LONGUEUIL, CANADA -- (Marketwire) -- 02/13/13 -- Reunion Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE: RGD) ("Reunion or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on its Matthews Ridge Project and to report on exploration activities at the Pipiani and Arakaka manganese prospects, which are part of the Matthews Ridge Project in northwest Guyana, South America.
The Company has concluded the first phase of exploration programs of the Pipiani and Arakaka prospects, aiming at discovering and defining manganese resources for the project. The programs were initiated in the third quarter of 2012 and are continuing in 2013.
The exploration database and geological modeling of the Matthews Ridge Project, including the data for the Pipiani and Arakaka prospects described below, have been delivered to an independent "Qualified Person" (as defined under Canadian National Instrument 43-101), with the objective of completing an initial resource estimate by the end of February 2013.
Pipiani prospect
The Pipiani prospect is located 65 km to the southeast of Matthews Ridge in rocks with notable similarities to those hosting the well-explored Matthews Ridge manganese deposit. The exploration program has to date confirmed the occurrence of detrital and bedrock manganese mineralization in a NW-SE trending area 5 km in length. The current program places emphasis on the delineation of the spatial extent and grade of the mineralized cover rocks (the so-called detrital material), while recording the presence of mineralized saprolite (weathered bedrock), principally by pitting and trenching.
The results of the evaluation program of mineralized cover rocks are summarized in the accompanying map (Figure 1) and Table 1. Relatively high grade and easily extractible manganese detrital material is developed on the top surfaces and on slopes of hills in Pipiani zones 1, 2 and 3. This cover mineralization is distributed widely over the prospect in patches 100 m to 400 m wide, while straddling the main ridge for an aggregate strike length of about 2.5 km. These deposits were derived by the weathering of bedded mineralized bedrock, which were enriched as a result of oxidation and supergene enrichment under a tropical climate. Sampling of the detrital material was done on trenches approximately 200 m apart and sampled every 50 m along their length. This was further augmented by pits spaced roughly 50 m by 50 m covering the area. The detrital zones are subdivided into five separate zones due to the non-uniform depth distribution of the detrital material and the blocks contain results using a 4% cut-off (Figure 1).
Table 1 - Pipiani prospect - detrital pitting results -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Average Area Average Zone & block No. of pits thickness (m) (km2) grade (Mn %) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 - 1 56 1.32 135 16.31 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 - 2 10 0.90 32 13.61 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 - 3 48 0.97 177 14.43 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 - 4 75 1.60 274 16.01 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 - 5 57 1.18 279 14.56 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total & average 246 1.28 896 14.98 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
