Vancouver, July 8th, 2008 – Yankee Hat Minerals Ltd. (“Yankee Hat” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: KHT) is pleased to announce assay results from the first four holes at its wholly owned Lobo Del Norte Copper Project located in southern Yukon. The results include wide and high-grade intersections of copper, with:
- 1.62% copper and 0.04% molybdenum over 41.77 meters (137.04 ft) in hole CP-144-2008
- 1.12% Cu and 0.05% Mo over 20.12 meters (66.01 ft) in hole CP-143-2008
- 2.31% Cu and 0.07% Mo over 8.66 meters (28.41 ft) in hole CP-142-2008
- 3.85% Cu and 0.10% Mo over 7.87 meters (25.82 ft) and a separate zone of 8.37% Cu over 1.34 meters (4.40 ft) in hole CP-140-2008.
The recently completed 2008 diamond drilling program at Lobo Del Norte consisted of 20 holes for more than 2,000 meters (approximately 7,000 feet). The results of the remaining 16 drill holes will be announced shortly, as they are received from the laboratory.
The goal of 2008 drilling program was to verify the historical economically viable targets on the property. In 1971, two separate open pits were mined on the project while an additional underground operation was being prepared. These deposits along with several others on the property remain to be tested and fully defined using modern geoscience techniques. The historic deposits, located approximately 20 kilometers southwest of Yukon’s capital city of Whitehorse, are near surface and are potentially open-pit mineable.
A table of drilling highlights is provided below for further reference.
Table 1: Drilling Highlights From Cowley Park Zone - Lobo Del Norte Project
|
Hole
|
From
|
To
|
Interval
|
Interval
|
Cu
|
Mo
|
|
|
(m)
|
(m)
|
(m)
|
(ft)
|
(%)
|
(%)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CP-140-2008
|
32.18
|
35.18
|
3.00
|
9.84
|
0.53
|
-
|
|
|
36.33
|
44.20
|
7.87
|
25.82
|
3.85
|
0.10
|
|
|
55.03
|
56.03
|
1.00
|
3.28
|
2.65
|
0.40
|
|
|
62.67
|
64.01
|
1.34
|
4.40
|
8.37
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CP-142-2008
|
48.77
|
57.43
|
8.66
|
28.41
|
2.31
|
0.07
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CP-143-2008
|
44.74
|
64.86
|
20.12
|
66.01
|
1.12
|
0.05
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CP-144-2008
|
16.76
|
24.38
|
7.62
|
25.00
|
0.51
|
-
|
|
|
32.28
|
74.05
|
41.77
|
137.04
|
1.62
|
0.04
|
“Lobo Del Norte is a key project in Yankee Hat’s portfolio,” says President and CEO Brad Kitchen. “The historic copper deposits we are testing at the Lobo Del Norte are extremely attractive in terms of location and extractability. They are near surface, high grade, and easily accessible from Yukon’s capital city, Whitehorse. There is strong potential to expand the historic deposits at Lobo Del Norte and find new ones of similar style.”
Mineralization at Lobo del Norte is predominately skarn related. Skarn deposits are an important source of copper worldwide and are typically high-grade (1-2% copper) and range in tonnage from 1 to 100 million tonnes (“Mt”); although some exceptional deposits exceed 300 Mt. For example over its operating life the Craigmont skarn deposit, located in central British Columbia, produced 37 million tons of ore averaging 1.3% copper.
The deposits at Lobo Del Norte are associated with mid-Cretaceous Whitehorse-Coffee Creek Suite intrusions that are diorite to granodiorite in composition, forming calc-silicate and magnetite skarns. Specifically, mineralization at the Cowley Park Zone primarily consists of calc-silicate skarn that is associated with plutonism in the Stikine Terrane and hosted in limestone of the Upper Triassic Askala formation. The copper ore mineralogy at the zone is primarily chalcopyrite ± bornite ± tenorite and the molybdenum ore mineralogy is molybedenite. Worldwide, calc-silicate skarns similar to the the Cowley Park Zone are more economically important than other copper skarns because they tend to be larger and found at higher structural levels making them more economically feasible.
Lobo Del Norte is one of nine new projects the Company has acquired over the past twelve months. In making its acquisitions, the Company has selectively focused on advanced stage projects that host commodities with strong underlying price fundamentals such as copper, tungsten and rare earth elements.
The drilling program was carried out under the supervision of A. Hureau, P.Geo. and drilling services were carried out by Kluane Diamond Drilling Ltd. of Whitehorse, Yukon. All technical information in this release was reviewed by Mr. Terence Schorn, P.Geo, a Director of Yankee Hat Minerals Ltd. and a Qualified Person. Samples are prepared and analyzed at Eco Tech Laboratory Ltd., Kamloops, B.C. using 28-Element ICP-MS and ore-grade single element copper, molybdenum, and gold assays.
ABOUT YANKEE HAT MINERALS:
Yankee Hat Minerals Ltd. is a publicly held resource company that utilizes its management’s expertise in mineral exploration and evaluation, and financial acumen, to identify, acquire, and develop mineral prospects in mining friendly jurisdictions with the potential to host large-scale discoveries. The company strategically focuses on advanced stage projects and commodities that have strong underlying price fundamentals such as tungsten, rare earth elements, copper, and gold.
Investors are invited to visit Yankee Hat's IR Hub at http://www.agoracom.com/ir/yankeehat... where they can post questions and receive answers or review questions and answers already posted by other investors. Alternatively, investors are able to e-mail all questions and correspondence to KHT@agoracom.com where they can also request to be added to the investor email list to receive all future press releases and updates in real time.
ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS
“P. Bradley Kitchen”
P. Bradley Kitchen
President, CEO, and Director
For further information, please contact:
Corporate Inquiries:
Nance Massicotte
IR Pro Communications (Vancouver)
Ph: 604.507.3377
Toll Free: 1.866.503.3377
Email: nance@irprocommunications.com
Gus Garisto
Bay Street Connect (Toronto)
Ph: 416.607.6023
Email: gus@baystreetconnect.com
Investor Relations:
AGORACOM Investor Relations
Web: http://www.agoracom.com/IR/YankeeHat...
Email: KHT@agoracom.com
This news release has been prepared by management. The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This document contains certain forward looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, delays, and uncertainties not under the Company’s control which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements implied by these forward looking statements. We seek safe harbour.
