Timmins Gold hits 5.13 g/t gold over 38.1 metres below existing San Francisco pit floor

Timmins Gold Corp. (TSE:TMM) announced Tuesday further significant drill results from its ongoing 2011 drill campaign at the commercially producing San Francisco Mine in Sonora, Mexico, which will be included in an updated NI 43-101 compliant technical report early next year.

The results from the July to December drill program include both exploration and infill drilling in and around the San Francisco and La Chicharra open pits. La Chicharra is located around 1.5 kilometres to the west of the San Francisco pit.

The company said that drilling thus far has confirmed the continuity and extensions of mineralization, both along strike and down dip, and below the existing pit floor at both the San Francisco and La Chicharra open pits.

In addition, Timmins said that assays received from drilling done in August and September returned some of the highest grades intercepted to date from the San Francisco pit.

For example, hole TF-1379, which was drilled from the bottom of the San Francisco pit, intersected 38.1 metres grading 5.13 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, including 1.52 metres of 25.42 g/t gold and 15.24 metres of 8.35 g/t gold and ended in an interval of 1.52 metres of 77.35 g/t gold.

The current pit bottom is 140 metres from surface and this interval was intersected only 30 metres below the current pit bottom, Timmins said.

Meanwhile, hole TF-1377 intercepted 80.77 metres of 0.82 g/t gold including 1.52 metres of 3.55 g/t gold, 9.14 metres of 3.46 g/t gold and 3.05 metres of 2.08 g/t gold. This hole ended in an intercept of 1.52 metres grading 52.66 g/t gold.

Drilling at La Chicharra focused on infill drilling and exploration holes to the northwest of the existing open pit, with the aim of defining structural control of the known mineralization in the pit, Timmins said.

Highlights of these assays include hole TF-1696, which intersected an interval of 100.06 metres grading 1.00 g/t gold, including 10.67 metres of 2.43 g/t gold, 9.18 metres of 1.36 g/t gold, and 7.62 metres of 1.48 g/t gold. This hole ended in 13.73 metres of 2.09 g/t gold.

Also at La Chicharra, drill hole TF-1638 returned 22.90 metres of 0.92 g/t gold including 3.05 metres of 2.36 g/t gold. Hole TF-1645, drilled along the same section but 50 metres to the southwest, intercepted an interval beginning at surface, of 19.6 metres at 0.65 g/t gold, which included 7.62 metres of 1.26 g/t gold, the company said.

In addition, drill hole TF-1640 at La Chicharra returned multiple mineralized zones starting at 9.14 metres depth to the north and west of the pit, including 12.2 metres of 0.95 g/t gold.

In the months of August and September, a total of 52,000 metres of drilling was completed by the company, including reverse circulation and core drilling, distributed between the San Francisco and La Chicharra pits.

Timmins said drilling is ongoing, with the goal to complete more than 120,000 metres of drilling from July to year-end.

Focused solely in Mexico, the company is in commercial gold production at the San Francisco gold mine in Sonora. The mine is a past-producing open pit heap leach operation, and the company has forecast production at a rate in excess of 100,000 ounces of gold per year.