Hinterland Acquires Strategic Portfolio of Claims in the James Bay Area of Quebec

Hinterland Metals Inc. (TSXV:HMI) has acquired a strategic portfolio of four properties in the James Bay area of Quebec by staking. These properties were staked based on a compilation of publicly available data (Ministère de l’Énergie et des Ressources naturelles du Québec (MERQ) website, sigeom.mines.gouv.qc.ca) and in response to the recent increase of exploration activity in the area. Each property is described below in terms of its size, location, general geology and proximity to other projects in the area.
“We are very pleased to have acquired a portfolio of prospective properties in the same area as Goldcorp’s Eleonore mine, where there are several advanced projects underway and there are hundreds of promising mineral showings to explore. In terms of its mineral potential, the Baie James area is at the stage of development as the Abitibi belt was in the 1920’s,” commented Mark Fekete, Hinterland’s President and CEO.
The four new properties are in close proximity to the tectonic contact between the Opinaca and La Grande sub-provinces of the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield. This major structural contact shows a strong spatial relationship to known gold deposits and showings in the area, including the Eleonore gold mine (Goldcorp.), the Clearwater (Eastmain), Cheechoo (Sirios), Sakami/Apple (Canadian Strategic/Matamec), Wabamisk (Goldcorp/Azimut), and Auclair, La Grande Sud, Poste-Lemoyne and Sakami River (Osisko Baie James) gold projects, and numerous other gold occurrences <james-bay-area-properties>.
New Properties
The 103-claim (5,249-hectare) Nakami gold project is located just east of the La Grande-3 airstrip, and is accessible by the all-season Trans-Taiga Road <nakami-gold-map.jpg>. These claims cover a tight, east to south flexure in the Opinaca-La Grande contact zone, and are underlain mainly by basalt meta-volcanic rocks in contact with tonalite intrusive rocks. Regional airborne magnetic data suggests the presence of several narrow iron formations. The Nakami property lies 25 kilometres (km) east of and within the same band of rocks that hosts the Zone 32 deposit (Osisko-Baie James) where an historical mineral resource estimate* of 4.2 million tonnes (Mt) at 2.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au) has been reported (Virginia Gold Mines press release, March 11, 1999). Three mineral showings are documented on the Nakami property. The Aéroport-A showing has retuned gold values up to 1.2g/t Au in grab samples (MERQ GM 53785). The Aéroport-B showing has returned values up to 20.7% copper, 112.0g/t silver and 1.2g/t Au in selected grab samples (MERQ GM 53364). The Lac Pikuyaukw showing has returned up to 2.4g/t Au in grab samples (MERQ GM 56503).
The 40-claim (5,249 hectare) Sakami gold project is located approximately 0.9km north of the Sakami Apple property (Canadian Strategic/Matamec), where on-going drilling at the “La Pointe” or “025” zone has most recently intersected up to 2.5g/t Au over 48.6 metres (Canadian Strategic press release, September 8, 2016). Hinterland’s Sakami claims are underlain mainly by basalt meta-volcanic rocks in contact with tonalite intrusive rocks, and cover a 5.5km segment of the north-trending Opinaca-La Grande contact zone. There is very little previous work documented within the claim block <sakami-gold-map.jpg>.
The 9-claim (464-hectare) Dunite property adjoins the Sakami/Apple property (Canadian Strategic/Matamec) to the south and is located 13.5km south of the La Point zone mentioned above <dunite-chrome-pge-map.jpg>. It was staked to cover the “Nadine” chrome, platinum and palladium showing that occurs within a narrow band of ultramafic rocks that follows the north-trending Opinaca-La Grande contact zone for a distance of approximately 3.5km. The Nadine showing has returned up to 10.6% chromite (Goutier et al, 2000, MERQ RG 99-15), and 1.8g/t palladium and 0.8g/t platinum (MERQ GM 58697) from selected grab samples.
The 40-claim (2,112-hectare) Auclair property is located approximately 85km northeast of the village of Nemaska. <auclair-map.jpg>. The claims cover a fold nose along the Opinaca-La Grande contact zone, and are underlain mainly by a sequence of basalt meta-volcanic rocks of the Natel Formation that are in contact with paragneiss metamorphic rocks of the Auclair Formation. Several narrow bands of iron formation, gabbro and rhyolite and have been mapped within the sequence, and numerous gold showing have been identified on the adjacent Wabamisk (Goldcorp/Azimut) and Auclair (Osisko-Baie James) projects. The property is located 45km southeast of the Clearwater (Eastmain) deposit where a National Instrument 43-101 compliant measured and indicated resource of 7.2 Mt at an average grade of 4.09g/t Au has been identified, plus an additional inferred resource of 5.1 Mt at an average grade of 3.88g/t Au (Eastmain Resources website, www.eastmain.com).
Mark Fekete, P.Geo is the designated “qualified person” as defined in Section 1.2 in and for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 that reviewed and approved the technical content of this release. *Note that historical mineral resources estimates pre-date National Instrument 43-101, and accordingly should not be relied upon. Hinterland is not treating the Zone 32 historical resource estimate mentioned above as a current mineral resource or mineral reserve estimate.
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
This release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to vary materially from targeted results. Such risks and uncertainties include those described in the Company’s periodic reports including the annual report or in the filings made by the Company from time to time with securities regulators. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they are made or to reflect the occurrence of an unanticipated event.
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