Terra And Novus See Promise In Ren

VANCOUVER– Joint venture partners Terra Ventures (TAS-V) and Novus Gold (NOV-V) are pulling good gold intercepts from the ground at their Ren project in the Northwest Territories.

The Ren property hosts gold showings hosted in banded iron formations in the Point Lake area, roughly 90 km southwest of the past-producing Lupin gold mine and 250 km northeast of Yellowknife.

Novus picked up the Ren project from private vendors in May. By September, the company had found a partner for the property in Terra Ventures.

To earn a 51% interest in Ren, Terra had to spend $1.5 million on exploration before the end of the year, so the new partners kicked off a nine-hole drill program in mid-November.

Drill cores from the Main zone at Ren indicate the presence of a wide, new gold zone wherein intercepts from within the iron formation returned high grade gold values, while drill core from the host greywacke and argillite contained low-grade gold.

The drill program comprised nine holes drilled from four locations along 200 metres of strike, with penetration to 170 metres vertical depth. Holes 1, 2, and 3 were bored from the same collar but in different directions. Hole 1 cut 21.3 metres grading 2.09 grams gold per tonne from 25 metres depth, hole 2 intercepted 32.1 metres averaging 2.39 grams gold from 51 metres downhole, and hole 3 returned 29.4 metres of 2.74 grams gold from 38 metres depth. The intercept in hole 3 included a 5.9-metre segment averaging 6.93 grams gold.

Holes 4 and 5 were completed from a second drill pad located 30 metres to the east. Hole 4 pulled a 37.1-metre intercept carrying 1.33 grams gold from 81 metres depth, while hole 5 cut a 28.9-metre segment grading 2.26 grams gold from 76 metres downhole.

The third drill pad was built 100 metres to the north. From there, hole 6 hit 14.9 metres of 2.34 grams gold from 84 metres depth, hole 7 intercepted 10.6 metres grading 1.53 grams gold from 111 metres depth, and hole 8 returned 32.8 metres averaging 2.91 grams gold from 140 metres downhole.

The final hole of the program was collared 100 metres south of the first two drill pads. It returned two short, weakly mineralized intercepts.

Between 1974 and 1990, several operators drilled at Ren, outlining a zone of iron formation stretching for 7 km and hosting six gold zones. Work was focused on what became known as the Main zone.

Previous operators also conducted geophysical surveys, demonstrating that the magnetic and electromagnetic anomaly associated with the Main zone extends for 700 metres along strike. The zone remains open at depth.

Terra has earned a 51% interest in the Ren property. Novus now has the option to repurchase Terra’s stake by issuing 7.5 million shares, which would give Terra an 18.25% stake in Novus.

On news of the Ren drill results, Terra’s share price rose as much as 11¢ in midday trading but settled back to closed unchanged at 49¢. Terra has a 52-week trading range of 25¢ to 72¢ and 53 million shares outstanding. Novus’ share price fell half a penny to close at 55¢.

Novus has a 52-week trading range of 6¢ to 65¢ and 34 million shares outstanding.