-Ground geophysics underway for Tarp Lake area of MetalCORP’s Pickle Lake (Au) property – Deep drilling continues at Hemlo East (Au) property – encouraging initial results – Early 2010 program completed at Big Lake (Cu, Zn, Ag, Au)

TORONTO, ONTARIO, Mar 16, 2010 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — MetalCORP Limited /quotes/comstock/11v!mtc (CA:MTC 0.21, -0.01, -4.55%) is pleased to provide an update on each of its active exploration projects in Northwest Ontario – Pickle Lake, Hemlo East and Big Lake (south east of the Hemlo gold area).

 

Pickle Lake (Au)

 

During January and February of this year, MetalCORP re-established and extended pre-existing cut grids near the northern end of its Pickle Lake property – the Tarp Lake area – in preparation for ground geophysical surveys including induced polarization and magnetometer, which are now underway. Re-establishing the grids, originally cut between the late 1980s and early 2000s, will save the Company considerable time, effort and expense in providing access and control for the geophysical work and for MMI (Mobile Metal Ion) soil geochemical surveys to follow. It is anticipated that this combination of geophysical and geochemical surveys, as yet untried on this part of the property, will assist in targeting mineralization in this area, which is largely covered by thick overburden.

 

In late Fall 2009, MetalCORP drilled seven holes in the Tarp Lake area of the Pickle Lake property. The holes returned sub-economic but encouraging values of gold, silver and base metals across significant widths, as did drilling by previous operators (see News Release dated December 23, 2009). The re-established grid is intended to further test this very significant mineralizing system, which very limited drilling, very sparse outcrop, and encouraging airborne geophysical parameters suggest extends northward. The intent is to provide control in the area north of the area drilled in 2009 for the more gold-rich pyrite-dominated disseminated styles of mineralization encountered in that drill program.

 

Other parts of the property, which the Company will focus on in a later exploration phase, show good potential for shear zone hosted quartz-carbonate vein gold deposits, and for iron-formation-hosted gold deposits similar to those mined historically at the nearby Pickle-Crow and Central Patricia deposits.

 

Hemlo East (Au)

 

Drilling continues at MetalCORP’s Hemlo East project (35 km south east of the town of Marathon, Ontario, adjacent to the Hemlo gold mines) where the first of three deep holes planned for the current phase of the exploration program is underway. “We anticipate drilling to a depth of at least 1000 metres for each of these three holes to test one of the highest priority targets on the property,” commented Charles Greig, VP, Exploration.

 

MetalCORP’s Hemlo East property is immediately east-southeast along the structural and stratigraphic trend from Barrick Gold’s Hemlo mine. “It is clear from the core in the upper part of the first hole, which was collared in the Cedar Lake pluton, that the same sequence of stratified rocks which hosts the Hemlo deposit dip northward beneath the plutonic rocks. Because the initial targets, the Upper Anomalous Zone (UAZ) and the Egg Lake Horizon (see News Release dated January 28, 2010), dip northerly at moderate angles and can be traced across a considerable strike length (approximately 2 km) at surface and to shallower depths (approximately 500 metres vertical), the first three holes will be deeper (1000 metres to 1500 metres) and will be spaced widely (at least 500 metres apart) along that trend,” commented Greig.

 

The Company has planned an additional phase of work later this spring to test a second high-priority gold target at Hemlo East, the Gouda Lake zone, which lies farther to the southeast.

 

Big Lake (Cu-Zn-Ag-Au)

 

In late December 2009, MetalCORP began a follow-up drill program focused on its 100% owned Big Lake project, which is located approximately 25 km southeast of the town of Marathon and 20 km southwest of the Hemlo gold deposit, in northwestern Ontario. The drilling, completed in February 2010, was designed to test the three highest priority targets among the 24 potential targets arising from a largely geological and geophysical reevaluation of previously-obtained data, which was completed in late 2009 by geophysical consulting firm Quantec Geoscience.

 

This mineralization zone, identified in the results of the BL-14 discovery hole in 2007, returned 7.5% Copper, 2.2% Zinc, 138.0 g/t Silver and 9.2 g/t Gold over 4.0 metres from an interval of stringer-style and semi-massive sulphides. “Our focus was on locating an extension to the known mineralization at the BL-14 mineralization zone, and/or discovery of a new, associated, mineralized zone nearby,” commented Charles Greig, VP, Exploration. “Because these first three targets returned no significant results and, as our current focus is on the Company’s gold projects in the Hemlo and Pickle Lake areas, we have made the decision to re-prioritize the Big Lake project and resume work on it when logistics permit.”

