Northern Crown reports solid results from Guadalupe project

Drill results from a recently discovered zone at Northern Crown Mines’ (COB-V) Guadalupe de Los Reyes project in northwestern Mexico continue to return gold and silver values.

Holes 9 through 15, as well as hole 21 (for which results were not yet available), tested 250 metres of a 1.4-km-long structure striking northwest of the discovery hole.

Northern Crown reported consistent high-grade surface sampling and strong geochemical responses along the structure at the 59-sq.-km property in the Sierra Madre of Sinaloa state.

The discovery hole, reported earlier in March, returned 9.2 metres grading 2 grams gold and 89 grams silver per tonne. Holes 9 and 10 were drilled on the same section and downdip.

Holes 2 through 8, drilled on adjacent structures branching to the south and east, did not intersect significant values, the company said.

Hole 8 intercepted 1.5 metres of 2.59 grams gold and 27.3 grams silver, and 6.1 metres of 1.22 grams gold and 36.5 grams silver; hole 9 returned 18.3 metres grading 4.72 grams gold and 92.5 grams silver, including 9.2 metres of 5.95 grams gold and 116.5 grams silver; hole 10 reported 22.9 metres of 3.35 grams gold and 68 grams silver, including 4.6 metres of 9.54 grams gold and 69.6 grams silver; hole 11 returned 6.1 metres grading 3.68 grams gold and 51.9 grams silver (including 1.5 metres of 10.18 grams gold and 108.7 grams silver), and 7.6 metres of 1.41 grams gold and 51.8 grams silver; hole 12 reported the highest-grade silver intercepts, with 12.2 metres grading 2.51 grams gold and 231.8 grams silver, including 6.1 metres of 4.55 grams gold and 441.8 grams silver.

Northern Crown has spent $5.4 million on the property since last year, and has budgeted $5.5 million for 1997, to be spent on drilling, road-building and exploration. Crews have completed 5,000 metres of a planned 20,000-metre drilling program, which began in November 1996 and will run to July 1997.

The company also reported nine holes from the Zapote zone, 120 km north of Mazatlan.

The highest-grade intercept was from hole 127, which reported 10.7 metres from surface grading 5.79 grams gold and 49.6 grams silver, including 6.1 metres of 9.2 grams gold and 56.9 grams silver.

Hole 121 intersected 10.7 metres grading 1.01 grams gold and 40.7 grams silver; hole 122 returned 15.2 metres of 1.43 grams gold and 41 grams silver, including 7.6 metres of 2.14 grams gold and 40.2 grams silver; hole 123 intersected 4.6 grams from surface grading 3.55 grams gold and 37.6 grams silver; hole 124 intersected 4.6 metres grading 4.08 grams gold and 73.5 grams silver; hole 125 returned 13.7 metres of 1.78 grams gold and 30.2 grams silver, including 9.1 metres of 2.53 grams gold and 36.4 grams silver; hole 126 returned 1.5 metres from surface grading 2.02 grams gold and 46.8 grams silver; hole 128 intersected 29 metres from surface grading 2.7 grams gold and 41.4 grams silver, including 9.2 metres of 4.46 grams gold and 46 grams silver; and hole 131 reported 7.6 metres from surface grading 1.37 grams gold and 25.1 grams silver.