Almaden Infill Hole Hits 28.95 M of 5.61 G/T GOLD and 19.7 G/T Silver Beneath PFS Pit
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NEWS RELEASE
February 21st, 2018
Trading Symbols:
TSX: AMM; NYSE American: AAU
www.almadenminerals.com
ALMADEN INFILL HOLE HITS 28.95 M OF 5.61 G/T GOLD AND 19.7 G/T SILVER BENEATH PFS PIT
Almaden Minerals Ltd. (“Almaden” or “the Company”; TSX: AMM; NY SE American: AAU) is pleased to
announce new assay results from Almaden’s ongoing exploration a nd development program at the Company’s
Tuligtic project, Mexico. Today’s results are from holes TU-17-532 (infill), and GMET-17-13 and 14 (metallurgical
holes) all drilled into the northeast striking Chemalaco Zone o n the east side of the Ixtaca deposit and the Pre-
Feasibility Study (“PFS”) pit. Ho les TU-17-532 and GMET-17-14 were drilled beneath the PFS pit. These latest
results confirm a high-grade zone of mineralisation immediately outside and beneath the PFS pit and the potential
for expansion of the PFS mine plan. Highlights include the following intercepts:
Hole TU-17-532 SECTION 50025 NO RTH Az. 070, Dip -80 (BENEATH PFS PIT)
101.45 meters @ 1.94 g/t Au and 12.7 g/t Ag
Including 46.20 meters @ 3 .87 g/t Au and 15.1 g/t Ag
And 28.95 meters @ 5. 61 g/t Au and 19.7 g/t Ag
And 13.10 meters @ 9. 35 g/t Au and 25.5 g/t Ag
Hole GMET-17-13 SECTION 49950 NO RTH Az. 070, Dip -35 (WITHIN PFS PIT)
53.90 meters @ 0.48 g/t Au and 37.8 g/t Ag
Including 7.00 meters @ 1.11 g/t Au and 95.3 g/t Ag
Hole GMET-17-14 SECTION 49950 NORTH Az. 070, Dip -60 (WITHIN AN D BENEATH PFS PIT)
24.00 meters @ 1.90 g/t Au and 16.3 g/t Ag
Including 12.00m @ 3.66 g/t Au and 26.6 g/t Ag
And 5.00 m @ 7.91 g/t Au and 33.8 g/t Ag
57.55 meters @ 1.29 g/t Au and 23.5 g/t Ag
Including 3.00 meters @ 16.87 g/t Au and 37.7 g/t Ag
J.D. Poliquin, chairman of Almaden stated, “We are very encouraged to be further defining the mineralised zone
beneath the PFS pit. It demonstrates the potential for the Ixtaca mine plan to grow. Ongoing drilling will continue
to seek more such zones even as the engineering work and feasibility study progress.”
About the Ixtaca Deposit Feasibility Program
The Company has selected independent engineers Moose Mountain T echnical Services (“MMTS”) to lead the
feasibility study. Various feasibility-related programs are currently underway, including:
Feasibility-level engineering design;
Additional geotechnical evaluatio ns in areas of infrastructure and pit slope;
Continued monitoring of water quality and flow;
Metallurgical test work to furt her refine the process flowsheet;
The Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), the state-owned el ectric utility of Mexico, has confirmed the
availability of power from its substation located 27 km from the Ixtaca Project;
Assessment of contractors suitable to complete site access roa d improvements required for the mine
construction.
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MMTS is an association of Geologists, Engineers and Technicians providing experienced knowledge in Geology,
Mine Engineering, and Metallurgical Services and Support to the mining industry for over 15 years. Through their
network of associates, they provide an integrated team of experts and QP’s. Services range from early grassroots
exploration and development, block model builds, resource and reserve estimates, advanced planning and studies
for mine proposals (including operational support), process design and permitting process guidance and support.
MMTS has experience working on coal, gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, and tungsten deposits throughout North
and South America and around the wo rld. A list of specific proj ects worked on by MMTS can be found at
www.moosemmc.com.
About the Ixtaca Drilling Program and the Ixtaca Zone
The Ixtaca Zone is a blind discovery made by the Company in 201 0 on claims staked by the Company. The
deposit is an epithermal gold-silver deposit, mostly hosted by veins in carbonate units and crosscutting dykes
(“basement rocks”) with a minor component of disseminated mineralisation hosted in overlying volcanic rocks.