 

Other Projects

 

MetalCORP has several other properties in northwest Ontario for which the existing data is being compiled and evaluated to determine project priority and/or potential joint venture opportunities. MetalCORP’s additional gold properties include:

 

Dorset (Au), SE of Hemlo Gold Mines

 

The Dorset gold property is located approximately 70 kilometres southeast of the Hemlo gold mines in the Mishibishu Greenstone Belt of Northwestern Ontario. The property covers a 1.0 km long gold-bearing zone approximately 6.0 km north of the Eagle River Mine of Wesdome Gold Mines. Trelawney Mining and Exploration Inc. (Trelawney), which holds the majority interest in the property through a joint venture, has drilled more than 80 holes targeting the Dorset gold zone. In October 2007, Trelawney released a NI 43-101 resource estimate of 780,000 tonnes grading 1.42 g/t in the Indicated category and 4.76 million tonnes grading 1.19 g/t in the Inferred category. Trelawney continues to be the operator in this joint venture.

 

Black Bear (Au), Red Lake Area

 

The Black Bear Gold Property is situated approximately 20 km northeast of the community of Red Lake in northwestern Ontario. This property covers a part of the northeast extension of the East Bay Deformation Zone in the historic Red Lake gold camp, which hosts a number of known gold occurrences including three past producers, of which the Cochenour-Willans mine with 1.24 million ounces of historical gold production is the most significant. The East Bay trend is also host to a number of exciting exploration plays, including the F2 Zone (Phoenix gold project) of Rubicon Minerals Corp., the GAZ Gold zone (East Bay property) of Premier Gold Mines Ltd. and Goldcorp Inc., and the Sidace Lake property of Planet Exploration Inc. and Goldcorp Inc.

 

In 2005 and 2006, Goldcorp spent $1.4 million on Black Bear under an option agreement which was terminated in 2006. Goldcorp’s work included some drilling and two new and widely separated gold veins were intersected in this very prospective geological environment. The highest-grade intersection yielded 14.9 g/t Au over 0.3 m, while the second, located nearly 5 km northeast of the first, yielded 1.73 g/t Au over 1.22 metres.

 

Because of the highly prospective location of the property, the Company has plans to reinitiate systematic grid-based exploration on the property, and is currently considering plans for infill Mobile Metal Ion (MMI) soil geochemical and ground geophysical surveys.

 

Keezhik Lake (Au), E of Pickle Lake

 

The Keezhik Lake property is located approximately 100 km east-northeast of the town of Pickle Lake, Ontario. During mid-2009, the Company completed assessment work on part of the property. MetalCORP’s geological team is currently compiling all existing data for the property in order to fully evaluate its exploration potential and to plan possible programs for 2010.

 

Each of MetalCORP’s exploration programs is carried out under the supervision of Charles Greig, P. Geo., who is the Qualified Person for the information contained in this press release and is a Qualified Person within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101.

 

MetalCORP is a mineral exploration company based in Thunder Bay, Ontario with gold and base metal projects in the Canadian Shield of Northern Ontario, Canada, one of the most prolific mineral districts in the world. The projects, with a total area of more than 85,000 acres, include the Hemlo East property, the Big Lake copper-zinc-silver-gold property, the North Rock copper-nickel-platinum property, and the Dorset, Pickle Lake, Black Bear and Keezhik Lake gold properties.

 

MetalCORP has 56,349,471 common shares outstanding and approximately $1,100,000 in cash and no long-term debt. To find out more about MetalCORP Limited visit its website at www.metalcorp.ca.

 

Except for statements of historical fact contained herein, the information in this press release may constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of Canadian securities law. Other than statements of historical fact, all statements are “Forward-Looking Statements” that involve such various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove accurate. Results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers of this press release are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these “Forward-Looking Statements”. Except as otherwise required by applicable securities statutes or regulation, the Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. While historical results mentioned in this press release are not 43-101 compliant and should not be relied upon, they have been filed in government offices with assessment reports.

 

Note: Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

 

Contacts:

MetalCORP Limited

Naomi Nemeth

President and CEO

+1 416-363-9428

naomi.nemeth@metalcorp.ca

www.metalcorp.ca

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