Gold Price  and Mining Impacted by US Government

THUNDER BAY – Mining – The government shutdown in the United States is impacting the price of gold. Gold prices fell on Wednesday, but have started to rebound. The spot market gold price fell below the $1,300 an ounce level. The price of an ounce of gold fell as much as $30 an ounce to a session low of $1,295.30 on Wednesday. The closing price was $1302.23 per ounce.

Gold Mining – Carpathian Gold Inc.

Carpathian Gold Inc. report that the commencement of gold production at its wholly owned Riacho dosMachados Project located in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil has been delayed into Q4, 2013. The timing of the first gold pour is pending the commissioning of the mill by a third party group and the wet commissioning of the balance of the gold production line. In the interim, mining continues with ore being stock piled in anticipation of the commencement of operations.

Carpathiaian Gold Inc. Not all Eggs in One Basket

The delay in the start-up of gold production has resulted in the Corporation having a lack of sufficient resources at a time when capital as well as commodity markets are difficult. Consequently, the Corporation’s Board of Directors has determined that it is in the best interest of the Corporation to pursue strategic alternatives. The Corporation has retained Origin Merchant Partners and Paradigm Capital Inc. as financial advisors in connection with this process. The various alternatives being considered include, but are not limited to, a business combination with another company, a recapitalization, a sale of the Corporation or its assets, a strategic investment in the Corporation or its subsidiaries by a third party, or any combination thereof.

Carpathian has entered into discussions and has executed confidentiality agreements with a number of interested parties. The Corporation has not set a schedule to complete its evaluation and, at present, there can be no assurance as to what, if any, strategic alternatives might be pursued by the Corporation. The Corporation does not intend to disclose further details with respect to its review of strategic alternatives unless and until its Board of Directors has approved a specific transaction or such disclosure is otherwise appropriate.

Gold Project in British Columbia Reports

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Pretium Resources Inc. have reported additional underground drilling results from the Valley of the Kings Bulk Sample Program (the “Program”), and results from exploration drilling in the Valley of the Kings to the west and north of the Program area. Reported assays include seven intersections grading greater than 1,000 grams per tonne gold, three of which were intersected in the planned Program fans.

The Brucejack Project, located in northern British Columbia. Processing of the 10,000-tonne Valley of the Kings bulk sample is expected to be completed this quarter. Permitting of a high-grade underground gold mine at Brucejack is underway, with commercial production targeted to commence in 2016.

Selected drill highlights include:

• Hole VU-279 (Exploration hole) intersected 3,180 grams of gold per tonne uncut over 0.50 meters;
• Hole VU-281 (Exploration hole) intersected 2,010 grams of gold per tonne uncut over 0.50 meters;
• Hole VU-273 (Program hole) intersected 1,875 grams of gold per tonne uncut over 0.50 meters;
• Hole VU-291 (Program hole) intersected 1,550 grams of gold per tonne uncut over 0.50 meters;
• Hole VU-259 (Program hole) intersected 1,360 grams of gold per tonne uncut over 0.50 meters;
• Hole VU-277 (Exploration hole) intersected 1,430 grams of gold per tonne uncut over 0.50 meters, and 1,070 grams of gold per tonne uncut over 0.50 meters.

The bonanza-grade gold intercept from exploration hole VU-279 noted above was intersected 38 meters southeast and 18 meters above the Valley of the Kings discovery hole SU-12 intercept which graded 16,948 grams per tonne gold uncut over 1.5 meters. Exploration holes VU-277 and VU-281 noted above were drilled from the 426652E drill bay as part of continued drilling to test high-grade mineralization in Domain 20, an area north and east of the 4268015N Program drill drift.

The bonanza-grade gold intercepts from the Program holes noted above were intersected on section 426652.5E (VU-259 and VU-273) and section 426600E (VU-291).

Thunder Bay Based Benton Resources

Benton Resources Inc. has announced the Company has staked an additional 108 claim units contiguous to the Cape Ray project bringing the total land holding to 657 claim units (16,425 hectares). These new claim units encompass several areas of highly prospective ground proximal to the Cape Ray deposits and where historical drilling intersected highly anomalous values of Copper, Lead, Zinc, Silver and Gold. Other historical work in the area included a glacial till sampling program from which heavy mineral concentrates were processed that yielded assays up to 3.06gpt Gold for which the source has yet to be explained.

Current ongoing ground exploration consisting of prospecting, soil geochemical sampling, line-cutting, geological mapping and an Induce Polarization geophysical survey are underway and results of the metallurgical test work being completed on the 150 kilogram mini bulk sample submitted to Met-Solve Laboratories (see Benton Resources NR August 29, 2013) are expected shortly.