMGOLD filed a letter on September 9, 2015 giving notice of its decision to discontinue its involvement with the Caramanta Project, allocating any and all further environmental proceedings to Solvista.
Update: Talbot Property, Manitoba
The Company has initiated a 10 hole-5000m drill program focussing on four (4) areas within and around the historic, high grade, copper-gold-zinc-silver (Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide or VMS) Talbot Deposit. The objective of the program is to further delineate the Talbot Deposit and also to discover, within close proximity to the Talbot Deposit, similar areas of high grade VMS (copper-gold-zinc-silver massive sulphide) mineralization.
The four (4) areas prospective for high grade VMS mineralization are 1) Talbot Deposit: main, footwall and north lenses, 2) High Grade Gold Lens: several significant high grade historic gold-silver drill intercepts (5.2m grading 10.4g/t gold and 54.5g/t silver in hole TLS005 and 9.3m grading 8.2g/t gold and 88.4g/t silver in TLS012) located on strike and south of the Talbot Deposit, 3) EZ Zone: copper-gold-silver mineralization (2.6m grading 1.7% copper, 1.3g/t gold, 15.1g/t silver in historic hole HAR 085) that is interpreted to be associated at the southernmost edge of a 400m long untested, north trending geophysical anomaly. 4) The North Target: interpreted to be a complex, 1,000m long geophysical conductor that is similar in appearance to the geophysical signature associated with the Talbot Deposit. Only two (2) historic shallow drill holes have been completed on this target both of which intersected highly anomalous copper mineralization along the "top edge" of large, multiple, strongly conductive buried geophysical anomalies.
To date, the Company has completed one (1) drill hole (TB-001) totalling 772m. Drill core has been split and sent to TSL Laboratories for copper, gold, zinc and silver analysis. Bore hole geophysics has been completed on TB-001 and is presently being evaluated for off-hole conductivity. Assay results from the drilling will be reported to the public once received and compiled.
About Solvista Gold Corporation
Solvista Gold Corporation is a Canadian resource exploration company focused on discovery and resource expansion of its high-quality mineral properties at its Snow Lake Project. On June 18, 2015, Solvista merged with Canadian explorer Rockcliff Resource Inc. Solvista now controls the Snow Lake Project in central Manitoba, totalling in excess of 35,000 hectares. The project includes one (1) VMS high grade copper rich NI 43-101 Resource (Rail), two (2) historic high grade VMS copper deposits (Lon and Talbot), a net smelter return royalty on the Tower Property which hosts the T-1 Copper Deposit, numerous properties with untested geophysical anomalies and several additional properties with VMS potential ((Freebeth (optioned to HudBay), Dickstone North and Tramping)). Solvista also owns a zinc-silver rich NI 43-101 Resource (Shihan) in Ontario. Solvista controls two gold projects, Caramanta and Guadalupe located in Colombia, South America. These two projects cover approximately 44,000 hectares in the Antioquia province of Colombia.
Solvista is well funded and has no debt.
Ken Lapierre P.Geo., President and CEO of Solvista., a Qualified Person in accordance with Canadian regulatory requirements as set out in NI 43-101, has read and approved the scientific and technical information that forms the basis for the disclosure contained in this press release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This News Release includes certain "forward-looking statements" which are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe Solvista's future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that Solvista or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as "believes", "anticipates", "expects", "estimates", "may", "could", "would", "will", or "plan". Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to Solvista, Solvista provides no assurance that actual results will meet management's expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.
Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, Solvista's objectives, goals or future plans, statements, exploration results, potential mineralization, the estimation of mineral resources, exploration and mine development plans, timing of the commencement of operations and estimates of market conditions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to failure to identify mineral resources, failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves, the inability to complete a feasibility study which recommends a production decision, the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results, delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals, including those related to the DMI on portions of the Caramanta Project and any other portions of the Company's properties in Colombia, political risks, inability to fulfill the duty to accommodate First Nations and other indigenous peoples, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, changes in equity markets, inflation, changes in exchange rates, fluctuations in commodity prices, delays in the development of projects, capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry, and those risks set out in Solvista's public documents filed on SEDAR. Although Solvista believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. Solvista disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. 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.
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.
