Aurizon Reports High-Grade Intercepts At Casa Berardi

Drilling along an exploration drift on the 810-metre level — about 650 metres east of the Casa Berardi mine’s existing shaft — has yielded high-grade intercepts, including 18.9 grams gold per tonne over 4 metres, Aurizon Mines (ARZ-T, AZK-N) reports.

Aurizon has a $15-million budget this year for exploration at Casa Berardi in northwestern Quebec and plans to complete 40,000 metres of underground and surface drilling and 1,900 metres of underground exploration drift access.

Nine drill rigs are currently active on the property and Aurizon expects to complete a new resource estimate by Dec. 31.

Results from two of the five holes along one section of Zone 120 have returned high-grade intersections in quartz veins and assay results from the remaining three holes are pending.

Hole CPB-0057 cut 16.8 grams gold per tonne over 5.3 metres, while hole CPB-0058 returned 18.9 grams gold over 4 metres (both true thickness).

The results confirm the structure’s continuity and the consistency of minable grades over 200 metres of the section, the company says.

Aurizon is concentrating its exploration efforts on discovering new lenses and delineating inferred resources. Part of the exploration program is centred along Zones 118-120, between vertical depths of about 650 metres and 1,100 metres east of the West mine’s production shaft.

The mineralized corridor identified in this area by previous surface and underground drilling programs is about 400 metres wide and follows a moderate west plunge.

The mineralized metric veins, stockworks, and sulphide-bearing structures fill the contact between folded competent rock units such as conglomerate and the Casa Berardi Fault.

At presstime, Aurizon traded at $5.14 per share. The junior gold producer has a 52-week trading range of $1.21-6.24 and 158.8 million shares outstanding.