Aurizon confirms continuity at Casa Berardi

The latest exploration highlights from the Casa Berardi gold mine in northwestern Quebec include drill hole CBP-0073, which intersected 8.1 grams per tonne over 24 metres (true thickness), hole CPB-0071, which returned 6.5 grams gold over 30 metres and CBP-0103, which cut 12.5 grams over 11 metres, Aurizon Mines (ARZ-T, AZK-X) reports.

Results from the drill holes along a 810-metre-level drift to the east of the production shaft in the West Mine sent Aurizon shares up 32¢ or 6.2% to $5.48 per share in late afternoon trading in Toronto. Over the last year, the gold producer has traded in a range of $2.40-6.24 per share.

The drill results from these new holes confirm the continuity of the mineralization in previous holes and confirms thicknesses over 20 metres in the 120 zone.

The current drill program is partly targeted along Zone 120, between a vertical depth of 650 metres and 1,100 metres, about 650 metres east of the West Mine production shaft.

The mineralized corridor pinpointed in this area by previous surface and underground drilling is about 400 metres wide and plunges modestly towards the west. Aurizon’s priority is to delineate inferred resources and move them into the indicated category with closer-spaced drilling.

Since Sept. 1, Aurizon has completed a section totaling thirteen holes at an average spacing of 25 to 50 metres, which covers most of the inferred resources block. All of the holes were collared from the 810-metre level exploration drift.

This year Aurizon has budgeted $15 million to complete 40,000 metres of underground and surface drilling and 1,900 metres of underground drift access.

Currently 11 rigs are on the property and new results will be incorporated into a new resource estimate on Zone 120 by Dec. 31.

Drilling will continue from the 810-metre level exploration drift to infill the current resources outline and to test possible lateral and down dip extensions of the gold mineralization.

Last year, Casa Berardi produced 158,830 oz. of gold (654,397 tonnes at an average grade of 8.2 grams gold per tonne).

This year, Aurizon forecasts production of between 150,000and 155,000 oz. gold at an average grade of 7.9 grams. The decrease in gold production from 2008 is attributable to lower average gold grades, the company says.

Casa Berardi is classified as an Archean sedimentary-hosted lode gold deposit. Mineralization is closely associated along a 30-to 50-metre-wide gold trend, hosting multiple quartz veins and disseminated gold-rich sulphide orebodies.

Between 1988 and 1997, the two underground mines, 95 km north of the small Quebec town of La Sarre, produced about 690,000 oz. of gold. The East mine opened in 1998 and the West mine followed two years later. The mines were closed in 1997 due to low gold prices and ground stability problems. Today, Aurizon is only mining the West mine.