St. Elias Mines Ltd. - Update - Cueva Blanca Gold Property In Peru

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Lori McClenahan, President, Intigold Mines Ltd. and St. Elias Mines Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: SLI) (PINKSHEETS: SELSF) (US Clearing Symbol: SELSF) (FRANKFURT: EKL) (collectively the "Companies"), announces today the following update and overview with respect to the Cueva Blanca Gold Property (the "Property") located in northwest Peru.  The Property is owned 100% by St. Elias Mines Ltd.  Intigold Mines Ltd. has an option to acquire a 60% interest in the Property.

The Companies have initiated field studies in the Cueva Blanca area in preparation for diamond drilling.  At this time, it is anticipated that very little field work will be required prior to mobilizing drilling equipment and crews to the site.  The initial drilling targets include the Cruz vein, the Cruz breccia bodies as well as the Bi-Hg quartz manto zone.  The economic targets at the property are gold and silver.

The Companies have recently been approached by Compania de Minas Buenaventura to conduct a review of the property.  The Companies are taking this into consideration.

Cueva Blanca Property Agreement

Intigold acquired an option to earn a 60% carried interest in the Property, subject to a 1.5% net smelter return royalty ("NSR"), from St. Elias in consideration of Intigold making cash payments of $200,000 to St. Elias over a two-year period, issuing 1,000,000 common shares in the capital of Intigold to St. Elias and incurring $1.5-million in exploration expenditures on the Property over a three-year period.

In addition, Intigold has the right to purchase one-half of the 1.5% NSR from St. Elias for the sum of $1,500,000, thereby reducing the NSR payable from 1.5% to 0.75%.

Cueva Blanca Property

The Property covers approximately 5,000 hectares (50km2), and is located in the Lambayeque department in northwestern Peru, within the Northern Peru Miocene metallogenic belt.  This belt is defined by a large number of world-class gold and copper-gold deposits of similar age (5-25 million years).  Giant gold deposits within this belt include Yanacocha, Lagunas Norte, and Pierina.  Also of great importance are world-class Cu+/-Au porphyry deposits such as Rio Blanco, Canariaco, La Granja, Cerro Corona, Minas Conga-Galeno-Michiqillay, Magistral, and Antamina.  The giant gold deposits and the Cu-Au porphyries often occur in clusters (e.g. Yanacocha-Conga-Galeno-Michiqillay).  Discrete vein and breccia-hosted deposits of gold and polymetallic mineralization occur adjacent to some Cu porphyry deposits.

The Cueva Blanca property is bordered to the south and southeast by mineral concessions of Vale S.A.  Barrick Gold holds extensive mineral concessions four kilometres to the north.

The Property lies within the northern member of a pair of profound east-west tectonic warps that cross northern Peru.  These flexures are marked by an abrupt change in the direction of the regional geological trend from northwest to east-west.  Within the southernmost of these tectonic features is the multi-million ounce Yanacocha gold mine and numerous Cu-Au porphyry deposits.  Both the northern and southern structures are on the order of 60-80 km wide; they extend right across the Andes from the Pacific Ocean to the Amazon River Basin.

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