Cream explores Kaslo silver property

Despite initial problems recovering drill core, Cream Minerals (CMA-V) is encoraged by the latest drill results at its Kaslo silver property in southeastern British Columbia.

The junior completed eight diamond drill holes, or 411 metres, in an area where trenching had revealed a 7.5-metre-wide shear zone assaying 371.6 grams silver per tonne, 3.26% lead and 4.94% zinc. Previously, drilling and access problems had prevented the company from testing the Silver Bear shear zone directly.

Three holes — SB-2, 5 and 6 — were collared 150 metres to the north in what is believed to be a secondary structure of the main shear. Drilling subsequently cut significant silver mineralization.

* Hole SB-1 was drilled at minus-70 but was lost about 30 metres down.

* Hole SB-2 was drilled vertically from the same location and was also lost before intersecting its intended target. The hole did, however, cut three bands of parallel mineralization before it was lost. The first band was hit at a depth of 46.63 metres down-hole and averaged 33.61 grams silver, 1.02% lead and 1.94% zinc over 1.48 metres. At 62.05 metres down-hole, a 1.96-metre interval was cut, averaging 124.17 grams silver, 0.79% lead and 1.21% zinc. A third interval was hit at a depth of 71.56 metres down-hole and averaged 137.89 grams silver, 0.05% lead and 0.78% zinc over 1.49 metres.

* Access problems forced Cream to move the drill 50 metres north, whereupon crews drilled hole SB-3 down-dip into the shear zone. However, the hole was abandoned at a depth of 30.5 metres owing to poor recovery.

* Hole SB-4 was also abandoned, for the same reason.

* Hole SB-05 was drilled at a dip of minus 75 and intersected 3.25 metres averaging 390.05 grams silver, 3.76% lead and 1.07% zinc. Included in the hole was a 0.51-metre interval that ran 2,271.00 grams silver, 22.60% lead and 5.34% zinc starting at a depth of 5.89 metres down-hole.

* Hole SB-06 was drilled from the same location as hole 5 but at a dip of minus 45. The hole cut a 5.5-metre interval of 68.54 grams silver, 0.37% lead and 1.43% zinc starting at a depth of 9.82 metres down-hole. Included in this hole was a 0.54-metre intercept averaging 574.50 grams silver, 1.11% lead and 5.22% zinc starting at a depth of 9.82 metres.

“What we’re finding is that the shear is post-mineral,” says Arthur Troup, Cream’s vice-president of exploration. “The mineralization we are cutting is tectonically placed and looks as if it sheared out from the Silver Bear zone, which lies 100 metres east of drill holes SB-1 and 2.”

The company plans to extend the drill road up-hill in order to test the primary Silver Bear shear, a structure which has been traced by geophysics and geochemistry for a length of 1.2 km. The shear, which is host to three sub-parallel bands of mineralization, is believed to represent the southern extension of the Gold Cure shear zone.

The company has completed 1,459 soil samples and 51.7 line-km of very-low-frequency electromagnetic surveys over mineralized shear trends on the Cork, Silver Bear and Gold Cure zones.

Gold Cure, which was traced for 3 km and remains open to the north, is a 25-to-80-metre-wide shear zone that trends in a northeasterly direction. Geochemistry reveals anomalous silver, lead and zinc values throughout its length. On the Bismark working, the structure runs parallel to, and intersects, a 100-metre-wide limestone band. Historical production figures show average grades of 1,948 grams silver, 16% lead and 8% zinc.

In the Cork area, the mineralized shear has been traced for 1.6 km northeast and 1.5 km southwest of the previously drill-tested area. Mapping has delineated favorable host-limestone horizons that intersect, suggesting replacement-style mineralization. A second phase of drilling, spanning 2,225 metres, is already under way.

In related news, Cream Minerals has closed two private placements totalling 1 million units. About $660,000 of the proceeds is being used to finance drilling at Kaslo. The remainder, $865,400, will be applied to exploration efforts at the Verdosa gold-silver property near Durango in northwestern Mexico.