Strongbow Reports First Exploration Drilling Results for Shovelnose Gold Property, BC

Strongbow Exploration Inc. (SBW: TSXV) has been notified by Westhaven Ventures Inc. (WHN: TSXV) that final results have been received from the 2011 drilling program at the Shovelnose gold property located adjacent to the Coquihalla highway, approximately 30 km south of Merritt, British Columbia. The 606 metre program consisted of seven shallow drill holes testing three target areas. Highlights from the program include:

• Gold mineralization was encountered in all seven of the drill holes;
• Drilling at the Mik and Line 6 showings confirm that gold bearing quartz veins previously mapped at surface can be traced to depth;
• At the Tower Zone, a broad, 56 metre interval of pyrite and silica alteration occurs within the same silica altered felsic tuff unit that hosts the gold-bearing quartz veins at Mik and Line 6. This alteration zone is gold bearing and is interpreted as evidence of a significant mineralized alteration system within the property;
• The Tower Creek valley, a prominent structural feature located between the Tower and Mik zones has been identified as a priority target for further evaluation.

David Gale, Strongbow's VP, Exploration, stated, "We are pleased with the results from this first ever drilling program on the Shovelnose property. Exploration is still at a very early stage, however the drilling has confirmed the widespread occurrence of gold on the property and, perhaps more importantly, a significant alteration zone that could indicate the presence of a large gold bearing system."

Three drill holes, ranging in depth from 80 to 105 metres, tested the Mik zone where previous trenching had identified a series of gold bearing epithermal quartz veins. All three holes returned locally anomalous gold values associated with narrow quartz-adularia veins. These results included drill hole 11SH-003, which intersected 1.2 g/t gold over 4.1 metres, starting at 34 m down hole, including a 1.5 metre interval that returned 3.0 g/t gold. This interval was encountered 35 metres down dip to the west of a surface trench that returned up to 38.2 g/t gold. This vein system is open to the north and south, as well as down dip to the west.

A single drill hole tested the Tower zone, an area of subcropping clay and silica altered rhyolite tuffs approximately 400 metres northeast of Mik. Drill Hole 11SH-007 intersected 0.21 g/t gold over 55.8 metres starting from surface. This broad zone of elevated gold represents a new style of mineralization not observed at Mik and Line 6. Dark grey silica with finely disseminated pyrite occurs in veins and breccias within the volcanic crystal lithic tuffs. In addition to gold, this alteration is associated with elevated arsenic, molybdenum, antimony and mercury, all of which are characteristic pathfinder elements associated with epithermal gold systems. Tower zone is unconstrained and represents a priority target for further evaluation.

Three shallow drill holes also tested a portion of the Line 6 showing, where previous trenching returned encouraging mineralized intervals, including 20 m grading 0.8 g/t gold, 16.0 m grading 1.4 g/t gold, and 6.0 m grading 5.1 g/t gold. All three drill holes returned anomalous gold values associated with thin epithermal style quartz veining within a crystal lithic tuff unit. Of note, drill hole 11SH-004, testing below a mechanized trench which returned 20 metres grading 0.80 g/t gold, returned 25.63 metres grading 0.32 g/t gold starting at 6.9 m downhole.

The Mik and Tower showings are located on the west and east sides, respectively, of the north trending Tower Creek valley which has been interpreted to host a fault structure based on airborne magnetic data. Detailed soil sampling along this valley has defined a 1,400 m long zone of elevated gold, arsenic, mercury, antimony and molybdenum. Prospecting conducted during the 2011 program uncovered a heavily veined, pyrite flooded siliceous rock that returned 6.8 g/t gold. This sample was located 300 metres south of a previously reported rock sample that returned 119.0 g/t gold and 271 g/t silver. These two samples help to define the southern extent of mineralization within the Tower Creek valley. Elsewhere on the property, new soil sampling to the southeast of the Tower Creek valley returned values from detection to 1.6 g/t gold. Westhaven has confirmed that planning is underway for a 2012 exploration program intended to further evaluate both of these target areas, as well as a number of regional targets within the property that have been identified based on gold and associated arsenic, antimony and mercury values. The 2012 exploration program is anticipated to include an induced polarization ground geophysical survey along the Tower Creek valley, as well as further diamond drilling.

Westhaven's exploration programs are part of an agreement under which Westhaven can earn up to a 70% interest in the Shovelnose property. Under the terms of the agreement, Westhaven can earn a 51% interest by incurring $1.5 million in exploration expenditures over a three year period and issuing a total of 300,000 common shares to Strongbow. Within 12 months of having earned its 51% interest in the property, Westhaven will have the option to increase its total property interest to 70% by issuing an additional 500,000 shares to Strongbow, and incurring an additional $1.5 million in exploration expenditures.

Qualified Person Statement

Work on the Shovelnose property is supervised by Kristopher J. Raffle, P.Geo (BC) Senior Geologist for APEX Geoscience Ltd. of Edmonton, AB, who is the qualified person for the project as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Raffle has reviewed the portion of the technical content of this news release as it relates to the Shovelnose property. During 2011, all drill core samples were submitted to AGAT Laboratories, Mississauga, Ontario for multi-element ICP-MS and gold Fire Assay analysis. The ICP-MS analysis provided results for 51 elements using a 1.0 gram sample split and aqua regia digestion. For fire assay analysis, samples were crushed and pulverized to produce a pulp and a 30 gram sample split was mixed with flux to produce a dore bead. The bead was digested in acids and the solution analyzed by an Atomic Absorption Spectrometer. A quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program is in place, with the insertion of standard, blank and duplicate samples into the sample stream to confirm the accuracy of the reported results.

STRONGBOW EXPLORATION INC.

/s/"Kenneth A. Armstrong"
Kenneth A. Armstrong
President and CEO

For further information, please contact:
Ken Armstrong
President and CEO
Tel: 604 668 8355
Email: info@strongbowexploration.com
Website: www.strongbowexploration.com
 

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