Northern Star Resources  is pleased to advise that its $20 million exploration program is confirming the significant potential of the Company's dominant 7000sqkm landholding in the Ashburton region of WA, with drilling at the Belvedere prospect returning hits of up to 29gpt. Belvedere sits 8km from the Paulsens Gold Mine on a 25km-long mineralised structure. This structure, which also hosts Paulsens, is located on the axis of the Wyloo Dome and is part of the major regional structure known as the "Nanjilgardy Fault". Paulsens is located ~200km from the ~1 million-ounce Ashburton Project, where Northern Star aims to establish its second 100,000ozpa stand-alone operation.

Northern Star controls the vast majority of land within this 200km corridor which, as the latest Belvedere results show, is highly prospective yet barely explored. The Company is targeting the significant potential of this corridor as part of its $20 million exploration campaign. Outside the current resource areas of Paulsens, Belvedere and the Merlin prospects, there had been very limited historic geophysical, geochemical and drilling exploration prior to Northern Star acquiring Paulsens and the associated tenements in July 2010.

As part of a systematic exploration program in 2011, a detailed 50m line-spaced airborne magnetic-radiometric survey and interpretation was undertaken on the entire Paulsens tenement package containing the 25km-long structure. This provided a superior geophysical map which highlighted structures and generated a number of anomalies. Exploration follow-up to date on this "Paulsens Mine Corridor" has returned high grade rock chips including 22gpt Au, 55gpt Ag, 25% Cu from various prospects along the 25km strike length. The concept and importance of the "Paulsens Mine Corridor" then emerged. Close spaced soil sampling and detailed geological mapping programs were recently completed over the most prospective areas with the aim of defining drill targets for 2013. Results of these programs are pending and a geochemical consultant has been engaged to aid in the interpretation of the results.

The Belvedere prospect is located within the "Paulsens Mine Corridor" and just 8km from the Paulsens processing plant. Last year Northern Star re-assessed historical data and defined a maiden resource of 18,000oz Au1 at 3.3gpt. Gold at Belvedere is hosted by sulphide-rich quartz veins on the margin of a dolerite dyke - basalt/sediment contact. Belvedere has similarities to the Paulsens orebody, where gold is also contained within a plunging quartz vein system. Other geological similarities are high gold grades, quartz vein-sulphide host, location near the Wyloo Dome fold hinge and proximity to key structures. On the back of a successful round of drilling last year which returned 9m at 12.7gpt Au (ASX announcement 23 March 2012), an RC/diamond drill program was designed to target mineralisation open down plunge and along strike.

This drilling has extended high grade gold mineralisation 110m down-plunge from previous results, giving a total plunge length of 250m from surface and is still open at depth. Preliminary Metallurgical results through the Paulsens mine lab utilising the standard bottle roll leach technique, indicated gold recoveries between 91-96%.
Resource RC drilling has also been completed at shallower levels, to evaluate if a resource upgrade and additional resource gold ounces can be determined; assays pending. Open pit optimisations are underway. Northern Star Managing Director Bill Beament said the Belvedere results strongly supported the Company's belief in the prospectivity of the 25km structure containing Paulsens. "We believe we have some of the most promising yet barely explored gold ground in Australia," Mr Beament said.
"There is growing evidence of the potential for Paulsens look-alikes on the 25km structure as well as significant upside elsewhere on our 200km-long corridor." "We have set aside $20 million to test and validate these promising results this year and shareholders will be kept informed appropriately."