Home   |   Contact Us   |   Site Map

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, November 19, 2012 - West Kirkland Mining Inc. (WKM:TSXV) (“West Kirkland” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has commissioned Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (RPA) to produce a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) of the Company’s TUG deposit. The scope includes;

• updated pit-constrained resource;
• evaluation of existing metallurgical work;
• engineering of mine layout; and
• scheduling and process design. 

The PEA is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2013 and design drawings will form the basis of construction and operating permit applications.  Pending the outcome of the PEA, permitting and additional studies, a construction decision on the TUG project could occur within the second quarter of 2013. The TUG deposit is near the paved highway, exposed at surface and will be studied with a conventional open pit and heap leach design. These features provide for a potential short construction period.

The Company also wishes to announce that Mr. Sandy McVey, P.Eng has joined the Company as Manager, Projects.  Mr. McVey has over 30 years of experience in mine and construction management in Canada, the USA and Africa.  Mr. McVey recently completed the successful design, permitting and construction of the Shafter silver mine in Texas. 

Michael G. Allen, Vice President of Exploration for West Kirkland Mining said, “We are extremely happy to have Sandy join our team.  He has worked with all levels of our management in the past and we look forward to his work guiding the engineering of the TUG deposit forward.  Our exploration efforts in the Long Canyon trend quickly identified and delineated shallow oxide gold resources in TUG that we are moving forward as a base of operations while continuing to explore our district scale land position.” 

The TUG property is under option from Fronteer Development (USA) Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Newmont Mining Corporation.  Under the agreement, West Kirkland can earn a 60% interest in the property by spending a total of $4,000,000.  To date the Company has spent approximately $3,400,000 and has secured a 51% interest in the property by completing the first earn in right.

TUG Property Details
The TUG property is located in Box Elder County Utah.  West Kirkland is earning its interest in the TUG property through an option agreement with Newmont.  The TUG property hosts a shallow oxidized gold resource that was extensively drilled by previous operators, including Noranda, Phelps Dodge and Western States Minerals.  Upon optioning the property, West Kirkland completed the first three dimensional compilation of the historic data and expanded the resource through drilling.  West Kirkland completed the first NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate on the TUG deposit on May 29, 2012.  The inferred TUG resource was estimated by Caracle Creek International Consultants to be 679,000 gold equivalent ounces contained in 27,110,000 tonnes grading 0.49 g/t Au and 15.8 g/t Ag using a cut-off 0.1 g/t Au.    For further information on the TUG resource please refer to the Company’s June 1, 2012 news release and the technical report filed with SEDAR. 

Regional Exploration
Drilling to date has identified a key geological contact that appears to be mineralized in association with Long Canyon trend parallel structures.  This contact is extensively mineralized at the TUG deposit and 12 Mile prospect.  Similar contacts and structures have been identified at the Lewis Spring and Bandito targets, which have been permitted for drilling in 2013. 

The Company recently completed a nine hole reverse circulation drill program totaling 1,974 meters to evaluate targets in its Long Canyon land package.  The program was successful in identifying near surface oxidized gold mineralization at the 12 Mile prospect, located 10 kilometers to the west of the TUG deposit.  Results from the first four holes at 12 Mile were released on September 26, 2012.  The final hole of the program 12M12-007 cut 16.77 meters of 0.20 g/t Au and 0.67 g/t Ag starting at 39.62 meters. 

No significant intercepts were cut in three holes at 12 Mile and two holes on the Toano prospect. Focus for the 2013 program will be on 12 Mile, Lewis Springs and Bandito targets as well as evaluation of the large regional position.  

The work done to date in the Company’s regional exploration has identified the potential for significant shallow oxide gold resources to be discovered within the emerging Long Canyon trend, an underexplored region in north eastern Nevada and Utah.  The Company has permits in hand for drilling at 12 Mile, Lewis Spring and Bandito in 2013, and is generating additional drill targets on KB and Patterson Pass. 

Company Focus
The Company’s focus in the United States is to expand and complement the TUG gold deposit through regional exploration for near surface gold deposits. The structural model for gold deposits in the Long Canyon Trend has accelerated exploration in the area since the discovery of Newmont’s large scale Long Canyon deposit. The Long Canyon Trend is delineated by the Long Canyon deposit in the south west and the TUG deposit 65 kilometers to the north east. With approximately 900 square kilometers of mineral rights in the Long Canyon trend, West Kirkland has the dominant land position between the two deposits. 

Data, Verification, Quality Control and Assurance
Drill intersections are reported at drilled thickness, true thickness is estimated to be 60-90% of drilled thickness.  Composites were calculated using an internal cut-off of 0.075 g/t Au.  Drill samples were assayed by ALS Chemex in North Vancouver, BC (ISO 9001:2008).  Gold was assayed for using fire assay with an ICP finish.  Samples that returned values in excess of 1 g/t Au were re-assayed using gravimetric methods.  Silver and other elements were analyzed by ICP-MS using four acid digestion.  QA/QC included the insertion and monitoring of standards and blanks within the sample stream as well as the collection of duplicate samples. 

Michael G. Allen, Vice President of Exploration for West Kirkland and a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information in this news release. He is the non-independent qualified person for the purpose of this news release.

About West Kirkland
West Kirkland was formed in 2010 to focus on gold exploration along major trends in North America. The Company has consolidated significant mineral rights positions in the Kirkland Lake area of Ontario and within major gold trends of northeastern Nevada - two of North America’s premier gold jurisdictions. The founders and Board of West Kirkland have successful gold discovery, development and mine operations experience in both Ontario and Nevada over the past 40 years.

For further information, please see the Company’s website at wkmining.com or contact us by email at or call:

West Kirkland Mining Inc.
R. Michael Jones, Michael Allen or Knox Henderson at (604) 685-8311
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.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Such information includes, without limitation, information regarding proposed exploration activities. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of the financial markets for the Company’s equity securities, the state of the market for gold or other minerals that may be produced generally, recent market volatility; variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies and other risks associated with the exploration and development of mineral properties. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors Regarding Estimates of Inferred Mineral Resources

This press release uses the terms “inferred mineral resources.” We advise U.S. investors that while these terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the SEC does not recognize them. “Inferred mineral resources” have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an “inferred mineral resource” will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of “inferred mineral resources” may not form the basis of a feasibility study or prefeasibility studies, except in rare cases. The SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute “reserves” as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures. The terms “contained gold ounces” and “contained silver ounces” used in this press release are not permitted under the rules of the SEC. U.S. investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of an inferred resource exists or is economically or legally mineable.