Amarc misses at Inde

Vancouver — A 14-hole diamond drill program by Amarc Resources (AHR-V) has returned sporadic gold values below the historical oxide workings at the Inde property in Mexico’s Durango state.

The Hunter Dickinson-led company drill tested a 600-metre section of the 3-km long area of oxide mineralization for gold-bearing, massive sulphides. Despite hitting significant widths of sulphides in all of the holes, only five of them returned gold values grading greater than 4 grams per tonne.

Holes 2, 3, 4, and 14 were collared in the Guadalupe area with the best results coming in hole 14 at 0.35 gram gold, 214 grams silver, plus 5.4% zinc and 3% lead over 3 metres from 195 metres downhole.

Moving 200 metres east hole 1 cut 4.76 grams gold and 59 grams silver over 0.5 metre from 302.3 metres downhole. The other holes were drilled in a cluster another 250 metres to the east with the highest values coming in hole 9 (10.3 grams gold and 6.5 grams silver over 2 metres).

Located 235-km west-northwest of Torreon, the property has a long history of oxide gold mining activity. In 1532, the Spanish launched production continuing until the on set of the Mexican revolution in 1813. Small-scale miners took over in 1921 and by 1927 US-led companies had established a 150-ton per day mill capable of treating the oxide material. Activity stopped in 1935 when sulphide material was encountered at depth of approximately 150 metres. It is estimated that 1-to-1.5 million oz of gold were recovered during this period.

In 2001, the Hunter Dickinson group consolidated the 275-ha of ground by purchasing two claims, staking a third and optioning a fourth. In November, HDI vended the property into Amarc. Under the deal, the junior explorer can earn 100% of the property by reimbursing HD’s cost of US$475,000 and paying the vendor US$3.75 million by March 13, 2005. The vendor retains a 4% net smelter royalty, which is capped at US$2 million.

The main mineralized zone runs for over 3.3-km along strike to vertical depths in excess of 150 metres. Most of the oxide mineralization has been has been mined along a 1.3-km strike length of the favourable contact zone known as the Cieneguillas area. Located in the northern portion of the property, Cieneguillas covers three main workings, including Guadalupe. The other two, Libertad and Terrible, remain untested, as does the Matracal and Buena Vista targets to the southeast.