Bayfield hits more high grade

With each new drill hole, Bayfield Ventures (BYV-V) is learning more about a high-grade gold-silver shoot that extends from its East Burns zone towards the Intrepid gold-silver zone on Rainy River Resources’ (RR-T) surrounding property.

The two properties are in northwestern Ontario. Rainy River’s namesake project hosts 158.5 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 1.21 grams gold per tonne and 2.32 grams silver per tonne, plus 93.8 million inferred tonnes averaging 0.76 gram gold and 2.32 grams silver — and it completely surrounds Bayfield’s Burns Block property.

Bayfield has based its exploration efforts on Rainy River’s results. At first the junior focused on the western side of its land package, adjacent to Rainy River’s main ODM17 gold zone. More recently, Bayfield has been drilling the eastern side of Burns Block, where a series of east to west drill fences are outlining a thick, high-grade gold-silver zone that extends towards Rainy River’s new Intrepid zone.

The latest results include two wedge holes and one stepout hole. The first wedge hole was designed to extend the mineralization in hole 34, which returned 26.5 metres grading 8.82 grams gold and 39.44 grams silver. This hole extends the high-grade shoot 55 metres down-plunge and represents the best intersection from the zone to date.

Hole 34W1 returned 25.5 metres grading 6.6 grams gold and 34.2 grams silver, including 15 metres of 11.1 grams gold and 57.1 grams silver. The hit came above the intersection from hole 34, confirming continuous mineralization through 55 metres. Bayfield has tracked the zone for 250 metres of down-plunge.

Bayfield says the mineralization comprises “complex, base-metal veining and breccia matrix infill,” with pinprick gold and electrum disseminations occurring over metre-scale intervals. Coarser visible gold is also present in cracks and within quartz-carbonate selvages and chalcopyrite veinlets.

Hole 35 was a 50-metre stepout to the southwest that returned short, mineralized intervals, including 4.3 metres of 0.57 gram gold and 7.9 grams silver, 3.8 metres of 0.89 gram gold and 88.2 grams silver, and 6.8 metres grading 1.54 grams gold and 9.76 grams silver. The results suggest that the eastern part of Burns Block could host several mineralization zones, one of which represents a new exploration target.

Bayfield plans to drill several holes testing this new target in this year’s first half, while probing the extent of the high-grade shoot. The company closed a $1.4-million private placement to fund the effort, issuing just over 4-million flow-through shares at 35¢ apiece.

News of the drill results added 2¢ to Bayfield’s share price, bringing it to 40¢. The company has a 52-week share price range of 24¢ to 63¢, and 74 million shares outstanding.