Aur sees higher grades on Que. bet

Underground drilling by Aur Resources on its First Canadian property near Val d’Or has indicated grades could be significantly higher than originally estimated from surface drilling.

The arithmetical average grade of the first 22 underground holes in the Kierens zone is about 0.35 oz gold per ton (uncut), while surface drilling last year indicated a grade of only 0.21 oz. The surface work established drill-indicated reserves of 700,000 tons.

Aur sank a 740-ft exploration shaft during 1986 as part of a $3.8- million exploration program on the property. Before the February cutoff a total of 28,000 ft of drilling will have been completed on the zone along with a bulk sample of an undetermined size.

Some of the more impressive holes were No 7-3, grading 1.41 oz across 20.8 ft; No 7-15, 26.3 ft grading 1.0 oz; 7-16, 17.2 ft grading 0.74, and 7-17, 19.3 ft grading 0.4 oz. Eighteen of the 22 holes graded 0.14 or better , with the remainder coming in at 0.04-0.06 oz. Widths ranged from 3.6 ft to 30 ft. The holes were drilled from the 500- and 740-ft levels on sections 100 ft apart with hole spacing at 50-ft intervals on each section.

The company expects to be able to carry out a production feasibility study after this program is completed.

The First Canadian property adjoins Aur’s Norlartic property, which is also the subject of an underground program on a zone which apparently lines up with the Kierens. On the other side of the Kierens zone (to the northwest) is the Malartic Hygrade property where deep drilling under the Zone 8 deposit has also returned some very promising gold values. Although Zone 8 doesn’t conform stratagraphically to the Kierens, the latter zone is known to cross onto the Malartic Hygrade property while Zone 8 probably does likewise onto the First Canadian, indicating that both have strong exploration targets for the future.