EXPLORATION 1998 — Gabriel exploring historic Romanian gold district — Program seeks to upgrade resource

Initial drill results from the Rosia Montana gold project of Gabriel Resources (GBU-V) have proven encouraging.

The program is designed to upgrade the resource at the Romanian deposit, which stands at 48 million tonnes grading 1.7 grams per tonne using a 1-gram cutoff grade, to proven and probable reserves.

The project is situated in a region of northwestern Romania dubbed the Golden Quadrilateral in reference to its rich gold mining heritage. Gabriel holds a 65% interest in the project; the remainder is held by the state-owned firm responsible for the above resource estimate.

Gabriel has completed just one hole, G10, which was drilled at a 60 angle and contained the following intercepts: 1 metre, from surface, grading 1.99 grams gold per tonne; 10.1 metres, from 3 to 13.1 metres, of 26.38 grams, including 2 metres of 93.19 grams; 28.6 metres, from 16.4 to 45 metres, of 2.08 grams, including 9 metres of 3.27 grams; and 58 metres, from 45 to 102 metres, of 1.37 grams. Drilling will test the continuity of the deposit to a depth of 350 metres.

Exploration at the property also includes underground channel sampling of historic adits as deep as 400 metres. Sample grades average 2.5 to 3 grams per tonne, but have been as high as 20 grams per tonne in breccia pipes.

The project area encompasses six zones of gold-silver mineralization, two of which — Cetate and Cirnic — are the focus of the current program. Those two zones are described as epithermal to mesothermal systems with a low sulphur content.

Topography and mineralization at Rosia Montana are amenable to large-scale, open-pit mining methods.