Hoping to repeat last year’s successful exploration campaign at the Meliadine gold project near Rankin Inlet, N.W.T., equal partners Cumberland Resources (CBD-T) and Comaplex Minerals (CMF-T) intend to resume drilling in mid-March.
The program, which is expected to comprise 15,000-20,000 metres on the western portion of the property, will be operated by WMC International. That company can earn a 60% interest in the western half of the property, referred to as Meliadine West, by spending $12.5 million on exploration. To date, WMC has spent $7 million and will lay out an additional $3 million in the upcoming program.
The joint venture will use 3-4 diamond drills in an effort to test the TC, Tiriruniak East, F and Wolf zones.
Among the program’s objectives will be to expand the TC zone along strike and at vertical depths of 600 metres.
The zone lies in the 2.5-km-long Tiriruniak shear, and, of the four targets to be tested, it is considered to have the greatest potential for hosting a significant gold deposit.
Based on 28 holes spaced at 100 metres, the zone has been outlined along a 500-metre strike length, with an easterly dipping plunge of 800 metres in length and a width of 200 metres. It contains an upper oxide iron formation, underlain by a quartz-vein complex followed by the Tiriruniak shear, and remains open in all directions.
The zone is known to host multiple mineralized zones, with some of the higher-grade ones yielding 71.45 grams gold per tonne over 5.18 metres (in hole 96-74) and 19.87 grams gold over 4.35 metres (in hole 96-37). The most impressive widths encountered thus far have come from the two deepest holes, 96-43 and 96-64, which intersected 6.27 grams gold over 57.93 metres and 9.26 grams over 44.79 metres, respectively.
The Tiriruniak East zone lies 600 metres east of the TC zone and is also described as containing multiple mineralized zones.
Hole 96-66 identified two of these zones after returning 17.45 grams gold over 3.29 metres and 12.18 grams over 4.53 metres.
The F zone is situated a further 2.9 km to the east and hosts 181,000 tonnes grading 9.25 grams gold.
Preliminary drilling at the Wolf zone, about 5 km west of the TC zone, has returned up to 10.3 grams gold over 3.14 metres in hole 96-62.
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