Treaty Creek returns long gold hits for Teuton and American Creek

Vancouver – Teuton Resources (TUO-V) and American Creek Resources (AMK-V), joint venture owners of the Treaty Creek project in northwest British Columbia, both saw their share prices double on promising drill results from the early stage gold prospect.

Teuton and American Creek completed a 32-hole program in 2009 and results from the second half of the effort just came in. The best result, and the one that likely drove most investors to buy in, came from hole 14, the most northwesterly hole on the zone to date. Hole 14 returned 241.7 metres grading 0.8 gram gold per tonne, starting 114 metres downhole and including 54 metres of 1.44 grams gold.

On its own, the numbers from hole 14 do not seem that exciting. The result is much more interesting when considered in the context of Treaty Creek’s location. The project is immediately north of Seabridge Gold‘s (SEA-T) KSM project. The “M” in KSM refers to the Mitchell deposit, which grew to 33.7 million measured and indicated ounces of gold in a recent resource update, making it the biggest gold deposit ever discovered in Canada. And the average grade at Mitchell is 0.6 gram gold, which immediately leads one to question whether the area has the potential to hold another Mitchell deposit at Treaty Creek.

“We now know we have a gold deposit; it just remains to determine the size,” said Teuton’s president Dino Cremonese. “Just three years ago Seabridge Gold drilled the first eight holes at the Mitchell deposit and they averaged 267 metres in length and 0.79 grams gold. Our discovery hole is in the same league.”

Hole 14 was at the northwest end of the Copper Belle zone, which appears to host gold, copper, and molybdenum mineralization within a porphyry. The porphyry is located at the toe of the Atkins glacier and is hosted in andesitic volcanic flows and breccias.

Teuton and American Creek punched 12 holes into Copper Belle and the work produced several long intercepts. Hole 8 cut 222 metres of 0.37 gram gold, starting just 4 metres downhole. Hole 10 returned 43 metres of 0.71 gram gold from surface, followed by 212 metres averaging 0.47 gram gold from 119 metres depth. Hole 11 hit 300 metres of 0.46 gram gold, starting 41 metres downhole. And hole 16 intercepted 30 metres of 0.57 gram gold from 217 metres depth, followed 40 metres later by 49 metres of 0.76 gram gold.

A 2007 drill program also produced interesting results, such as 76 metres of 0.93 gram gold and 8.8 grams silver per tonne, 71 metres of 0.76 gram gold and 4.9 grams silver, and 46 metres of 0.83 gram gold and 6.4 grams silver.

Copper Belle was not the only area probed in the 2009 drill program. Teuton and American Creek also tested the GR2 zone, a polymetallic target that shows signs of volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) mineralization. Drilling in 2007 at GR2 produced several intercepts containing silicified breccias and stringers on the contact with black mudstones and sandstones. One such intercept returned 6.8 metres of 1.4 grams gold, 93.95 grams silver, 0.27% copper, 4.41% lead and 2.59% zinc.

The 2009 drilling effort at GR2 was designed to test for mineralization along strike in both directions and downdip. And the results, which consisted primarily of short intercepts, extended the strike at GR2 to 250 metres and the depth extent to 220 metres.

Hole 1 hit 1.2 metres of 1,008 grams silver at 89 metres depth, then cut 2.2 metres grading 8..23 grams gold at 333 metres depth. Nearby, hole 2 returned 9.1 metres carrying 2.83 grams gold from 369 metres downhole. Hole 7 cut 14.5 metres grading 5.44 grams gold from 264 metres downhole. Hole 9 returned 21 metres of 1.22 grams gold from 214 metres depth.

And hole 4 returned four intercepts between 125 and 271 metres depth, some carrying strong mineralization. A 0.4-metre intercept graded 2.85 grams gold, 1,350 grams silver, 0.31% copper, 10.3% lead, and 3.63% zinc. Another 0.4-metre hit carried 1.8 grams gold, 222 grams silver, 1% copper, 4.73% lead, and 3.65% zinc. Then a 3.9-metre segment averaged 0.47 gram gold, 146 grams silver, 3.81% lead, and 2.18% zinc, and an 11.5-metre interval returned 2.25 grams gold.

In the Eureka zone, the partners drilled one hole in order to test the ground conditions, in preparation for a future program. The upper portion of the hole was drilled with a tricone bit, resulting in no recovery down to 30 metres. From that point the core graded 0.45 gram gold over 60 metres.

And at the Treaty Ridge zone, a new target located on the northern part of the property, several holes tested an area where a strong electromagnetic conductor coincides with a drainage geochemical anomaly. The area comprises a mudstone formation on top of a volcanic sequence that is roughly the same age as the nearby Eskay Creek deposit.

The initial drilling effort did not return any mineralization intersections but all three holes hit pyritic mudstones. As such the Treaty Ridge area will continue as an area of focus in future exploration work.

American Creek recently earned a 51% interest in Treaty Creek by spending $5 million on exploration in less than three years. The company just elected to earn another 9% interest by funding exploration until the feasibility stage.

On news of the drill results Teuton’s share price climbed 11.5¢ to close at 33; Teuton has a 52-week trading range of 6.5¢ to 41¢ and has 43 million shares outstanding. American Creek gained 9¢ to reach 27¢; the company has a 52-week trading range of 3.5¢ to 41¢ and has 81 million shares outstanding.