Toronto, Ontario, April 26, 2007 - The managements of Romios Gold Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:RG) (PINK SHEETS:RMIOF) (FRANKFURT:D4R) and Copper Canyon Resources Ltd. are pleased to announce that they have executed a Letter of Intent whereby the two parties have agreed to merge the companies in order to maximize shareholder value in the Galore Creek Project in northwestern British Columbia. The amalgamated entity would carry out business under the name of Romios Gold Resources Inc. ("New Romios"), with headquarters in Toronto, Ontario. The merger is subject to, among other things, completion of due diligence by both parties, execution of a formal agreement on or before June 15, 2007 and shareholder and regulatory approval.
Under the proposed terms of the merger, Copper Canyon shareholders will receive 1.5 shares in New Romios for each Copper Canyon share and Romios Gold shareholders would receive 1.0 share in New Romios for each Romios Gold share currently held.
Romios' principal asset is its extensive land holdings, consisting of 9 individual properties encompassing over 25,000 hectares, in the Galore Creek area adjacent to both NovaGold's and Copper Canyon's defined mineral resources. An inferred resource of 200,000 ounces of gold, 291,000 ounces of silver and 6.7 million pounds of copper (see chart below) has been calculated on one of Romios' many known mineral occurrences on its properties in the Galore Creek area. Romios' other assets include significant exploration projects in Ontario and Nevada. . An aggressive exploration program on its Galore Creek properties, estimated to cost $3 million, will be carried out by Romios during the forthcoming summer.
The inferred resource for the Northwest Zone are calculated to be 1,406,000 tonnes at a grade of 4.43 gpt Au, 0.22% Cu and 6.4 gpt Ag or a gold equivalent grade (AuEq) of 5.16 gpt. This equates to in-situ contained metal of 200,000 ounces of gold, 6,790,000 pounds of copper and 291,000 ounces of silver. These resources are reported at a base case gold equivalent cut-off grade of 2 gpt.
NW Zone Inferred Mineral Resource
Cut- off AuEq Au Ag AuEq Au Cu Ag (gpt) Tonnes (gpt) Cu% (gpt) (gpt) (ounces) (pounds) (ounces) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 2,279,000 3.22 0.18 5.1 3.83 237,000 9,240,000 378,000 1.5 1,613,000 4.07 0.21 6.1 4.78 211,000 7,500,000 317,000 2 1,406,000 4.43 0.22 6.4 5.16 200,000 6,790,000 291,000 2.5 1,215,000 4.79 0.22 6.5 5.54 187,000 6,020,000 255,000 3 979,000 5.31 0.23 6.5 6.07 167,000 4,920,000 205,000 3.5 752,000 5.97 0.23 6.6 6.75 144,000 3,880,000 158,000 4 600,000 6.57 0.24 6.4 7.35 127,000 3,110,000 124,000 4.5 505,000 7.03 0.24 6.4 7.81 114,000 2,610,000 103,000 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTES
- Metal Prices Used: Gold US$485/oz, Copper US$2.00/lb, Silver US$8.50/oz.
- Metallurgical recoveries and net smelter returns are assumed to be 100%.
- In-situ undiluted mineral resources within a maximum distance of 50m from a drill hole.
- Mineral Resources are not Mineral Reserves as Mineral Resources have not demonstrated economic viability.
Copper Canyon's primary asset is the Copper Canyon property located adjacent to NovaGold Resource's Galore Creek Project in northwestern British Columbia. The property is controlled 100% by CPY and is under option to Novagold, who may earn an 80% interest in the property by delivering a feasibility study by 2011. An inferred category resource estimate completed by independent engineering firm Hatch Ltd. of Vancouver, B.C., Canada, shows that the Copper Canyon target at the Galore Creek project in Northwestern British Columbia contains over 2.86 million ounces of gold, 37.9 million ounces of silver and 1.16 billion pounds of copper at a 0.35% copper equivalent cut-off grade (CuEq)(1) (See Table 1 below).
