Drilling starts out strong at Lexington copper-gold play

Early results from underground drilling at the Lexington copper-gold project near Grand Forks, B.C., are boosting the hopes of partners Britannia Gold (BGP-V) and Bren-Mar (BML-V).

In July, the joint venture completed a 600-metre decline to allow access to mineralization. Drilling followed, in an attempt to define the roughly 145,000-tonne inferred reserve of 1.06% copper and 6.51 grams gold per tonne previously outlined by surface work.

In hole 96-03, drilled 20 above the horizontal, a 6.9-metre intercept averaging 4.03% copper and 53.28 grams gold was hit. Within that section was a 2-metre piece of 6.3% copper and 107.65 grams gold.

In hole 96-4, drilled 9 above the horizontal, a 10.5-metre intercept averaging 3.14% copper and 11.62 grams gold was hit. Within that section was a 0.9-metre piece of 4.95% copper and 36.31 grams gold.

Early in the development of the decline, Britannia extracted samples for metallurgical testing. A combined gravity-flotation process recovered 96.5% of the gold, including 76% recovery by gravity-concentration alone.

Results from current drilling will be used to plan for a 100-ton-per-day operation, assuming that processing will be conducted at a nearby custom mill.

Additional drilling will attempt to define tonnage and grade, and an extended program in the fall will focus on expanding reserves.