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$1
Million Phase II Drilling Program includes 6650 meters drilling.
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Testing the Zinc-Silver-Gold deposit at the Previous Producing
Mine Site, the fifth largest massive sulfide deposit in the
Bathurst Mining Camp.
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The Bathurst Camp is host to a number of zinc, lead, silver and
gold Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide deposits and producing mines.
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July 12, 2011, Vancouver, Canada. -- El Niño
Ventures Inc. ("ELN" or "Company") (TSX.V: ELN; FSE: E7Q) is pleased to
announce the commencement of Phase II drilling program on the Murray Brook
project in the Bathurst Mining Camp, New Brunswick. The program is under the
direction of Votorantim Metals Canada Inc.

Figure1-
Project Location Map
The Phase II drill program is planned to further
delineate the deposit in areas of low drill density, follow-up higher grade
intercepts, as well as test the known margins and possible extensions of the
deposit and ultimately the results to be used for an updated resource
calculation.
In addition, any significant targets identified by the recently completed
HeliTEM survey and ongoing Falcon AGG (Airborne Gravity Gradiometry) survey will
be evaluated as additional targets in the Phase II drill program. There are 40
holes, (6,650 meters) planned for the grid based systematic drill program.
The drill plan is designed to start on the south near-surface section of the
deposit and move to the north on deeper parts of the massive sulfide body in a
systematic manner. The actual drill hole depths will vary depending on the
massive sulfide intercepts encountered during the drill program.
Additional holes will be proposed if significant massive sulfides are
intersected in the step-out holes located along the margin of the massive
sulfide body.
Figure-2 illustrates the historical drill hole locations, Votorantim drill holes
to date and the proposed drill holes on a grid plan.
About El Niño Ventures Bathurst Projects;
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Murray
Brook Project: Under Votorantim's Option and Joint Venture
Agreement with Murray Brook Minerals and Murray Brook Resources,
both privately held companies, Votorantim can earn a 50% interest in
the Properties, by funding $2,250,000 in exploration expenditures
and making payments totalling $300,000 over a three year period
commencing November 1, 2010. Votorantim can earn an additional 20%
interest in the Properties by funding an additional $2,250,000 in
exploration expenditures over an additional two year period. El Nino
has elected to enter into a participation agreement wherein it can
earn 50% of Votorantims interest by paying 50% of the costs incurred
by Votorantim in the Option and Joint Venture Agreement.
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Bathurst Mining Camp Project: Consists of an initial 4,712
claims in tri-party agreement with Xstrata & VM Canada whereby VM
Canada may incur exploration expenditures of $10 million over a
period of 5 years to earn a 50% interest. VM Canada may further
increase its interest to 70% by spending an additional $10 million
over 2 years.

Figure2-
Drill hole Location Map
About Murray Brook
Deposit;
The Murray Brook deposit is a polymetallic, volcanic hosted, massive-sulfide
deposit and is the fifth largest in the Bathurst Mining Camp. The property is
located approximately 60 km west of Bathurst New Brunswick, in Restigouche
County, within the Bathurst Mining Camp. An existing gravel road accesses the
property from a paved highway. The electricity grid is nearby, as are
communities with goods, services and skilled labor.

