Results from drilling on the down-dip extension of the Principal zone, along the Casa Berardi fault, are as follows:
— Hole 77G — 6.7 metres (starting at 585.5 metres below surface) grading 1.2 grams gold per tonne;
— Hole 79B — 5.6 metres (from 541 metres) of 1.8 grams gold;
— Hole 81A — 10.3 metres (from 1,310 metres) of 1.8 grams gold;
— Hole 87 — 36.5 metres (from 835.5 metres) averaging 1.1 grams, including 2.7 metres (from 873 metres) of 6.9 grams;
— Hole 87B — 15.6 metres (from 766.3 metres) grading 2.8 grams.
Three other holes were sunk on the same extension but 100-150 metres south of the Casa Berardi fault. Hole S81A was collared 100 metres south of the fault and encountered 3.5 metres (from 1166.9 metres) grading 4.5 grams gold.
Hole 88 was drilled 150 metres south of the fault and returned 5 metres (from 408.8 metres) grading 5.9 grams gold per tonne. Hole 88 was west of two previous holes, which returned 7.2 grams over 7 metres and 5.1 grams over 5.7 metres. Gold is associated with sulphide-rich altered volcanics. Aurizon says the holes confirm the continuity of the upper levels of zones 118-120.
Also, the recent drilling appears to confirm the continuity between three mineralized horizons (along and south of the fault) and the resources in zones 118-120.
Says Aurizon General Manager Michel Gilbert: “We have extended mineralization over a thousand metres east of the proposed shaft with deep surface drilling. Future infill drilling will be performed efficiently from underground.”
Earlier this summer, Aurizon doubled its estimate of inferred resource in zones 118-120 to 1.7 million tonnes grading 6.1 grams gold, based on a cutoff grade of 3 grams gold (T.N.M., July 7-13/03).
The two zones are 300-700 metres east of the West mine’s known reserves, downdip of the Principal zone, which is 500-1,000 metres below surface. The resource is south of the Casa Berardi fault, except for area 117N, which is 20 metres north of the fault, 800-1,000 metres below surface.
With surface drilling completed at the West mine, Aurizon has moved two rigs 3 km to the east to begin testing the East Mine area. Between 1988 and 1997, the East Mine produced some 344,200 oz. gold.
Aurizon has already started drilling at the East mine, with hole 90 returning a 3-metre section grading 20.6 grams gold per tonne. The intersection was encountered in a stockwork 150 metres south and 25 metres below the bottom of the 379-metre East Mine shaft, built in 1995. Most of the gold is found in a 0.65-metre-wide vein containing some 71 visible gold grains.
Aurizon says the mine’s previous owner cut vein material in a low-sulphide, altered volcanic unit south of the deposit in the upper mine levels, 100 metres above hole S90. Gold grades ran between 1 and 30 grams; the vein intersections were narrower than 1 metre.
Other significant historic intersections from the outer margins of a 50-metre corridor around the old mine include 9.8 metres of 10.3 grams, 16 metres of 11.7 grams, and 12.1 metres of 5.5 grams.
An initial program of widely spaced holes will be followed by more closely spaced drilling.
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