Tucson, Arizona—February 22, 2007—Liberty Star Gold Corp (the “Company”), (OTCBB symbol: LBTS) is pleased to announce that the Elle Joint Venture with XState Resources Limited (ASX symbol: XST) (previously OCR Minerals) has started the first hole of its three Pipe drilling program. This hole, named Rotary Drill Hole (RDH) Elle 01, is drilling on the Elle geophysical target. It was collared Thursday February 15, 2007 and was at 1,185 feet Saturday evening at quitting time.
At 335 feet the drill penetrated altered and pyrite (iron sulfide) bearing rock which appears to be part of the Hermina Pipe which lies approximately 250 feet to the southeast and is represented by a geophysical anomaly which is caused by the sulfide mineralization. The drill hole penetrated the Coconino sandstone at 1,000 feet having a thickness of about 7 feet and then entered the top of the Hermit shale—the formation that hosts most of the previously mined ore bodies in this district. The Hermit shale is gray and pyritic and contains finely crystalline pyrite and up to 17 ppm uranium where it has been analyzed. Drilling is continuing. On completion, the hole will be surveyed by downhole electrical geophysics known as TEM. This will allow the identification and position of mineralization within a 200 to 400 foot radius out from this rotary mother hole. The crew who will do this survey will be arriving on site about March one.
RDH Elle 01 drill hole is eight inches in diameter and drilled with air circulation. Directional surveys taken every 100 feet shows it is within ½ degree of being absolutely vertical—an important aspect which allows it to hit specified targets.
The three target Pipes, the Elle, Hermina and Hada have been defined by remote sensing, surface geology and surface CS/NS AMT geophysics. This geophysical method is able to look down into the earth about four thousand feet and detect conductive zones thought to be associated with mineralization. Drill hole RDH Elle 01 is the first test of the Elle geophysical target.
The three target pipes will be drilled with the “mother” air rotary hole like RDH Elle 01, designed to penetrate the center of the geophysical anomaly which defines the pipe. After downhole electrical geophysics has been done to define the position of mineralized bodies within the pipe, directional diamond drilling will commence. Each “mother” rotary hole will then be entered by an NQ size (2.2-inch diameter) diamond core drill with which directional ”daughter” holes will be drilled toward the mineral targets defined by the downhole geophysics.
These breccia pipes are part of the large uranium bearing breccia pipe terrain which occurs on the Arizona Strip lying just south of the Utah border. Eight mines were brought into production during the 1970s and early 1980s on deposits discovered within the immediate area. The uranium bearing pipes which were mined are the second highest grade uranium mineral deposits in the world and the highest grade in the United States. Previously mined mineralization in these pipes has graded about 0.6% to 0.7% uranium or about 12 to 14 pounds per ton. In addition to uranium they are known to contain copper, zinc, silver, vanadium, cobalt, nickel, molybdenum, gallium, germanium and other metals. Past producers have recovered copper, silver and vanadium as by-products of uranium mining.
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