Figure3-
Murray Brook and Camel Back Location Map
Gossan zone was removed during the open-pit mining operations carried out by
Novagold Resources Inc. during the early 1990s. The hanging wall is moderately
chloritic and is locally intensely deformed. The foot wall consists of fine
grained, felsic tuff and tuffaceous sediments with moderate to strong chlorite
and sericite alteration. Sulfides are mainly fine grained, massive, vaguely
laminated pyrite with disseminated and banded sphalerite, chalcopyrite and
galena.
Removal of the gossan also removed any evidence of previous drilling within the
shallow pit area. Consequently, VM Canada's due diligence process to acquire the
Murray Brook deposit required the confirmation of several historically, reported
drill results, in addition to compilation of previous work.
Significant drill results from the due diligence, drill twin-hole program
included massive sulfide intersections that were similar in width, position and
positively confirmed the grades for copper, lead, zinc, gold and silver reported
from the three previously drilled holes. Based in part on these results, VM
Canada entered into an option agreement with Murray Brook Minerals.
VM Canada Statement:
Technical details in this news release were provided by VM Canada whose
professional geologists conduct operations consistent with mineral industry best
practices. VM Canada accepts no responsibility for this news release or any
inferences made from the technical details provided herein.
Qualified Person:
John W. Londry is a Qualified Person (QP) who has reviewed and approves the
information that is included in this press release
About the Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC) Project:
Upon execution of the tripartite agreement, the BMC project comprised: 1,805
claims owned 50% ELN, 50% Xstrata Zinc; 2,907 claims owned 100% by Xstrata Zinc;
together with an Area of Interest in which ELN and Xstrata Zinc hold equal
interest. Earlier drilling campaigns delineated several historical deposits of
lead, zinc and copper mineralization within the 1,805 claims in which ELN
currently holds 50% interest (see June 4, 2008 press release).
In February 2011, ELN announced that a $5 million, exploration program,
consisting of airborne and ground geophysics has been completed and a 10,000
meter drill program slated to commence in the spring of 2011 is underway. (See
press release dated
February 23, 2011).
About the Murray Brook and Camel Back Properties
The 505 hectare, Murray Brook mining lease (ML252) contains the Murray Brook
deposit, discovered in 1956 and mined by Novagold Resources from 1989 to 1992.
Total production was 1,384 kg of gold and 9,829 kg of silver from 2.7 Mt of
oxide ore (Gossan). A sulfide resource was defined below the open pit (Gossan),
prior to the implementation of NI 43-101 standards of disclosure, historically
reported by NovaGold in 1988 to be 20.2 Mt grading 1.4% Zn, 0.3% Cu, 0.6% Pb, 25
g/t Ag and 0.3 g/t Au. A copper-rich zone within this deposit contains an
estimated 2.087 Mt grading 2.0% Cu, 1.1% Zn, 0.4% Pb, 46 g/t Ag and 0.3 g/t Au.
Under the provisions of NI 43-101, insufficient work has been carried out to
classify any of the historic occurrences as current mineral resources and the
historical estimates should not be relied upon.
The Camel Back claim block consists of 215 claims covering 4,100 hectares
situated between the Murray Brook mining lease and the Caribou mining lease
(ML246). The Caribou, Murray Brook and Restigouche deposits are all hosted
within the California Lake Group. The Caribou deposit is within
volcano-sedimentary rocks of the Spruce Lake Formation while the Murray Brook
and Restigouche deposits are within sedimentary rocks of the Mount Britain
Formation. According to geological and geophysical data, the presence of
favourable stratigraphy and some untested EM anomalies shows that the Camel Back
block still merits further exploration for discovering new deposits.
About VM Canada (Votorantim Metals Canada Inc.)
Votorantim Metals Canada Inc. is a subsidiary of Votorantim Metals, a company
that is part of the Votorantim Group that was founded in Brazil in 1918 operates
in twenty countries and has over sixty-five thousand employees. Votorantim
Metals is the largest electrolytic-nickel producer in Latin America and one of
the world's leaders in the production of zinc, aluminium and steel.
About El Nino Ventures
El Niño Ventures Inc. is an international exploration company, focused on
exploring for Copper/Cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo ("DRC") and
Lead, Zinc and Copper in New Brunswick, Canada.
In Canada, El Nino holds a 50% interest in an extensive base metal project
located within the Bathurst mining camp in Bathurst, New Brunswick, where
earlier drilling campaigns have been carried out on several historical deposits
of lead, zinc and copper mineralization within the large claim block owned 50%
ELN, 50% Xstrata Zinc.
El Niño subsequently entered into an option agreement with Votorantim Metals
Canada Inc. and Xstrata Zinc Canada whereby Votorantim may earn a 50% interest
in El Niño's landholdings by expending $10 million over 5 years and may further
increase its interest in El Niño's landholdings to 70% by expending an
additional $10 million over a further two years. (Please see release dated
May
4, 2010,).
In January 2011, ELN announced that it has provided notice to Votorantim Metals
Canada Inc. (Votorantim) to enter into a Participation Agreement on the Murray
Brook Massive Sulphide /Polymetallic Deposit, situated in the Bathurst Mining
Camp in New Brunswick, Canada. (See press release dated
January 20, 2011). Drilling has been initiated on this project.
In February 2011, ELN announced that a $5 million
exploration program has begun consisting of airborne and ground geophysics and
will include a 10,000 metre drill program which is currently underway. (See
press release dated
February 23, 2011).
El Nino's management is aggressively seeking to add to
its already extensive property portfolio and acquire additional projects on an
International scale that meet our corporate objectives. This includes base and
precious metal properties within Africa and North America.
On behalf of the shareholders and board of directors of El Nino Ventures, I
would like thank you for your ongoing support.
"Harry Barr"
Harry Barr, Chairman and Acting CEO
For further information:
Corporate: Jay Oness --
jay@elninoventures.com
Investor Relations: Toll
free 1.800.667.1870
2303 West 41st Avenue, Vancouve, B.C. V6M 2A3
Email: info@elninoventures.com
TSX Venture Exchange or 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.
Note: this release contains
forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These
statements may differ materially from actual future events or results and are
based on current expectations or beliefs. For this purpose, statements of
historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In addition,
forward-looking statements include statements in which the Company uses words
such as "continue", "efforts", "expect", "believe", "anticipate", "confident",
"intend", "strategy", "plan", "will", "estimate", "project", "goal", "target",
"prospects", "optimistic" or similar expressions. These statements by their
nature involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially
depending on a variety of important factors, including, among others, the
Company's ability and continuation of efforts to timely and completely make
available adequate current public information, additional or different
regulatory and legal requirements and restrictions that may be imposed, and
other factors as may be discussed in the documents filed by the Company on SEDAR
(www.sedar.com),
including the most recent reports that identify important risk factors that
could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking
statements. The Company does not undertake any obligation to review or confirm
analysts' expectations or estimates or to release publicly any revisions to any
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date
hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Investors should
not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
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