The Ixtaca deposit is located in a developed part of Mexico in Puebla State, the location of significant
manufacturing investments including Volkswagen and Audi plants. The deposit is accessed by paved road and is
roughly 30 kilometres from an industrial park with rail service where significant manufacturers such as Kimberly
Clarke have facilities. Any pot ential mining operation at Ixtaca would be located in an ar ea previously logged or
cleared with negligible to no current land usage.
The Company has access to the entire project area and works clo sely with local officials and residents. The
Company has employed roughly 70 people in its exploration progr am who live local to the Ixtaca deposit. For
example, local employees have made up virtually all the drilling staff and have been trained on the job to operate
the drill rigs being used at the project. The Company has imple mented a comprehensive science based and
objective community relations and education program for employe es and all local stakeholders to transparently
explain the exploration and development program underway as well as the potential impacts and benefits of any
possible future mining operation at Ixtaca. The Company regards the local inhabitants to be major stakeholders
in the Ixtaca deposit’s future along with the Company’s shareholders. Every effort is being made to create an open
and clear dialogue with our stakeholders to ensure that any pos sible development scenarios that could evolve
from the feasibility study work are properly understood and com municated throughout the course of the
Company’s exploration and development program. To better explai n the impacts of a mining operation at Ixtaca
the Company has conducted numerous tours for local residents to third party operated mines in Mexico so that
interested individuals can form their own opinions of mining based on first-hand experience. The Company invites
all interested parties to visit www.almadenminerals.com to find out more about our community development,
education and outreach programs.
On December 12, 2017 Almaden announced the completion of a Social Impact Assessment (“SIA”) of the Ixtaca
Project completed by Juan-Pablo Gudiño of GMI Consulting (“GMI” ). GMI is a Mexico City-based group which
provides social and environmental consulting services to government and industry. In 2015 it was recognized by
Consulting Magazine as one of the 50 most important consulting companies in Mexico. The work to complete the
SIA was carried out by an interdisciplinary group of nine anthropologists, ethnologists and sociologists graduated
from various universities, who lived in community homes within the Focus Area during the study to allow for
ethnographic immersion and an appreciation for the local custom s and way of life. The SIA sought voluntary
participation from broad, diverse population groups, with specific attention to approximately one thousand persons
in the Focus Area. Key points regarding the study include the following:
GMI found that Almaden Minerals’ consultation process complies with the Equator Principles and
International Best Practices;
All the fieldwork is backed up by audio, privacy notices, and photographs which demonstrate the voluntary
participation of the interviewees, and their consent to be included in the study;
The SIA included the participat ion of men, women, the elderly, boys and girls;
The SIA concluded that Almaden Minerals had consulted widely w ith the Focus Area communities, the
Ixtaca project was well understood, and that the SIA itself was successful in providing people with an
opportunity to clearly express their views on the impacts of Ixtaca project development.
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Technical Details of the Ixtaca Drilling Program
The Main Ixtaca and Ixtaca North Zones of veining are interpret ed to have a north-easterly trend. Holes to date
suggest that the Main Ixtaca and Ixtaca North Zones are sub ver tical with local variations. This interpretation
suggests that true widths range from approximately 35% of inter sected widths for a -70 degree hole to 94% of
intersected widths for a -20 degree hole. The drilling complete d to date has traced mineralisation over 1,000
meters along this northeast trend. The Chemalaco (Northeast Ext ension) Zone strikes roughly north-south (340
azimuth) and dips at 55 degrees to the west. This interpretation suggests that true widths range from
approximately 82% of intersected widths for a -70 degree hole to 99% of intersected widths for a -40 degree hole.
The orientations of the new vein zones intersected in the holes reported today are not well understood and true
widths cannot be calculated at this time.
