Aurizon finds new gold zone at Casa Berardi (February 01, 2007)

As it ramps up to full production at its Casa Berardi gold mine in the Abitibi region of northwestern Quebec, Aurizon Mines (ARZ-T) has discovered a new gold-bearing quartz zone on the property.

Two surface master holes drilled about 100 metres apart yielded intersections of 32.7 grams gold over 13.8 metres and 13.1 grams gold per tonne over 11.6 metres, starting at about 650 metres below surface.

Short wedge holes were also drilled 10 metres above each master hole with values of 10.2 grams gold per tonne over 13.8 metres and 6.4 grams over 11.5 metres.

This new zone, 123-S, is 350 metres south and 900 metres east of the existing west mine infrastructure. It is believed the zone dips steeply to the south and that the system deformation is nearly east-west with vertical, 60 south-dipping splays. The true thickness of the mineralization is estimated to be 75% to 90% of the drill hole intersections reported above.

Aurizon’s principal exploration geologist Martin Demers says past drilling hasn’t shown a strong quartz vein system on the eastern part of the property.

“Previous drill results indicated that mineralization was usually restricted to a stockwork system with lower grade and lower continuity,” Demers says.

The new drill results are a sign that zone 123-S is similar to the wide quartz vein that hosts current mineral reserves.

Zone 123-S is located on the southern branch of the gold bearing fault system while the Casa Berardi mine is on the northern branch. The branches meet about 600 metres east of the new zone.

Aurizon has two surface drill rigs working in and around zone 123-S. The company is studying ways to access the zone, including the possible development of a new underground exploration drift from the 850-metre level of zone 113 (where the current mine is), so it can test the dip extension of zone 123-S and zone 122-Deep down to 1,500 metres.

Zone 122-Deep, discovered in the fall of 2006, was the first significant discovery Aurizon made on the property since discovering zone 113 shortly after it acquired Casa Berardi in 1999. Zone 122-Deep yielded grades of 12.2 grams gold per tonne over 9.9 metres and 12.2 grams gold over 7.2 metres.

Aurizon expects to achieve full commercial production at Casa Berardi by the end of this quarter. The company estimates it will produce 185,000 oz. gold in 2007 at a cash cost of US$250 per oz. It is estimated the mine will produce slightly more than 1 million oz. gold over a 6-year mine life, based on current mineral reserves.

Aurizon shares were up 23 to $3.63 on a volume of 1.4 million.