Hudson River gains 189% on gold assays

Shares of Ontario-focused explorer, Hudson River Minerals (HRM-V), surged on assays from its recent drill program at the Forge Lake gold property, near Wawa, Ont.

The company was the biggest percentage gainer and one of the most actively traded stocks on the Venture, gaining 189% or 8.5¢ to close Jan. 25 at 13¢ on 15.9 million shares traded.

The excitement was caused by the company reporting that 16 of the 17 holes it drilled on Forge Lake hit anomalous gold.

The best intercept from the batch intersected 12.7 metres grading 3.25 grams gold per tonne, which included a 3.9-metre intercept of 4.35 grams gold.

This assay came from one of the 11 holes that were drilled on the property’s East zone to test for higher-grade mineralization. Two other notable intersections from this zone returned a half metre of 16.5 grams gold; and 7.5 metres of 1.93 grams gold, including 3 metres grading 4.03 grams gold. The assays are not true widths.

Hudson River poked the remaining six holes into the Main zone to test for gold mineralization in two thick deformation zones. It says the best results came from within the major quartz vein near the base of the deformation zone, adding that lower-grade sections are prevalent within the zone but are not always continuous. For example, one hole returned 1.99 grams over 9.1 metres within a thicker interval of the deformation zone that includes the major quartz vein, but within the quartz vein returned 3.3 metres of 4.56 grams gold.  

Hudson River notes that the assays were more continuous within the East zone, but thickness of the quartz veins within the deformation zone varied.

The drilling in the recent program tested the upper 80 to 110 metres of the past-producing mine, which contains a non-compliant, historic resource of 170,000 tons. No grade was assigned to that resource, which was estimated in 1940 by Regnery Metals and in 1979 by AMC.

However, in the early 1940s the mine was reported to produce 8,000 tons grading 9.5 grams gold.

The company, which recently completed an airborne survey over Forge Lake, and its other two nearby gold properties, Otter Pond and Hawk Junction, is currently planning a spring drill program at Forge Lake to test the East zone. The zone remains open to the west, east and potentially at depth.

During the year, the company may also explore some of the surface showings it indentified 400 to 500 metres south of Forge Lake’s Main and East zones.