Saturn Minerals Summarizes Summer Exploration Program on the Armit Property, Eastern Saskatchewan |
| Marketwire.com - Oct 26, 2011 |
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - Oct. 26, 2011) - Saturn Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SMI)(FRANKFURT:SMK) ("Saturn" or the "Company") is pleased to summarize results from the Company's 2011 summer exploration program on the Armit property in eastern Saskatchewan. The summer exploration program was designed to better assess stratigraphy and structural potential for hydrocarbons, test accessible coal targets of low-order/low-potential geophysical signatures and further investigate Devonian carbonate formations with respect to potential hosts for atypical mineralization. The exploration program consisted of ten vertical diamond drill holes totaling approximately 1,120 metres. Access to geophysical targets was severely limited due to poor surface conditions restricting drilling to the narrow periphery of the Red River Silica Road located in the northern parts of the Armit property.
Coal Extension
Coal exploration was largely restricted to the shoulders of the Red River Silica Road which lies largely beyond the interpreted boundaries of the Leif Coal Basin as discovered in the central parts of the Armit property. Despite limited access, the Company was able to test a single secondary coal target within the projected trend of the Leif Coal Basin and successfully intersected a 7.5 metre thick coal seam at a depth of approximately 107 metres located approximately 1.5 km southwest of the Lief Coal Basin discovery area which intersected a 9.5 metre thick coal seam at similar depth in 2009/2010. This new discovery supports a significant potential extension of thick coals in the Leif Coal Basin. The Company intends to test winter-access geophysical targets of higher priority associated with the Leif Coal Basin this winter.
An additional few drill sites were designed to test potential "connector areas" which are characterized by gravity signatures slightly lowered than background and located between low-order/low-potential gravity targets near the Red River Silica Road. Importantly, drilling proved the presence of coal bearing formations at depths ranging from 75 to 110 metres in these areas. Coal bearing formations consist of predominant sands and muds with minor carbonaceous muds, numerous root-cast (paleosoil) horizons and thin coal seams. Associated black carbonaceous sands are attributed to early erosion of the original coal/peat layers. Drill hole #9 tested a single secondary coal target beyond the Leif Coal Basin and intersected faulted and steeply dipping sediments of the Cretaceous succession without coal and/or carbonaceous sediment present. Drill hole #10 tested an unorthodox target which was characterized by a strong negative gravity anomaly but was situated in an area characterized by thicker overburden. This drill hole intersected a thick succession of the Lower Colorado black shales at shallow depth, which is characterized by relatively low density and resulted in a similar airborne gravity signature as other typical coal targets.
Hydrocarbon Potential
The 2011 summer exploration program was also designed to verify reservoir properties and the integrity of potential Devonian hydrocarbon structural and stratigraphic traps. As previously reported by the Company, a significant section of drill core recovered from the Armit property in 2009/2010 displayed impregnations of degraded hydrocarbons. The results of the 2011 summer exploration program demonstrates fair to excellent reservoir properties of the selected Devonian rock formations. Results also indicate that within the limits of the tested areas the integrity of potential structural and/or stratigraphic traps have been significantly degraded by post-Devonian karstic and tectonic processes. No further signs of hydrocarbons were encountered within the intersected Devonian formations necessitating a return to those areas of the Armit property which have displayed hydrocarbon presence to further assess potential origin at depth.
Atypical Mineralization
An additional objective of the 2011 summer exploration program was to evaluate the Devonian carbonate formations as potential hosts of the Mississippi Valley type lead-zinc-silver mineralization. Devonian carbonate rocks encountered beneath the Cretaceous coal-bearing formation on the Armit property display numerous signs of sulphide mineralization, as well as show significant development of secondary porosity which makes the Devonian succession a potential host of low-temperature accumulations of lead-zinc-silver ores similar in character to the Pine Point deposit which was discovered in similar settings in the northern portion of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. The 2011 summer exploration program encountered several small-scale pyrite and marcasite mineralization zones locally with traces of sphalerite in fractured carbonate rocks. The Company intends to further assess the nature of this atypical mineralization in the winter.
Dr. Krzysztof Mastalerz, P.Geo., the Company's Qualified Person under NI 43-101 standards has reviewed and approved the technical content of this release.
About Saturn Minerals Inc.
Saturn Minerals Inc. (TSX VENTURE:SMI)(FRANKFURT:SMK) is a junior Canadian energy & resources company advancing a portfolio of energy and resource assets in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and British Columbia. The Company has made two bituminous coal discoveries at its Saskatoba Project since 2009, including one of the thickest coal seams encountered in Canada at 89 metres thickness. The Company continues to build strategic relationships throughout Saskatchewan & Manitoba to pursue new opportunities and advance current projects in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.
SATURN MINERALS INC.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
Stan Szary, Chief Executive Officer
NEITHER THE 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 NEWS RELEASE
Contact Information
Saturn Minerals Inc.
Stan Szary
Chief Executive Officer
(604) 685-6989
www.saturnminerals.com
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- Posted: 2011-11-30 10:33:52
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