Agnico funds Aurizon’s drilling

Agnico Eagle Mines (AGE-T) will be funding a new drilling campaign by Aurizon Mines (arz-t) at the Casa Berardi gold mine in Quebec. The deal pumps $4 million cash into Aurizon and gives Agnico Eagle an 11% interest in the company.

Aurizon, since buying Casa Berardi from TVX Gold (TVX-T) in 1998, has outlined a minable reserve of 6.9 million tonnes grading 6.7 grams gold per tonne and an additional resource of 1.8 million tonnes grading 9.2 grams gold.

The 45,000-metre drill program is designed to bring resources into the minable-reserve category and to expand the current resource base. Most of the drilling will be concentrated on extensions of the 113 and 118 zones, two mineralized bodies previously discovered by Aurizon.