Westview sees Lupin-type potential at Ren property

Vancouver-based Westview Resources (VSE) is funding a 10,000-ft. diamond drilling program this summer on what it considers to be a new “Lupin-type” gold deposit on the REN property in the Northwest Territories. The 15-square-mile property is held by a joint venture owned 60% by Cominco (TSE) and 40% by Westview which is putting up the high-risk funds for drilling.

According to Westview, exploration work conducted to date on the REN property has indicated the potential for a 2- to 3- million-ton deposit grading 0.30 oz. gold per ton in an iron formation.

Situated about 50 miles southwest of the Lupin mine, the property is underlain by the Contwoyto group of sediments and iron formations that host the Lupin deposit.

Last year’s 4,500-ft. drilling program funded by Westview intersected high-grade gold values including 20 ft. of 0.27 oz. gold, 9.5 ft. grading 0.30 oz. and 8 ft. grading 0.36 oz. in the iron formations.

The junior can earn up to a 100% interest in the project by spending $2 million on exploration. After those expenditures have been made, operator Cominco has the right to earn back a 60% stake in the project.

This summer’s drill program will test the Main zone, as well as another satellite gold zone discovered last summer that yielded significant gold values in surface samples.

Known as the Banner zone, the new discovery area outcrops over an 820-ft. section and shows multiple horizons of iron formation up to 200 ft. wide. Of the 16 samples collected over the showing, seven rock chip samples returned assays of 0.10-0.58 oz.

Follow-up drilling will further investigate that showing as part of the upcoming program.

In 1988, the original Main zone was estimated to contain preliminary reserves of about 1.2 million tons grading 0.19 oz. to a depth of 660 ft. The gold-bearing zones are hosted by pyrrhotite-arsenopyrite mineralization, according to Westview.