Wayside hits more gold (July 26, 2002)

Vancouver — With the latest drill results from the northwester extension of the Bonanza Ledge prospect showing little gold, International Wayside Gold Mines (IWA-V) now has the rig turning around the 2000 discovery area on the Cariboo gold project near Wells, BC.

Hole 8 was collared just east of the discovery holes and returned 204.5 ft. grading 0.29 oz gold from 57.5 ft downhole. Included in this interval was a higher-grade section running 0.6 oz gold over 68.6 ft. Holes 9 through 14, all collared within 250 ft of hole 8, have been completed and assay results are pending.

Moving some 2,500 ft northwest, holes 4 through 7 intersected the BC vein and the Bonanza Ledge stratigraphy but only hole 5 cut significant values, returning 0.03 oz gold over 3.4 ft.

The Frank Callaghan-led junior discovered the Bonanza Ledge prospect in 2000. The 2002-drill program is testing the northwestern extension of the zone, delineation drilling near the original discovery, underground drilling at the Cariboo Gold quartz mine and exploratory testing of the Myrtle claims.

Wayside has been operating in this district since 1994, when it optioned the Cariboo group of claims from Mosquito. The Cariboo gold project comprises 153 sq. km near the town of Wells, 85 km east of Quesnel. The project centres on the historic Cariboo Gold Quartz, Island Mountain-Aurum and Mosquito Creek mines, which collectively produced more than 1.2 million oz. from 1933 to 1987.

Early work by Wayside targeted the bulk-tonnage potential of the Sanders, Pinkerton and Rainbow zones of the historic Cariboo Gold Quartz mine, on the flank of Cow Mountain. Wayside tabled an indicated resource estimate for Cow Mountain of 5.9 million tons grading 0.07 oz gold, equivalent to 430,885 contained ounces. An additional 1.5 million tons grading 0.06 oz gold, equivalent to 90,936 oz., were classified as inferred. Earlier this year, the first four holes into the Island Mountain area of the Cow Mountain gold property returned narrow high-grade gold sections.

Holes 1 and 2 tested a coincidental gold-in-soil and geophysical anomaly. Drilled from the same site the holes returned high values of 0.11 oz gold per ton over 2.7 ft and 1 ft grading 2.01 oz gold, respectively. Higher up in hole 2 was another higher-grade intercept running 0.57-oz gold over 1 ft.

Moving some 600-ft southeast, holes 3 and 4 tested for quartz veins in the favourable Rainbow unit. Hole 3 returned 0.11 oz gold over 4 ft, while hole 4 cut eight veins ranging in value up to 0.2 oz gold over 6 ft.