TORONTO, ONTARIO -- 06/04/08 --
Alturas Minerals Corp. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: ALT) is pleased to report strong surface indications of polymetallic mineralization from continuous trench geochemical sampling at the Huajoto project in southern Peru. Best results from one trench included a continuous section of 40.0 meters assaying 2.00% zinc and 0.14% copper, including a section of 4.30 meters assaying 5.26% zinc, 0.27% copper at the Caty-Pablo prospect. In addition, rare earth elements and uranium are significantly anomalous in all three trenches analyzed for these elements. The trenches lie on the margin of a 2.5 kilometer diameter, combined gravity and radiometric anomaly defined by recent ground geophysical surveying. In addition, at the La Virgen target immediately to the south, recent work has further defined a +20ppb gold-in-soils anomaly approximately 3.0 x 2.0 kilometers in size, coincident with intense high sulfidation epithermal alteration of volcanic rocks. Drilling of these targets is programmed to commence shortly.
Miguel Cardozo, President of Alturas commented, "Detailed modelling of the gravity data indicates the presence of a large very dense body (that may reflect alteration and mineralization) beneath base metal outcropping mineralization and extending to several hundred meters depth. These results continue to confirm our view that Huajoto is a project that has excellent potential to host disseminated, bulk tonnage base metal-rare earth element, in addition to gold-silver epithermal, mineralization. We are very optimistic about the upcoming drilling campaign, which is scheduled to start late June - early July."
The accompanying table highlights key results from Alturas's 2007 trench geochemical sampling in three separate prospects (Caty-Pablo, Marmatita and Esperanza), each spaced approximately 1.1 kilometers apart. REO% refers to weight % of total rare earth oxides present:
"Caty-Pablo" Trenches
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trench Meters Zn (%) Cu (%) Au (g/t) REO% U3O8 (%)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caty 4 40.0 2.00 0.14 0.08 0.24 0.004
including 4.30 5.26 0.27 0.08 0.42 0.005
52.0 0.06 0.01 0.05 0.19 0.006
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caty 3 69.6 0.90 0.18 0.05 0.29 0.006
including 8.00 2.70 0.05 0.01 0.17 0.004
32.0 0.20 0.05 0.05 0.31 0.008
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Caty 2 54 0.46 0.09 0.07 0.24 0.007
including 4.00 1.45 0.13 0.01 0.21 0.007
74.5 0.19 0.08 0.10 0.49 0.011
including 10.4 0.27 0.12 0.09 1.05 0.020
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Marmatita" Trenches
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trench Meters Zn (%) Cu (%) Au (g/t) REO% U3O8 (%)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marmatita 1 15.2 1.56 0.07 0.03 assays assays
pending pending
including 2.00 5.41 0.23 0.09 assays assays
pending pending
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marmatita 2 12.0 0.50 0.04 0.03 assays assays
pending pending
including 2.00 2.64 0.16 0.07 assays assays
pending pending
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marmatita 4 21.3 0.10 0.01 0.03 assays assays
pending pending
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Esperanza" Trenches
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trench Meters Zn (%) Cu (%) Au (g/t) REO% U3O8 (%)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Road 1 212.0 0.03 0.01 0.11 assays assays
pending pending
including 8.00 0.05 0.00 1.37 assays assays
pending pending
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 3,700 hectare Huajoto project is located in the historic mining district of Huancavelica in Central Peru. Huajoto is a zoned polymetallic system 5.0 kilometers by 7.0 kilometers in size, with strong gold-silver anomalies associated with a high sulfidation epithermal core (La Virgen target) passing outwards into zones of strong zinc, lead and rare earth surface geochemical anomalism (Caty-Pablo target).
Part of the Huajoto properties were previously explored by Teck Cominco Peru S.A., (Teck Cominco Peru), a subsidiary of Teck Cominco Limited in 1999-2001. The Huajoto properties are subject to an Option agreement with Teck Cominco Peru and COMACSA, a Peruvian industrial minerals company. See Alturas press release dated September 18, 2007 for details of the tenure and terms of the Option agreement.
For maps and an extended summary of exploration results, refer to the Company's website www.alturasminerals.com/huajoto_2.htm
About Alturas Minerals Corp.
Alturas is a Canadian corporation, and is the parent of Alturas Minerals S.A. ("Alturas Peru"). Alturas Peru has been actively exploring various mineral projects in Peru since January 2004. The principal assets of Alturas are four mineral exploration projects located in southern Peru, being the Huilacollo Gold Project, the Banos del Indio Gold Project, the Utupara Copper-Gold Project and the Huajoto Gold-Silver-Zinc Project. In addition, Alturas Peru has interests in fourteen other exploration projects in Peru. Alturas' exploration strategy is focused on the discovery of large epithermal gold mineralized deposits and copper-gold porphyry/skarn deposits. For further information, please visit the Company's website at www.alturasminerals.com.
As required by the National Instrument 43-101, Alturas's designated Qualified Person for the supervision of exploration of the projects is Dr. Paul Pearson, F. AUSIMM, Vice President-Exploration of the Company, who has verified the technical information reported in this News Release.
Should you wish to receive Company news via email, please email contact@alturasminerals.com and specify "Alturas News" in the subject line.
Cautionary Language and Forward Looking Statements
This press release may contain "forward-looking statements", which are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Investors are cautioned that such statements are not guarantees of future performance and results. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure documents filed from time to time with the Canadian securities authorities
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Contacts:
Alturas Minerals Corp.
Miguel Cardozo
President & Chief Executive Officer
(416) 366-5555 or +51-1-475-1700 (Peru)
Email: mcardozo@alturasminerals.com
Alturas Minerals Corp.
Suite 820, 330 Bay Street
Toronto, Ontario M5H 2S8
Website: www.alturasminerals.com
