Sulliden drills turning at Red Cliff Pond

Diamond drilling by Quebec-based Sulliden Exploration (SUE-M) has begun at the Red Cliff Pond gold property in Newfoundland’s Baie Verte Peninsula.

The junior can earn a 100% interest in the 1,440-ha property by spending $1 million in exploration over the next five years. The property is 3 km northeast of the Rambler gold mine, where reserves stand at 430,911 tonnes grading 12.3 grams gold per tonne.

As part of the deal, the company must issue 150,000 shares and a similar number of share purchase warrants to property owners Consolidated Rambler Mines (CRR-T) and Canadian Nickel Company, a subsidiary of Inco (N-T). Those companies own respective 45% and 55% stakes in the property, and the shares and warrants will be issued in proportion to each company’s interest.

The program, which consists of seven holes over 1,500 metres, is testing the Low Water, Boneyard and Tom gold showings, as well as two

induced-polarization (IP) anomalies.

At Low Water, drilling will test a northwest-trending structure where previous drilling by Inco in 1988 intersected 2.51 grams gold over 0.11 metre, and 2.1 grams gold over 0.64 metre. Both intersections occurred within interlayered basalt and sedimentary horizons consisting of pyritized argillite typical of the Nugget Pond horizon. In addition, grab samples from surface outcrops yielded up to 13.5 grams gold, while soil samples yielded up to 8.2 grams gold.

At the Boneyard and Tom showings, drilling will verify the lateral and depth extensions of mineralized sections previously identified by Inco. Drilling at Boneyard returned 2.01 metres of 6.87 grams gold, whereas trenching at the Tom returned 3.77 grams gold. Both mineralized zones occur within an ultramafic sequence of the Betts Cove Ophiolitic complex in fault contact with rocks of the Cape St. John group.

Testing of the IP anomalies will determine whether they correspond to extensions of the pyritized sedimentary horizons characteristic of the Nugget Pond horizon. To date, neither anomaly has been tested.