Deep drilling cuts good gold grades at Upper Beaver

Recent drilling by Pamorex Minerals (TSE) on the old Upper Beaver mine property, north of Larder Lake, Ont., has intersected a zone averaging 1.4 oz. gold per ton (uncut) over 21.2 ft. at a vertical depth of 1,000 ft. below surface. If the assays are cut to one ounce per ton, the intersection averages 0.92 oz. g across the same length.

The hole was drilled to follow up an earlier intersection of 0.25 oz. over 38 ft. reported by Pamorex last December. That interval was obtained about 500 ft. below the lowest level of previous mine workings. The company says it is not yet clear if the new intersection can be correlated with the one reported in December.

The new zone is hosted by a nearly flat-lying chert horizon with crosscutting quartz veins, according to Pamorex. Visible gold is present in the zone, but sulphides are rare.

Previous mining at the old Upper Beaver property focused on isolated copper-gold zones associated with chalcopyrite and magnetite. But, the recent drilling has intersected a totally new exhalite horizon which is sulphide-poor and associated with crosscutting quartz veins in places.

Pamorex has the right to acquire a 51% interest in the project from Queenston Mining (TSE) by spending $1.75 million on exploration over a 2-year period.

News of the recent drill results sent the share price of Queenston Mining to a high of $2.09 before it fell back to $1.93, while shares of Pamorex traded up to 58 cents before settling to 55 cents.

Investigation of the new zone is still at an early stage, and at least 10,000 ft. of drilling are planned in the current program. As of the end of last year, Pamorex had about $8 million in its treasury and is well- funded to continue exploration.

The 36-claim Upper Beaver property hosts a former gold-copper producer that operated during 1920-1971 and yielded 125,000 oz. of gold along with 11 million lb. of copper from 558,000 tons of ore. The former mine was developed by a 500-ft. shaft and a winze to a depth of 1,250 ft. with workings on 10 levels. About 200,000 tons of material grading 0.23 oz. gold and 1.2% copper per ton are estimated to remain in the existing reserves.

The company says it will be another two or three weeks before the next results are released from the current drill program.