Tom Drivas, President and CEO of Romios comments on the proposed transaction "we are extremely excited at the opportunity to consolidate the assets of Romios and Copper Canyon which will enhance shareholder value and result in the creation of an exciting Company that will have significant inferred gold, silver and copper resources and a large number of untested mineral occurrences in the backyard of one of Canada's newest and largest mine developments.....NovaGold's Galore Creek Project. Tim J.Termuende, President and CEO of Copper Canyon, describes the proposed transaction as "a win-win for both Copper Canyon and Romios shareholders. The consolidation of the inferred resources of the Copper Canyon project with the tremendous exploration potential and continually improving infrastructure of the Romios properties provides excellent potential to enhance shareholder value".
Management of both Romios and Copper Canyon consider the Copper Canyon property to be an important component of the Galore Creek project, providing a potential source of high-grade ore. In addition, documents filed by NovaGold with the B.C. Government indicate that NovaGold intends to construct a water retention facility and diversion structure related to the Galore Creek mine on surface lands within the Copper Canyon property area.
On February 23rd, NovaGold announced that it had received the Environmental Certificate Approval for the Galore Creek project, described by NovaGold management as "a major step toward the development of what will be one of the largest new mines in Canada". NovaGold also recently announced plans to commence construction activity at Galore Creek during 2007 and intends to carry out additional drilling activity during 2007 at Copper Canyon (see NG news release February 9th, 2007).
Table 1 : COPPER CANYON TARGET - INFERRED RESOURCE
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Million Million Million
Cutoff Size Grade lbs. Ozs Ozs
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CuEq(%) Tonnes Cu (%) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) CuEq(%) Cu Au Ag
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0.35 164.8 0.35 0.54 7.15 0.74 1,160 2.86 37.91
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0.50 116.1 0.41 0.64 8.30 0.87 950 2.39 30.98
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0.70 63.0 0.50 0.86 10.21 1.11 625 1.73 20.68
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1.00 29.2 0.65 1.14 13.03 1.45 381 1.07 12.23
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1.30 15.6 0.83 1.32 15.70 1.72 258 0.66 7.87
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Note: (1) Copper equivalent calculations use metal prices of US$375/oz for
gold, US$5.50/oz for silver and US$0.90/lb for copper. Copper
equivalent calculations (CuEq%) reflect gross metal content that
have been adjusted for metallurgical recoveries based on the
following criteria: Copper Recovery = (%Cu-0.06)/%Cu with a
minimum of 50% and Maximum of 95%; Gold Recovery = (Au g/t -
0.14)/Au g/t with a minimum of 30% and Maximum of 80%; and Silver
Recovery = 80%.
Copper Canyon Resources was created by way of a Plan of Arrangement on June 9, 2006. Shareholders of Eagle Plains Resources Ltd. approved the plan to reorganize the Company's mineral property assets in an effort to maximize shareholder value. Under the terms of the arrangement, three of Eagle Plains' projects; Copper Canyon, Severance and Abo (Harrison) Gold, were transferred into Copper Canyon Resources on a one-for-one share basis.
As part of the proposed transaction, Messrs. Tim Termuende, P. Geo., Charles Downie, P. Geo., and David Johnston, P. Eng. will become members of the Board of Directors of the "New Romios".
This news release has been reviewed and approved by Thomas Skimming, P.Eng. and Tim J. Termuende, P.Geo., hereby designated as "Qualified Persons" under National Instrument 43-101.
On behalf of the Board of Directors
Tom Drivas, President and Director
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements: This Press Release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. When used in this document, the words "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to such risks and uncertainties. Many factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the statements made, including those factors discussed in filings made by us with the Canadian securities regulatory authorities. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties, such actual results of current exploration programs, the general risks associated with the mining industry, the price of gold and other metals, currency and interest rate fluctuations, increased competition and general economic and market factors, occur or should assumptions underlying the forward looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, or expected. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Shareholders are cautioned not to put undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.
The TSX Venture Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Romios Gold Resources Inc.
Tom Drivas
President and Director
(416) 221-4124
(416) 218-9772 (FAX)
Email: romios@romios.com
or
Romios Gold Resources Inc.
Thomas Skimming
Vice President of Exploration and Director
(416) 444-0900
(416) 444-0586 (FAX)
Email: tmsk8ing@hotmail.com