Borealis hits good grades in virgin greenstone belt

Drilling by Alberta-listed Borealis Exploration on the so-called south zone near Fat Lake in the Keweetin District of the N.W.T. has intersected a 15-ft section grading 0.71 oz gold per ton which includes a 8.5-ft section grading 1.18.

Consulting geologist Roland H. Ridler, senior geological associate for Derry, Michener, Booth & Wahl, says these results have been confirmed by chip sampling with a diamond saw on surface. The surface expression of the zone is about 2,200-ft long.

A hole put down on the nearby north zone hit a 30-ft section grading 0.035 oz gold per ton.

“Essentially what the company is doing in the area is looking for a number of stopes (prospecting with a diamond drill) which, put together has good potential for making a mine,” Mr. Ridler told some 30 geologists at an informal presentation in Toronto last week.

Mr. Ridler did some of the first field work in the Rankin Inlet — Kaminak Belt while working for the Geological Survey of Canada 12 years ago. The Archean greenstone belt is a well exposed package of rocks about 300 miles long and 150 miles across, making it the second largest greenstone belt in the world, to the Abitibi greenstone belt in northeast Ontario and northwestern Quebec.

Borealis holds 11 exploration permits in the area covering most of the belt. Total acreage is about 1,100 acres. Assessment work will cost the company 10 cents per acre in the first year and 20 cents per acre in the second year. It must then stake claims in the third year if it wishes to retain the ground.