THUNDER BAY, ON, Aug. 18 /CNW/ - PREMIER GOLD MINES LIMITED (TSX:PG) is pleased to provide an exploration update from an ongoing drill program at the Company's Rahill-Bonanza joint venture project in Red Lake. Premier remains one of the sectors most active exploration companies, defining mineralization on multiple projects, an effort that is expected to result in at least one NI43-101 compliant gold resource estimate by year-end. Prior to year-end, exploration in Red Lake will include drilling on both the Rahill- Bonanza joint venture and the 100% held Lennie Project. This drilling will test some of the district's most prospective targets proximal to what is considered the world's richest gold mine.

The Rahill-Bonanza joint venture Property is being explored with Red Lake Gold Mines Limited ("RLGM"), an affiliate of Goldcorp Inc. Recent work immediately north of the Rahill-Bonanza Project suggests that Goldcorp's Bruce Channel Deposit is hosted within a North- South fault structure that could cross onto the joint venture property. A new hole is being drilled that will test the northwestern portion of the Property potentially along strike from the Bruce Channel Deposit.

A recently completed hole (PG09068A), that did not test the Bruce Channel target, intersected high-grade mineralization within the nearby West Granodiorite Zone (WGZ) target with assays as high as 12.5 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) across 4.5 metres (m) in a section containing numerous specks of visible gold, and 21.2g/t Au across 0.5m. This intersection is being followed-up with ongoing drilling.

Ewan Downie, President of Premier, stated that "Our drilling has intersected high grade gold mineralization within the WGZ in a 400 m step-out below where to WGZ was previously drilled and bulk sampled. This part of the Red Lake camp has seen almost no previous exploration and suggests that this deposit could have significant size potential. The grades and widths from this deep intercept are comparable to those at the Bruce Channel Deposit".

The current drill program is focused on testing prospective exploration targets, and defining potentially significant resources, located in close proximity to Goldcorp's Bruce Channel Deposit that is located immediately northwest of the joint venture property. The new West Granodiorite intercept is located approximately 100 metres along strike to the west of, and 400 metres below, the known WGZ Deposit, a large, near-surface, bulk-tonnage deposit that shares similarities to the Goldex Deposit that was recently brought into production by Agnico-Eagle in Northwestern Quebec. Goldex is a profitable low-grade bulk mineable gold deposit with favourable cash costs.