VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, June 1, 2011 - Millrock Resources Inc. (MRO - TSX:V) ("Millrock" or the "Company") announced today a significant and important expansion of the Estelle gold property in Alaska, which is under option to Teck American Incorporated ("Teck American"), a subsidiary of Teck Resources Limited (“Teck”). The expansion covers ground that hosts very strong historic drill core and surface chip sample values, including a drill intersection of 3.0 g/t gold over 29.6 m and a chip sample grading 18.0 g/t gold over 9.9 m. Millrock also announced that Teck has early-exercised all of the warrants that it held to purchase common shares of Millrock, increasing its equity ownership of the Company.
Early Exercise of Warrants
Teck has exercised all of the warrants that it held to purchase common shares of Millrock. A total of 1,363,636 warrants were exercised at a price of $0.53 for proceeds of $722,727.08. The warrants were originally issued on May 27, 2010 in a private placement financing when Teck initially took an equity position in Millrock. The warrants were exercisable for two years at a price of $0.53 in the first year and $0.63 in the second year. Teck now owns 2,727,272 shares of Millrock, or 3.9% of the currently issued and outstanding shares of the Company.
Expansion of the Area of Interest and Addition of Claims
The Area of Interest subject to the terms of the option agreement between Millrock and Teck American has been expanded and includes new claims staked by Millrock. These claims were staked following reconnaissance geological and geochemical surveys carried out in 2010 using funding from a strategic alliance with Altius Resources Inc. (“Altius”) described in a press release dated June 4, 2010 (found here). The new claims are subject to a royalty in favour of Altius.
In addition, a group of claims covering a potential extension to the Shoeshine prospect mineralization, which Millrock has been exploring over the past two seasons, has been leased by Millrock and incorporated into the Teck American - Millrock Agreement.
Previous work carried out by Cominco in the late 1980's in the area covered by the newly leased claims returned promising surface chip samples (49.5 m grading 1.2 g/t gold and 9.9 m grading 18.1 g/t gold) and a drill intercept of 29.6 m grading 3.0 g/t gold. Millrock plans to drill a hole near this location as part of the 2011 exploration program, the plans for which have now been finalized. Mobilization to the site will occur in mid-June and field work is expected to commence on July 1, 2011. The exploration program is budgeted at US$3.455 million and Millrock will act as manager of the 2011 exploration program.
Commenting on recent developments, Company President & CEO Gregory Beischer stated, “The addition of the new claims increases the chances of Millrock making a significant gold discovery at Estelle. We see potential for both very large, porphyry-style gold deposits and high-grade structurally controlled deposits. We have a strong budget and a great chance of making a discovery this year.”
The agreement between Millrock and Teck American grants two options, and was initially announced on February 14, 2011 (found here). The first option grants Teck American the right to earn an initial 55% interest in the project by incurring exploration expenditures totaling US$3.6 million. The planned 2011 exploration program, along with expenses already incurred, will result in Teck American earning its initial interest by the end of 2011, one year ahead of schedule. Upon meeting the requirements of the first option, Teck American would then have the right to proceed to the second option that would allow it to earn an additional 10% interest, for a total 65% interest by incurring an additional US$5 million in exploration expenditures and making cash payments to Millrock of US$400,000.
Geologic features, and extensive surface geochemical anomalies at Estelle, indicate the potential for large, bulk-minable, reduced-intrusion-related or porphyry-style deposits. Four main zones of large-scale anomalous gold and pathfinder element geochemistry have been identified over the past two years: Shoeshine, Oxide Ridge, RPM and Stoney. At the Shoeshine and Oxide Ridge prospects surface mineralization is spatially associated with porphyritic intrusive rocks, quartz stockworks and hydrothermal breccias. At RPM rusty, pyritic, hornfelsed sediments with anomalous gold indicate the potential for an auriferous intrusion at a shallow level. The Stoney prospect is a high-grade, polymetallic vein occurrence with geophysical indicators pointing to the possibility of nearby porphyry mineralization.
Presently, Millrock owns a 100% interest in the property. Portions of the property are subject to third-party royalties. Located approximately 160 km northwest of Anchorage, Alaska the property is adjacent to Kiska Metals Corp.'s Whistler copper-gold deposit. Estelle is located in the Kahiltna Terrane, an assemblage of rocks that hosts Northern Dynasty/Anglo American's giant Pebble copper-gold-molybdenum-silver deposit.
The technical information in this news release was reviewed by Gregory Beischer, Millrock's President and CEO, a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101.
ABOUT MILLROCK RESOURCES INC. Millrock Resources Inc. is a premier project generator to the mining industry. In the search for world-class gold and copper deposits in mineral rich Alaska and Arizona, Millrock identifies, packages and operates large-scale projects for joint venture, thereby exposing its shareholders to the benefits of mineral discovery without the usual financial risk and attendant shareholder dilution taken on by most exploration companies. Millrock currently has twelve active exploration projects, eight gold-copper properties in Alaska, and four porphyry copper prospects in Arizona. With funding primarily coming from its joint venture partners, Millrock plans to carry out exploration programs with a total value of more than US$14 million in 2011. Business partners of Millrock include some of the leading names in the mining industry: Kinross, Teck, Vale, Inmet and Altius, as well as junior explorers Ryan Gold, Brixton Metals and Crescent Resources.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD "Gregory Beischer” Gregory Beischer, President & CEO
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT: Gregory A. Beischer (604) 638-3164 Millrock Resources Inc. 750 World Trade Centre 999 Canada Place Vancouver, BC V6C 3E1
Some statements in this news release contain forward-looking information, including without limitation statements as the ability to confirm the presence of uranium deposits underlying the densely drilled areas of the property, the potential to expand resources by drilling, the forward-looking price of uranium, the potential for amenability to ISR mining, the ability to secure a funding partner for the project, the completion of the option to purchase some of the claims, and the ability to secure funding to carry out the planned exploration and development . These statements address future events and conditions and, as such, involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the statements.
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