Rubicon expands Jaclyn’s dimensions

Midway through a drilling program at the Golden Promise project in central Newfoundland, Rubicon Minerals (RMX-T) has determined that the deposit’s Jaclyn vein zone is bigger than expected.

Rubicon optioned the property in the spring of 2002, following the discovery, by local prospector William Mercer, of large, gold-bearing quartz boulders. Follow-up work led to the discovery of more such boulders.

In total, Rubicon has found six distinct areas of mineralized quartz vein float, including the Jaclyn zone, over a 16-km-long trend, which suggests district-scale potential for undiscovered veins or vein systems.

The Golden Promise project comprises 450 sq. km south of the town of Badger, within a fault-bounded belt of folded Victoria Lake Group sediments that are Ordovician to Silurian in age.

The boulder train in the Jaclyn zone has been traced over 2 km. Initial grab samples from the boulders yielded gold values of up to several ounces per tonne. One boulder, described as having “spectacular visible gold,” assayed 353 grams per tonne (or 10.3 oz.).

In August 2002, after trenching exposed a banded quartz vein zone carrying visible gold in bedrock, Rubicon drill-tested a portion of the Jaclyn vein. Twenty-one holes tested a 225-metre strike length to a vertical depth of only 50 metres. Of the 17 holes that intersected the vein zone, all but two contained visible gold. The Jaclyn zone is a narrow, high-grade, sub-vertical quartz vein system that ranges from 10 cm to 4 metres wide. The bedded-sediment host rocks appear to plunge gently to the northeast

In September 2003, Placer Dome (PDG-T) optioned the Golden Promise project and can earn an initial 55% interest from Rubicon by spending $5 million over five years, including $1.5 million before the end of 2004. Rubicon will remain the operator until earn-in is completed. Placer can boost its interest to 70% by delivering, before the end of 2009, a bankable feasibility study of a gold deposit of at least 500,000 oz.

This past autumn, the project was subjected to 7,700 line km of airborne magnetic and electromagnetic surveys. The results will be used to target additional vein structures. By now, Rubicon should have also wrapped-up a fall drilling campaign consisting of 12 angle holes for 2,350 metres. At last report, the first seven holes had intersected the Jaclyn vein zone in stepout drilling, with five of the holes showing visible gold. The strike length has been extended by an additional 150-375 metres, and two holes drilled 100 metres apart have confirmed that the zone continues to vertical depths of at least 180-190 metres below surface (almost four times its previous depth).

Results for the first four holes are as follows:

— 11.4 grams across 0.45 metre (estimated true width: 0.34 metre) at 132 metres down-hole in hole 22;

— 1.43 grams over 0.3 metre (true width: 0.23 metre) at 141 metres of depth in hole 23;

— 11.2 grams over 1.6 metres (true width: 1.22 metres) within a broader quartz-vein zone grading 4.18 grams across 5.2 metres (true width: 3.98 metres) starting at a 127-metre depth in hole 24;

— 18.2 grams over 0.6 metre (true width: 0.52 metre) at 247 metres down-hole in hole 25.

This year, field crews found new mineralized quartz boulder occurrences during regional prospecting on the property. “Our 2003 prospecting results have been quite significant,” Rubicon’s exploration manager, Paul Moore, told delegates at the 2003 conference of the Newfoundland branch of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, held in St. John’s. New float material containing visible gold was found in areas 3.8 and 8.5 km northeast or down-ice of the Jaclyn discovery area. Grab samples from each of these areas yielded gold values of up to 356 and 80 grams, respectively.

To the southwest, new quartz float was discovered 8.5 km up-ice of Jaclyn. This angular float was found to be running up to 35 grams, and is near sub-cropping material that assayed up to 5.8 grams.

Pending a complete review of the results of the 2003 fall program, Placer has informed Rubicon it intends to fund a second phase of drilling on the Jaclyn zone in early 2004.

A second package of claim blocks, 15-100 km along trend southwest of Jaclyn, was optioned by Rubicon in early 2003 to International Lima Resources (LMG-V), which can earn a 60% interest by spending $1.7 million over four years.