The Ixtaca gold-silver deposit is largely comprised of zones of abundant high grade epithermal veins with low
base metals hosted in barren limestone. Gold and silver in these veins occurs largely as electrum (an alloy of gold
and silver) and other leachable sulphides. The boundaries of th ese vein zones, or swarms, with un-mineralised
limestone are well defined both visually and by assay results and are therefore readily modelled for geologic and
resource purposes. The many individual veins and veinlets within the vein swarms branch and re-connect, as well
as locally change strike and dip, pinch and swell. The wirefram e models constructed to define the overall vein
zones therefore contain interspersed irregular zones of barren limestone wallrock. This inclusion of limestone
dilution in the vein zone wireframes results in average reserve grades of 1.17 g/t AuEq (80.5 g/t AgEq), as reported
in the Company’s Pre-Feasibility Study which was filed on SEDAR in May, 2017 (the “PFS”). Nevertheless, the
actual occurrence of gold and s ilver in the limestone hosted Ma in Ixtaca Zone is in the form of high grade veins
and veinlets, not, for example, as widespread low grade dissemi nated mineralisation. These geologic and
mineralogic observations have very positive mining and recovery implications as defined in the PFS released by
the Company:
The near surface occurrence and broad nature of the Ixtaca gol d-silver deposit vein zones allow for low-
cost bulk open pit mining as opposed to expensive underground m ethods often required for narrow
individual veins. At the time of future mining, the exposure of the vein system on mine benches may allow
for the visual definition between limestone waste and epithermal veining and improvement to the geologic
model from that generated from exploration drill holes. An impr oved mine bench scale geologic model,
along with appropriate ore control systems, may allow for more selective mining and waste definition of
the vein swarms;
The contrast between barren lim estone and the non-refractory g old and silver ore and vein mineralogy
allows for simple bulk gravity and flotation to remove the barr en limestone to create low mass pull and
volume concentrates. The PFS demonstrates that a bulk flotation concentrate of gravity tails over the
mine life will average approximately 4.3 g/t gold and 390 g/t silver with a mass pull of ~8%;
Leaching these limestone domain concentrates results in very h igh overall gold and silver recoveries (both
average approximately 90%) into doré on site without the need for expensive smelting as is the case for
many base metal rich precious metal deposits.
Mr. Norm Dircks, P.Geo., a qualified person (“QP”) under the meaning of NI 43-101, is the QP and project manager
of Almaden’s Ixtaca program and reviewed the technical information in this news release. The analyses reported
were carried out at ALS Chemex Laboratories of North Vancouver using industry standard analytical techniques.
For gold, samples are first analysed by fire assay and atomic a bsorption spectroscopy (“AAS”). Samples that
return values greater than 10 g/t gold using this technique are then re-analysed by fire assay but with a gravimetric
finish. Silver is first analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (“ICP-AES”).
Samples that return values greater than 100 g/t silver by ICP-A ES are then re analysed by HF-HNO 3-HCLO4
digestion with HCL leach and ICP-AES finish. Of these samples those that return silver values greater than 1,500
g/t are further analysed by fire assay with a gravimetric finish. Intervals that returned assays below detection were
assigned zero values.
Blanks, field duplicates and certified standards were inserted into the sample stream as part of Almaden’s quality
assurance and control program which complies with National Instrument 43-101 requirements.
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About Almaden
Almaden Minerals Ltd. owns 100% of the Tuligtic project in Puebla State, Mexico, subject to a 2.0% NSR royalty
held by Almadex Minerals Limited. Tuligtic covers the Ixtaca Go ld-Silver Deposit, whic h was discovered by
Almaden in 2010.
On Behalf of the Board of Directors
“Morgan Poliquin”
Morgan J. Poliquin, Ph.D., P.Eng.
President, CEO and Director
Almaden Minerals Ltd.
Neither the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) nor the NYSE American have reviewed or accepted responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of the contents of this
news release which has been prepared by mana gement. Except for the statements of histor ical fact contained herein, certain info rmation presented constitutes
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Canadian securities laws. Such forward-
looking statements, including but not limited to, those with respect to potential expansion of mineralization, potential size of mineralized zone, and size and timing
of exploration and development programs, estimated project capital and other project costs and the timing of submission and receipt and availability of regulatory
approvals involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Almaden to be
materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among
others, risks related to international operations and joint vent ures, the actual results of current exploration activities, con clusions of economic evaluations,
uncertainty in the estimation of mineral resources, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, environmenta l risks and hazards, increased
infrastructure and/or operating costs, labour and employment matters, and government regulation and permitting requirements as well as those factors discussed
in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Almaden's Annual Information form and Almaden's latest Form 20-F on file with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission in Washington, D.C. Although Almaden has attempted to iden tify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be
other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estima ted or intended. There can be no assurance that such statement s will prove to be accurate as
actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Almaden disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required pursuant to applicable securities laws.
Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Contact Information:
Almaden Minerals Ltd.
Tel. 604.689.7644
Email: [email protected]
http://www.almadenminerals.com/