Cyprus drilling Queenston ground

Diamond drills are being moved onto Queenston Mining’s (TSE) two properties near Kirkland Lake, Ont.

Cyprus Canada, a subsidiary of Cyprus Minerals of Colorado, has launched an 8-hole, 10,000-ft. program on the Amalgamated property. Drilling in 1990 turned up a wide, 100.4-ft. intersection in the 102-103 zone. Grade: 0.17 oz. gold per ton. Another hole intersected 0.18 oz. over nearly 28 ft. Gold Fields Canada, meanwhile, will launch a 20,000-ft. program on the Pandora property. This ground too has yielded good intersections — 0.18 oz. over nearly 102 ft., for example.

Queenston estimates a drill-indicated Pandora reserve of 2.4 million tons grading 0.13 oz. gold per ton. Gold Fields, owned by Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corp., is seeking to extend the reserve at depth.

West of Pandora, an exploration play has sat idle since 1980. At that time, one hole intersected low-grade mineralization across a remarkable width — 0.092 oz. across 258.5 ft.

Both Cyprus and Gold Fields can earn 70% interests in their respective properties.