Back Forty drilling cuts gold too (April 05, 2007)

Aquila Resources (AQA-V) has completed two new holes on the Back Forty base-metal deposit in Menominee Cty., Michigan, and both have intersected gold mineralization as well as copper and zinc.

The two new holes, LK-152 and LK-153, were drilled on the deposit’s Tuff Zone to test both that zone and the South Limb zone. Both intersected massive sulphide mineralization on the two zones, followed by a zone of stringer mineralization.

Hole 153 cut 6.4 metres with 10.58% zinc, 3.34% lead, 0.05% copper, 54.2 grams silver and 0.4 gram gold per tonne in the Tuff Zone, followed by 23.2 metres in the South Limb that graded 7.96% zinc, 0.1% copper, 0.06% lead, 15.3 grams silver and 0.7 gram gold per tonne. Below that, it intersected 31.9 metres of stringer-style mineralization that graded 0.33% copper with 2.7 grams gold and 6.3 grams silver per tonne, with minor zinc and lead.

In hole 152, the Tuff Zone was 2.9 metres in core length, with average grades of 21.65% zinc, 5.45% lead, 0.15% copper, 113.9 grams silver and 1 gram gold per tonne. The South Limb intersection was 22.4 metres long, grading 5.27% zinc, 0.47% copper, 0.04% lead, 22 grams silver and 1.6 grams gold per tonne.

At depth, the hole interesected vein-type mineralization on the contact of a late quartz-feldspar porphyry dyke, which ran 37.2 grams gold and 174.9 grams silver per tonne, with 1.13% lead, 0.4% copper, and minor zinc. Further down, stringer mineralization graded 0.52% copper, 8.8 grams silver and 1.8 grams gold per tonne over 49.8 metres, with minor zinc and lead credits.

Gold on the margins of the porphyry has now been traded over a 140-metre strike length and 230 metres down dip, and it represents a different geological target from the base metal sulphide mineralization with associated precious metals. Intersections on the porphyry contact, which Aquila geologists are now calling the Porphyry Margin Zone, range from 2 to 15 metres in true width, with gold grades of a few grams up to 37 grams in the recent drill hole and 33 grams in a previous hole.

Geophysical targets south of the deposit are now being tested and Aquila plans to add a second drill to the project.