Old holes, new results for Augen

Old core from a previous owner has proven to be a boon to Augen Gold‘s (AUJ-V) share price.

The company, which controls the Jerome gold mine project in northern Ontario, announced assays from previously un-sampled drill core highlighted by 13.38 metres of 5.62 grams gold per tonne from one historic hole and 15.61 metres of 4.57 grams gold from another.

In Toronto on Aug. 1 the Toronto-based company’s shares were up 25% or 9 to 44 on 47,000 shares traded. Augen shares have moved between 31 and $1.05 over the past 52 weeks and it has roughly 25 million shares outstanding.

Augen says results from the holes marry well with results from its own winter drill program and that the width of the intersects combined with their situation close to surface means part of the deposit could be mined via open-pit.

Company president and chief executive Michael Fowler says mining scenarios will examined closer once a resource estimate on the property is finished — which he estimates will be in the coming months.

The latest results came from a drill program run by Osprey Gold back in 2004. The company did 5,724 metres of diamond drilling in 33 holes at the site but five of the holes remained un-sampled by the time the project was terminated.

Augen says Osprey was testing the Main zone above the 198 metre level, trying to establish vertical continuity of mineralization between levels east of the areas that had been mined.

The Jerome mine was open from 1941 to 1943 and produced roughly 57,000 oz. of gold and 15,000 oz. of silver. Augen say the mine was shutdown in 1945 because the Second World War had created a severe manpower shortage.

Augen has roughly 240 sq. km of claims running 45 km in length along Ontario’s Swayze Greenstone belt.