West Kirkland Reports Expanded Gold Mineralization at TUG Property, Long Canyon Trend, Nevada

December 8, 2011

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, December 8, 2011 - West Kirkland Mining Inc. (WKM:TSXV) (“West Kirkland” or the “Company”) is pleased to report assay results of 2.89 g/t gold and 112 g/t silver over 6.09 meters have been received from core hole WT11-007 at its TUG property in the Long Canyon Trend, Nevada. Mineralization expands beyond the area of the historic resource to the north. The gold mineralization also extends beyond the typical host horizon of the TUG deposit and into structures adjacent and below the historic deposit host. This hole confirms the system is open for further expansion. Northeast structures parallel to the Long Canyon Trend at the north end of the TUG deposit, beyond hole WT11-007, will be the target of drilling in January 2012.

Details

Hole ID
From (m)
To (m)
Length (m)
Au (g/t)
Ag (g/t)
WT11-007
19.05
22.09
3.04
0.39
192.02
and*
193.55
240.79
47.24
0.52
18.17
including
193.55
199.64
6.09
2.89
112.05

*this composite interval includes four zones of no recovery which were assigned grade of 0 g/t for calculating composites. 

Due to fracturing of the core, true thickness is not estimated at this time.

The presence of high-grade silver near surface indicates that the TUG system, which has a significant silver credit, may have multiple phases of mineralization. These may include separate gold and silver mineralizing events indicating a long lived system.  WT11-007 also cut a large scale structure thought to be parallel to the main Long Canyon Trend, which may be the conduit of mineralizing fluids.  This model will also be tested with further drilling. The budget and scale of drilling at TUG will be integrated into the Nevada regional plans before year end.

Regional Plans

TUG is part of 1,020 square kilometers (252,000 acres) of mineral rights in the Long Canyon Trend that the Company has optioned through a transaction with Fronteer Gold, prior to its acquisition by Newmont Mining Corporation (“Newmont”) and with Rubicon Minerals Corporation (“Rubicon”). The combined Newmont and Rubicon option agreements give West Kirkland a dominant land position within the Long Canyon Trend and will be the focus of the Company’s exploration efforts in Nevada. Regional geophysics completed by Newmont and Rubicon, covering the Company’s land position in the Long Canyon Trend is currently being compiled. This work, combined with data from approximately 7,000 soil samples collected by the Company, will be used to establish a regional multi-target drilling strategy and budget for Nevada including TUG for 2012.

Hole WT11-005 and WT11-006 were drilled on the TUG property to test regional geophysical targets and did not return significant results.

Bullion Mountain

Also in Nevada, the Company is currently drilling its first hole on the Bullion Mountain project.  The project is located in the Battle Mountain Trend, approximately 12 kilometers to the north of Barrick’s Pipeline mine and approximately 30 kilometers northwest from Barrick’s recently announced Red Hills and Goldrush discoveries. 

Qualified Person, Verification, Quality Control and Assurance

Samples of drill core were saw cut, with half the cut core placed in individual sealed bags and half placed back in the original core box for permanent storage.  Drill core samples were delivered directly by West Kirkland personnel to the ALS Chemex prep lab in Winnemucca Nevada.  Prepared pulps were shipped by ALS Chemex to their North Vancouver lab where gold was determined by fire assay fusion with Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) finish.  Gold samples that assayed greater than 1 g/t were re-assayed using gravimetric analytical methods.  Silver samples that assayed greater than 100 g/t were re-assayed using four acid digestion with ICP finish.  ALS Chemex’s North Vancouver Lab is ISO 9001:2008 certified and also is ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accredited by the Standards Council of Canada for the assay methods employed. 

Michael G. Allen, Vice President of Exploration for West Kirkland, and a Qualified Person as defined by Canadian National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed the information contained in this news release.  He has also verified the analytical data for drill core samples disclosed in this release by reviewing the blanks, duplicates and certified reference material that the Company inserted into the sample stream and confirming that they fall within limits as determined by acceptable industry practice.  He is the non-independent qualified person for this new release and has verified the data.

About West Kirkland Mining

West Kirkland Mining was formed in 2010 to focus on gold exploration along major trends in North America. The Company has consolidated significant mineral rights positions in the Kirkland Lake area of Ontario and within major gold trends of north eastern Nevada - two of North America’s premier gold jurisdictions. The founders and Board of West Kirkland Mining have successful gold discovery, development and mine operations experience in both Ontario and Nevada over the past 40 years.

For further information, please see the Company’s website at www.wkmining.com or contact us by email at [email protected] or call:

West Kirkland Mining Inc.
R. Michael Jones, Michael Allen or Knox Henderson at (604) 685-8311

Or

Sequoia Partners
Don Graham: 778-558-4310 or [email protected]
James Beesley: 778-389-7715 or [email protected]

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Such information includes, without limitation, information regarding proposed exploration activities. Although the Company believes that such information is reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of the financial markets for the Company’s equity securities, the state of the market for gold or other minerals that may be produced generally, recent market volatility; variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies and other risks associated with the exploration and development of mineral properties. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company’s profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Sign Up for Email News