Pacific Ridge starts exploration at KSD

2013-09-11 13:30 ET - News Release

Mr. John Brock reports

PACIFIC RIDGE-EXPLORATION UPDATE

Work is progressing well on Pacific Ridge Exploration Ltd.'s Yukon exploration programs. Exploration is under way on the road-accessible KSD gold project, comprising the newly acquired King Solomon and Sophie properties in the heart of the Klondike gold district and located 24 kilometres southeast of Dawson City. A fourth year of exploration is being carried out on the company's 262-square-kilometre Mariposa gold property in the White Gold district, located 12 km northeast of Kaminak's Coffee Creek project. This year's program objective of defining gold targets for future drill testing is now being achieved. At KSD, several subparallel structural trends have been indicated by geophysics. These trends coincide with the strongest gold anomalies as defined in previous soil geochemical surveys. Detailed sampling is now under way utilizing the new Geoprobe deep soil sampler, as described below.

Innovative exploration technology

Gold mineralization in the Klondike and White Gold districts occurs within geological structures such as veins and shear zones. Traditionally, soil geochemical surveys, followed by trenching, have been used to define targets for drill testing. However, Shawn Ryan's Ground Truth Exploration Group of Dawson City is applying innovative exploration technologies to provide a more concise, cost-effective and less invasive method of drill targeting. The key components of the program include high-resolution IP/resistivity surveys followed by Geoprobe, a deep-penetrating, close-spaced soil and rock sampling technique.

KSD project

In July, the existing King Solomon soil geochemistry grid was extended to the south over the northern half of the newly acquired Sophie claims, with the collection of 572 soil samples. The results of this survey were combined with the King Solomon data to define priority targets for the current KSD exploration program.

The second phase of this program, covering 14 lines over the King zone and six lines over the Prince zone, included line cutting and a detailed IP geophysical survey. The IP/resistivity data have outlined several structures, trending north-northeast, that coincide with the strongest of the gold anomalies from the prior soil geochemical survey. The largest of these structures cuts through the core of the King zone gold soil anomaly, with a strike length of over 800 metres.

The Geoprobe survey has just been completed over these newly defined structures at KSD. Results will be reported as soon as they are in hand.

As has been previously reported, Pacific Ridge has an option to earn a 100-per-cent interest in the King Solomon property, subject to a 2-per-cent net smelter return. The company also has an option to earn a 100-per-cent interest in the Sophie property, subject to a 2.5-per-cent NSR.

Mariposa project

The IP crew has now been mobilized to the Mariposa project. Earlier in the season, 136 soil samples were collected at Alberta Creek to further define the gold anomaly at this relatively unexplored, high-priority target. The high-resolution IP survey, followed by Geoprobe sampling, will target Alberta Creek, Skookum Main and Skookum West targets. Results from previous exploration at Mariposa are described on the company's website. The current exploration program will include IP/resistivity and Geoprobe surveys, thus providing a correlation between known mineralization and potential mineralized extensions that will warrant drill testing in addition to defining new drill targets at the Skookum zones and at Alberta Creek.

The Mariposa property consists of 1,277 claims that are held by way of an option agreement. The company can earn a 100-per-cent interest in the option claims, subject to a 2-per-cent NSR, by making staged cash and share payments prior to October, 2014.

Private placement

Pacific Ridge has closed the second tranche of its previously announced private placement by issuing 300,000 flow-through shares priced at seven cents per share and 20,000 units priced at five cents per unit. Each unit comprises one non-flow-through share and one-half of a transferable share purchase warrant, with each whole warrant entitling the holder to purchase one additional share at a price of 10 cents for 12 months, subject to an accelerated expiry provision. All shares and warrants issued pursuant to the final tranche of the private placement are subject to a hold period expiring Dec. 30, 2013. Proceeds from the private placement will be used for exploration activities on the company's Yukon properties and for working capital.