LAC, Equinox pull big hole at Rosebud gold property

Drilling on the Rosebud property in Nevada by joint venture partners Equinox Resources (TSE) and LAC Minerals (TSE) has returned a 178-ft. intersection grading 0.72 oz. gold per ton.

The hole was drilled about 100 ft. southeast of hole 171 which recently intersected 370 ft. grading 0.19 oz. gold.

The drilling is part of an ongoing program to further delineate reserves in the Dozer Hill zone. Preliminary estimates put reserves in the zone at about 2.3 million tons grading 0.23 oz. gold at a 0.05-oz.-per-ton cutoff.

Ross Beaty, president of Equinox, said the recent drilling indicates that both the tonnage and the grade of the Dozer Hill zone will increase.

Equinox’s share price took a big jump on the news, hitting a high of $2.60 from the previous day’s close of $1.70.

The positive market reaction is a pleasant change for Beaty who has been watching the company’s share price languish at the $1.50 level despite considerable growth in assets over the past year.

The discovery of a new zone of high-grade gold mineralization about 1,000 ft. east of the Dozer Hill zone earlier this year had no effect on the company’s share price at the time. The results included a 40-ft. intersection grading 1.15 oz. gold.

Equinox recently brought its 60% owned Van Stone zinc mine into production in northeastern Washington state and has been achieving considerable success in a drilling program on its J&L zinc-lead property near Revelstoke, B.C., with partners Cheni Gold Mines (TSE) and Pan American Minerals (TSE).