Bre-X drills Central zone of Busang gold project

A third phase of drilling is under way on the Central zone of Bre-X Minerals'(ASE) Busang gold project in Indonesia.

To date, two rigs have drilled 24 holes as part of a 3,654-metre program. The stepout holes are intended to test the eastern, western and northern margins of the zone.

On the northern edge, Hole 52 cut 196.4 metres which averaged 3.03 grams gold per tonne.

Holes 50 and 51, drilled on the western extremity, also intersected gold. The former returned a 46.4-metre section which averaged 2.5 grams while the latter assayed 4.93 grams over 36.7 metres.

The first three infill holes drilled in the eastern extension of the zone were also encouraging, with the best result averaging 1.63 grams over 68.7 metres.

Bre-X has increased the size of the program and intends now to carry out 6,500 meters of drilling on the Central zone.

Elsewhere at the project, which lies within East Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, geological mapping has identified a 70-90-metre-wide structure which dips 70 to 85 to the northeast and features a strike length of 4.5 km. In order to test this structure, known as the Southeast zone, Bre-X will carry out a 64-hole program of fence-line drilling at 250-metre intervals.

Exploration is also in progress on two other Bre-X properties in the Malay Archipelago. Surface work is continuing, and drilling is expected to begin this fall, on the Sangihe gold-copper project in North Sulawesi province, on the island of Celebes.

And at the Sable project in North Sumatra province, Bre-X has identified a 7-km-long epithermal gold system close to a known copper-gold porphyry. Reconnaissance mapping and sampling will begin soon, to be followed by definition of drill targets.