Steve Herschbach Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Hi,Finally, the secrecy is over, and you can now all be told why I have had so little time this winter. Moore Creek Mining LLC has entered into an agreement with Full Metal Minerals to explore our Moore Creek property.Steve HerschbachMoore Creek Mining LLCFrom the Full Metal Minerals website at http://www.fullmetalminerals.com/news-release.php?news_ID=54May 01, 2006 FMM 2006 NR#7 Full Metal Acquires Moore Creek Gold PropertyVancouver, BC – May 1, 2006 – Full Metal Minerals (FMM-TSX:V) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with Moore Creek Mining Ltd (MCM) to acquire a 100% interest in the Moore Creek Gold Property in Alaska.The 14,250 hectare Property is located in the historic Iditarod placer mining district, approximately 80 km southeast of McGrath, Alaska. Moore Creek occurs midway between Barrick/Novagold’s Donlin Creek Deposit and Full Metal’s Ganes Creek Project. State of Alaska Records (2005) report that Moore Creek has produced over 60,000 ounces of placer gold, often of an exceptionally coarse nature and noted for attached quartz vein rock. The nature of the placer gold suggests close proximity to the bedrock source. Very limited lode-gold exploration has been performed in the area. The source of the gold is potentially related to the Moore Creek Pluton, a Late Cretaceous monzonite intrusion. Located within the Moore Creek Pluton, the Broken Shovel prospect is a steeply dipping quartz-dolomite sulphide vein. The vein averages 5 ft (1.5 m) in width and can be traced for at least 660 ft (200 m) along strike. A historic grab sample contained 555 ppm (16.2 oz/ton) silver and 1.6 ppm gold. Visible gold, arsenopyrite, scheelite, and lead-antimony sulfosalts have been identified in hand specimen (Bundtzen and others, 2004).Gulches converging on the intrusion have all been mined for placer gold. Gold-bearing gravels are only three to four meters thick on the property, suggesting a recently weathered bedrock source. Widespread amorphous silica is present in the stream gravels, along with cinnabar, native gold and native silver. Many of the large gold/quartz specimens have monzonite attached, suggesting a source within the intrusive, however, others have attached volcanic material suggesting additional potential for gold-bearing veins within the volcanics surrounding the monzonite intrusive. An active placer mine is in operation on the property, along with a recreational mining business where large gold/quartz specimens are found with metal detectors. Photos of these specimens and the Moore Creek property can be seen at www.moorecreek.com. Full Metal has an Option to acquire a 100% interest in the Property by incurring a total of US$1,000,000 in exploration expenditures over four years (US$50,000 first year), annual escalating cash payments to MCM from US$25,000 in the first year to $50,000 per year until 2016, with a one time cash payment of $US650,000 upon entry into a Mining Lease after Feb 1, 2011. If Full Metal exercises the Option, it agrees to pay MCM a 1.5% NSR on all commercial mineral production.A surface exploration program of additional soil sampling and mapping will commence in June of 2006, to be followed by trenching and possibly diamond drilling. Nicholas Van Wyck, Ph.D., CPG will also supervise Full Metal’s 2006 exploration program. Analysis will be performed by ALS-Chemex Labs of Vancouver, B.C. A sample quality control/quality assurance program will be implemented.Results and content of this release were reviewed and approved for release by Robert McLeod, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration, for Full Metal Minerals Ltd., and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.Full Metal Minerals was notified by Fury Explorations that they intend to drop their Option on the Ganes Creek Property in Alaska. Full Metal is actively looking for another qualified company to enter into an Option Agreement for Ganes Creek.Full Metal will be following up on the high grade Lucky Shot Discovery with a 60 hole, 10,000 metre diamond drilling program. Further plans for the 2006 field season in Alaska include a minimum of six diamond drill programs totaling $6 million in exploration. Full Metal has Joint Venture Agreements with Metallica Resources, Andover Ventures and Triex Minerals Corp.This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results. Such statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to revise or update such statements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted May 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Hi,I was asked over on the AK Gold Forum how this affects the visitor to Moore Creek. My response:Refunds all around - nope, just kidding!!Not to worry. There will be three geologists at the mine for the entire month of June. They will simply be collecting rocks and geochemical samples. There will be no machinery involved other than them running up the hill on four-wheelers. Unless you want to chat with them you basically will not know they are around. I figure having real geologists running around looking for the Motherlode is kind of a bonus, actually.The lead geologist Nick is a super fellow and I'm really looking forward to having them up at the mine. They are very excited by the prospects at Moore Creek. They are on an accelerated program, but any drilling would not take place until fall after the last visitors have left, at the earliest. They need time to decide where to drill and that could take until next summer.This all means the pressure is off Chris Ralph. He was coming to the mine to do what the geologists will be doing full-time on a larger