Vancouver – An updated resource estimate for Comaplex Mineral‘s (CMF-T) gold deposits near Nunavut has the company trading near its 52-week share price high.
Comaplex holds a 78% interest in the Meliadine West property, with the rest held by Meliadine Resources. The Meliadine East property is a 50-50 joint venture between the two companies. The adjacent properties are located some 25 km north of Rankin Inlet.
At Meliadine West a 102-hole drill program in 2007 led to an increase in both indicated and inferred resources for the Tiriganiaq deposit. The deposit is divided into two parts: an open-pitable portion extending to 170 metres depth and an underground access segment starting at 170 metres depth.
In the open pit area Tiriganiaq hosts 6.1 million indicated tonnes grading 6.4 grams gold per tonne and 1.6 inferred tonnes grading 4.1 grams gold, using a cut-off grade of 2.5 grams gold. In terms of underground resources the deposit holds 1.5 million indicated tonnes grading 10.9 grams gold and 3.3 million inferred tonnes grading 11.1 grams gold.
The 2007 drill program extended the indicated resources boundary to depths of over 400 metres in four mineralized lodes. In addition, gold mineralization now extends continuously between the main deposit and the deep, westerly-plunging continuation of the deposit, known as the Western Deeps. In both the main Tiriganiaq and Western Deeps areas, the deposit remains open at depth and down plunge.
In the central portion of the Tiriganiaq deposit deep drilling indicated that multiple parallel zones of mineralization are present and are sufficiently large enough to host mineral resources. Drilling in the Western Deeps area also demonstrated the presence of multiple gold zones.
An underground exploration program at Meliadine West includes a decline presently 250 metres long. At the present advance rate the company expects to reach the first mineralized zone in the main deposit by February and the second zone in May.
Comaplex is now using the new resource estimate to develop a mine plan. Economic and optimization studies are scheduled for the near future, in part to determine what combination of pit and underground would be optimal for the development of the deposit.
In the three days following the announcement of the resource estimate for Tiriganiaq, Comaplex’s share price gained 41 to close at $6.41 in Jan. 14 trading. The company has a 52-week range of $3.22 to $6.75 and has 46.6 million shares issued.
At Meliadine East the new Discovery gold deposit is exposed at surface. Meliadine Resources, Comaplex’s partner on the project, generated a resource estimate for the Discovery deposit in late 2007 based on 112 historic drill holes and 21 surface diamond saw channel cuts. Similarly to Tiriganiaq, the resource estimate for Discovery is divided into an open pitable portion to a depth of 120 metres and an underground area deeper than 120 metres.
To a depth of 120 metres the Discovery deposit hosts 697,400 indicated tonnes grading 6.9 grams gold and 322,000 tonnes grading 7 grams gold, at a cut-off grade of 2 grams gold. Below 120 metres the deposit holds 333,000 indicated tonnes grading 9.7 grams gold and 300,600 inferred tonnes grading 7.9 grams gold, at a cut-off grade of 5 grams gold.
Meliadine Resources has planned a $2.5-million exploration budget for Meliadine East for 2008.
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