West Kirkland Mining finds surface gold at 12 Mile property

West Kirkland Mining (CVE:WKM) reported Tuesday surface gold at its 12 Mile property, further confirming the potential of its regional development strategy in the Long Canyon Trend, Nevada.

The gold explorer said that samples collected from a recently constructed drill pad returned an average grade of 0.33 grams per tonne (g/t) gold and 1.00 g/t silver over around 29.0 metres*, in "well oxidized and highly altered rocks".

The gold mineralization, the company said, is in the same stratigraphic position as the TUG deposit located 10 kilometres to the east.

West Kirkland's plan is to add to the TUG gold deposit through regional exploration for near surface gold deposits.

The Long Canyon Trend is delineated by the Long Canyon deposit in the south west, and TUG deposit 65 kilometers to the north east. The company holds a majority land position between the two deposits.
              
West Kirkland noted that 6.1 meters of samples at 12 Mile oriented normal to structure returned an average of 0.56 g/t gold and 1.2 g/t silver.

Previous sampling by the gold miner on its 12 Mile property returned grades such as 1.73 g/t gold in separate parallel structures that were targeted for drilling.

The company plans to drill around 3,000 metres in the 12 Mile area in 2012.

"The 12 Mile results at surface are contained in structures that parallel the targeted structures approximately 100 meters away and our drilling will now collar in surface gold mineralization," said VP of exploration for West Kirkland, Michael G. Allen.

"The newly found mineralization our team has found at 12 Mile fits the Long Canyon regional structurally controlled gold model and further confirms the potential of our regional strategy to add to our first gold deposit at TUG."

In addition to the gold and silver, the company said elevated levels of pathfinder elements for Carlin style mineralization was found in all samples.

The new mineralization was found in drill pads recently constructed by West Kirkland for the drilling planned at 12 Mile.

The initial target for this drilling was steep north-south structures cutting the Guilmette formation, also the host for the TUG deposit nearby.

The new values reported Tuesday are hosted in steep structures that cut the upper Guilmette formation, roughly 100 metres east of the previously recognized gold target, the company said.

West Kirkland further noted that the high pathfinder elements suggest that the exposure at surface is in the upper part of the system.

The 12 Mile showing is part of the land package under option from Rubicon Minerals (TSE:RMX) that gives the company a dominant land position in the Long Canyon Trend.

The agreement, which covers over 900 square kilometers, gives the company an option of earning a 60 per cent interest in the mineral rights at 12 Mile.
               
The TUG deposit, where West Kirkland announced an NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate of 679,000 gold equivalent ounces (27.1 million tonnes at 0.78 g/t AuEq, 0.1 g/t Au cut-off, Caracle Creek, May 2012), is held under option from Fronteer Development, which is now a subsidiary of Newmont Mining(TSE:NMC)(NYSE:NEM).

The TUG resource is primarily a near-surface oxide resource that may be amenable to open pit mining and heap leach extraction for gold and silver, according to the company.

The Long Canyon deposit was discovered by Fronteer Gold, and subsequently purchased by Newmont.
               
Regional exploration in the Long Canyon Trend by West Kirkland has already identified several undrilled at or near-surface gold targets in the setting of the Long Canyon deposit itself.
Shares were up 1.6 per cent Tuesday early afternoon, at 31.5 cents on the TSX Venture Exchange.
* Michael G. Allen, Vice President of Exploration for West Kirkland, and a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release other than the inferred mineral resource estimate, including but not limited to the plans of the Company. He is the non-independent qualified person for the purpose of this news release.