scale. So now Chris can relax and serve as our resident "famous author" and talk shop with the geologists.Steve Herschbach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamikaze Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Congratulations Steve! It sounds like you may have hit the Mother Lode! I guess all your hard work is about to pay off. Does all of this mean that this may be the last year for rec mining at Moores Creek? Or will most of their drilling/mining be done on the mountains away from the normal rec mining areas? Maybe it'll be 2 weeks on Kauai next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted May 1, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Hi Gaine,This is an exploration program for hardrock gold. At most there would be drilling on potential gold targets, the closest being a mile north of camp. So in theory in need not impact the rec mining thing except to help make it better. As in providing us with more funds for more improvements, like fixing the dozers and maybe bringing in an excavator.One thing I should point out is Full Metal has not bought Moore Creek. They have an OPTION TO BUY. That means there are a lot of things that have to happen first before they can exercise that option. First off being hit some good gold! We have basically entered into a joint venture whereby the expend funds to look for a gold source good enough to develop into a mine. If they hit the big one, they buy us out. If they do not, they eventually move on.My intellect tells me a hardrock mine is a super long shot. But my gut has been telling me for over 30 years there is something at Moore Creek. Finally, I'll have the chance to find out!!I anticipate there will be a rec mining operation next summer, but frankly that will not be decided until this fall after the current operation wraps up. Lasy year it went well, so we decided to do it again. If it goes well this year, we'll no doubt do it again. It is a year to year thing at this point.Steve HerschbachMoore Creek Mining LLC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin nuggethunting Posted May 2, 2006 Admin Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 Hello Steve, That is great news. My dream was to become an exploration geologist, but timing wasn't in my favor. I would have become a geologist at the wrong time; meaning the metal prices were rock bottom. Very little, if any exploration was being done and all the jobs were out of the country. I'm hoping they find a huge target(s) and something comes out. What are the chances for an open pit gold mine? I'm guessing the vein systems are fairly narrow and would warranty a drift mine rather than open pit. When I'm there at Moore Creek a week seems too short. I really enjoy nature and scenery, but then again you only have a week to find as much gold as you can pack out!~ If I had more time available I would have booked two weeks and spent a few days just wondering around exploring, taking pictures and enjoying the last frontier. Talk with you soon,Rob Allison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted May 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 Hi Rob,Well, the primary gold source for Moore Creek may very well be rich and rather localized. What is of interest is the huge amount of agate found all over the ridges and hills. Vast amounts of mineralized solutions were traveling through the rock, leaving agate in every seam and cavity. If these fluids carried minute amounts of gold there may be a very large low grade gold deposit at Moore Creek. The kind the old timers would never have seen.This project is huge and until now was super hush-hush. We staked 205 more claims covering around 36 square miles that take in several minor placers all sourcing from the same set of hills. So there are possibilities beyond just the immediate Moore Creek gold. There certainly is potential for an open pit mine although there is some preference in Alaska this days for a large underground mine like at the newly opened Pogo Mine.Initially it is just shovels and augers for the geochem work, and then possibly trenching with the D9 on. We are currently investing excavator options, however. A drill rig could come in this fall or next summer depending.Going to be an exciting summer!!Steve Herschbach Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin nuggethunting Posted May 2, 2006 Admin Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 Hello Steve, That's great news! I sure hope they find something ... something really big. Please make sure you keep us updated here, as many, including myself would love to hear the progress from the ground up. P.S. Know of any good recreational dredging claims for sale in Alaska? Something you could recommend ... Glenn and I will be talking with you more about it at Moore Creek next month. I'm getting the dredging bug back again. Talk with you soon,Rob Allison Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted May 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 Hi Rob,I'll be detailing the events that lead up to the deal and progress going forward as I think there are some lessons others could learn from what I've been up to. It is nice to see a plan come together, and everything has played a part. Having people visit the mine helped get some cash flow going and also acts as a type of exploration program. I personally was surprised how far downstream the larger gold was found.I'll put some thought into the dredging claims thing. Good claims are hard to get these days but I'll check around.Steve HerschbachMoore Creek Mining LLC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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