Columbus bulks up Paul Isnard’s gold

Columbus Gold (CGT-V) recently updated the inferred resource estimate for its wholly owned Paul Isnard gold project in northwestern French Guiana, with ounces growing 184% to over 5 million oz. gold.

The project’s main deposit, Montagne d’Or, hosts 5.37 million inferred oz. from 117.1 million tonnes averaging 1.43 grams gold, using a cut-off grade of 0.3 gram. This marks an increase over the earlier estimate of 1.9 million oz. from 36.7 million tonnes of 1.6 grams, at a cut-off grade of 0.40 gram.

The previous resource was based on 54 holes, or 10,600 metres, that the project’s previous operators drilled from 1996 to 1999.

The recent boost came after the Vancouver-based junior completed 45 holes, or 15,800 metres, in its first phase of drilling on the project. The program started in late 2011 and ended in August 2012. Columbus published the resource, prepared by Toronto-based Coffey Mining, in early February.

“Phase-one drilling has clearly demonstrated that the Montagne d’Or gold deposit has both large scale and good grade,” the company’s CEO Robert Giustra said, noting that even when a higher cut-off grade is used — for example, 1 gram gold — the deposit still contains 4.15 million oz. gold and has “potential to grow.”

Columbus is contemplating a second drill program to expand the deposit along strike and at depth, and possibly upgrade all or some of the inferred resource to the indicated category.

Montagne d’Or has been outlined across a 2 km strike length to a depth of 100 to 150 metres from surface. The company describes the deposit as a west-striking, south-dipping, tabular body consisting of two sub-parallel gold zones — Upper Felsic and Lower Favorable — within laminated felsic volcanic rocks.

The junior’s field crew is collecting soil samples to confirm the undrilled gold-in-soil anomalies on the project. The program would cover a strike length of 7 km along the Montagne d’Or deposit’s mineralized trend, and 4 km north to south. The crew would also sample an induced-polarization geophysical anomaly 500 metres south of Montagne d’Or.

According to a 2012 technical report, the Paul Isnard project has historically produced an estimated 2 million oz. gold, but is in a relatively remote area with little infrastructure. It’s 180 km west of the capital city of Cayenne, and 80 km south of the department capital, Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, where an all-season, 120 km road can be taken to the project. Paul Isnard is also accessible by a small aircraft that could land at the project’s base camp.

Paul Isnard comprises eight mining claims totalling 135 sq. km, and one pending application for an exclusive exploitation permit covering 14 sq. km. Most of the 149 sq. km gold project, including the Montagne d’Or deposit, sits in an area where open-pit mining is allowed by the government under a new mining law that came into effect on Jan. 1, 2012.