| Wed 18 Jul 2007, 15:00 | | GBG - Great Basin Gold - Concludes Agreement to Ea |
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GBG
GBG
GBG - Great Basin Gold - Concludes Agreement to Earn-In on Ganes Creek
Property in Alaska, USA
Great Basin Gold Limited
(Incorporated in Canada and registered as an External Company in South Africa)
(External Company Registration number 2006/021304/10)
Share code: GBG & ISIN: CA3901241057
("Great Basin Gold")
Press Release -
GREAT BASIN GOLD CONCLUDES AGREEMENT TO EARN-IN ON GANES CREEK PROPERTY IN
ALASKA, USA
July 18, 2007 Vancouver, BC - Great Basin Gold Ltd. ("Great Basin Gold" or the
"Company") (TSX: GBG; AMEX: GBN; JSE: GBGOLD) announces that a Letter of
Intent ("LOI") was concluded on June 8, 2007, whereby the Company can earn an
80% interest in all hard rock mineral rights on the Ganes Creek Property in
Alaska by making a total of US$3 million in exploration expenditures over a
period of 3 years. The Ganes Creek Property is held by Clark/Wiltz Mining
(CWM), based in Talkeetna, Alaska, USA.
Pursuant to the LOI, a minimum of US$800,000 in exploration expenditures need
to be incurred in 2007; an additional US$1,000,000 in expenditures by the end
of 2008; and a final US$1,200,000 in expenditures by the end of 2009. Great
Basin Gold can also increase its interest in the property at a production
decision by purchasing the remaining 20% at fair market value should CWM not
wish to participate in any development costs. CWM would retain a 2% NSR of
which 1% could be purchased by GBG for US$2 million.
The Ganes Creek Property is located in Alaska, 440 km northwest of Anchorage
and 40 km northwest of McGrath. The property is situated in the Tintina Gold
Belt, which hosts the 20 million ounce Donlin Creek Project, located some 110
km to the northeast and held by NovaGold Resources and Barrick Gold. The
mineral rights held by CWM at Ganes Creek total 15,402 acres, comprising
thirty-nine 40-acre state claims, seventy 160-acre state claims and fourteen
federal patents, containing 90 patented claims with a total area of 2,628
acres.The Ganes Creek Project occupies the western portion of a 19-km long
area of gold anomalies, hard rock prospects and placer deposits aligned along
the Yankee-Ganes Creek fault zone. The Yankee-Ganes Creek fault is sub-
parallel to the major transcurrent Nixon-Iditarod fault. Regional geologic
mapping has identified the eastern Innoko district (including Ganes Creek
Project) as the structurally offset, northern extension of the Donlin trend of
deposits and gold prospects. The Donlin trend is truncated by the Iditarod
fault zone some 130 km (80 miles) to the southwest of the Ganes Creek
Property.
Historical work on the property has identified intrusive-related gold showings
as well as high grade shear- and vein-associated gold occurrences. Numerous
showings are proximal to the regional Yankee-Ganes Creek fault, close to the
eastern boundary of the property. Unverified historical production at the
Independence Mine in the same area was reported to be 500 ounces gold at an
average grade of 1 ounce gold per ton. More recent work by Full Metal Minerals
(2005), Placer Dome (1997) and Battle Mountain Gold (1990) includes drill-
testing of anomalies along the ridge tops proximal to the Yankee-Ganes Creek
fault as well as the identification of a number of additional anomalies. Great
Basin Gold plans to focus on exploring the known showings and the under-
explored areas near the valley floors where deeper cover makes interpretations
more difficult. Initially, extensive trenching close to the valley floors is
planned, followed up by drilling of any anomalies outlined.
President and CEO Ferdi Dippenaar said: "The agreement on the Ganes Creek
Property further enhances Great Basin Gold`s strategic objective of creating
value and delivering growth through pursuing gold mining opportunities in
North America and Southern Africa. Ganes Creek provides a strategic fit with
our North American assets, as the extensive land package provides opportunity
to identify high grade gold-bearing quartz veins and shear zones that could be
mined in a similar fashion to the Hollister Project in Nevada. In line with
our business model, the opportunity comes with the people who have the
necessary technical capacity to manage the completion of the exploration
program, and our Great Basin Gold management team will oversee the
activities."
Gernot Wober, P.Geo, a qualified person and V.P. Exploration of Great Basin
Gold, is monitoring the program on behalf of Great Basin Gold and has reviewed
this news release.
Ferdi Dippenaar
President and CEO
For additional details on Great Basin and its gold properties, please visit
the Company`s website at www.grtbasin.com or contact Investor Services:
Tsholo Serunye in South Africa 27 (0) 11 884 1610
Melanee Henderson in North America 1 800 667-2114
Barbara Cano at Breakstone Group in the USA (646) 452-2334
No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained
in this news release.
Cautionary and Forward Looking Statement Information
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking
statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of
historical facts, that address possible future commercial production, reserve
potential, exploration drilling results, development, feasibility or
exploitation activities and events or developments that Great Basin expects to
occur are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the
expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on
reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future
performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from
those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include
market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, effect of and changes
to government policies regarding mining and natural resource exploration and
exploitation, availability of capital and financing, geopolitical uncertainty
and political and economic instability, and general economic, market or
business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not
guarantees of future performance and those actual results or developments may
differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For
more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company`s annual
Form 20-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and
its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com.
18 July 2007
Sponsor
Nedbank Capital
Date: 18/07/2007 15:00:01 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
