VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Oct. 19, 2009 (Marketwire) -- Fortress Minerals Corp. (TSX VENTURE:FST) ("Fortress") is pleased to announce that the LF-90 core drill and all support equipment and personnel are en route to the Malmyzh and Limonite projects in the Russian Far East. The mobilization is proceeding on schedule and within budget. Fortress plans to complete a 6,000 metre first-pass drilling program at the Limonite and Malmyzh copper and copper-gold projects beginning in early November and concluding in March, 2010. The Malmyzh and Limonite Projects were acquired in late September in a joint venture agreement with Freeport-McMoRan Exploration Corporation ("FMEC") (see Press Release dated September 29, 2009).
The Malmyzh Copper-Gold Project is located 215 kilometres northeast of the City of Khabarovsk near well developed infrastructure including high voltage power lines, the Amur River (a major shipping artery in the Russian Far East) and all season roads that connect the project to the regional Capital of Khabarovsk City and the seaport City of Nikolaevsk at the northern end of the Sea of Japan (see Figure 1). The Malmyzh prospect is held under a 25-year exploration and mining license. Extensive soil sampling, rock sampling and geophysical surveys throughout the license area have identified ten combined geophysical and geochemical targets within a 40-square kilometer area. Limited drilling (1,066 meters in six widely spaced drill holes into four of the identified targets) is very encouraging. The widely spaced holes all contain significant mineralization and the targets are large enough such that each of them could contain a significant porphyry deposit (see Figure 2). Results of FMEC's reconnaissance drilling include drill hole PDMC-002, which intercepted 215 metres (from 0 to 215 metres) grading 0.34% copper, hole PDMC-004, which intercepted 195.6 metres (from 2 to 197.6 metres at end of hole) grading 0.39% copper and 0.29 grams per tonne gold and hole PDMC-005, which intercepted 181.7 metres (from 12 to 193.7 metres) grading 0.30% copper. Mineralization at Malmyzh is of the copper-gold porphyry style similar to Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia and Cadia-Ridgeway in New South Wales, Australia.
Drilling will begin at the Limonite Project where approximately 1,000 metres of the planned 6,000 metre diamond drill program will be completed. Limonite is located 450 kilometres northeast of the City of Khabarovsk, and is also near well developed infrastructure.
The Limonite Prospect is characterized by a classic porphyry copper geochemical and geophysical signature (see Figure 3). Excellent potential exists for a supergene enrichment blanket. Once the initial 1,000 metres of drilling is completed at Limonite, the drill, supplies, and crew will be mobilized to Malmyzh where the additional 5,000 metres of drilling will be undertaken.
