Crown Butte cuts 247 ft. of 0.31 oz. at Montana project

An ongoing underground drill program at the New World property owned by Crown Butte Mines (TSE) is expected to result in a new reserve figure being calculated for the Homestake deposit, one of several significant gold-silver-copper deposits outlined to date on the Montana property.

And with results such as 247 ft. grading 0.31 oz. gold (0.26 cut) and 1.31 oz. silver per ton plus 1.27% copper, it’s easy to understand why a decision was made to expand the 18,000-ft., 24-hole underground program to 22,700 ft. in 30 holes.

The New World project is already considered one of the most significant discoveries made in the past decade in the U.S. Before the underground program began in April with two core drills, it was reported to host preliminary reserves of 12 million tons grading 0.22 oz. gold (0.18 cut) and 0.87 oz. silver per ton, plus 0.75% copper. Of this amount, the Homestake deposit accounted for 6.6 million tons of 0.18 oz. gold.

Crown Butte says the historic Gold Dust adit beneath the Homestake deposit is now open to the old working faces. Utilities and portal support facilities have been installed and four underground drill stations were cut on the 100-ft. mine grid.

Hemlo Gold Mines (TSE), which owns 60% of Crown Butte’s common stock, is proposing to develop a mine on the New World property that would produce at least 125,000 oz. gold annually, plus silver and copper. The bulk of reserves (over 85%) are amenable to underground mining methods.

The Crown Butte property is in an environmentally sensitive area near Yellowstone Park, and is still in the public review and permitting stage. Crown Butte and Hemlo Gold plan to develop a mine that would meet or beat current environmental regulations, as well as enhance areas that were surface mined by previous operators around the turn of the century.

Hole Interval thickness gold (cut) gold silver copper

ft. ft. oz./ton oz./ton oz./ton %

800 374.3-496.8 122.5 0.187 0.221 0.48 0.57

801 403.4-580.0 176.6 0.143 0.187 0.68 0.43

403.4-647.3 243.9 0.133 0.598 0.77 0.47

802 357.6-496.3 138.7 0.143 0.202 0.38 0.28

397.8-496.3 98.5 0.178 0.260 0.41 0.33

803 363.2-412.8 49.6 0.325 0.448 1.10 1.01

804 474.0-576.9 102.9 0.154 0.154 0.31 0.30

687.0-743.4 56.2 0.076 0.076 0.45 0.16

687.0-784.4 97.4 0.066 0.066 0.33 0.23

805 570.7-655.5 84.8 0.144 0.176 0.90 0.89

806 146.3-396.5 250.2 0.116 0.116 0.53 0.53

213.0-296.3 83.3 0.106 0.106 0.50 0.40

807 403.5-431.4 27.9 0.205 0.205 0.66 0.26

403.5-530.0 126.5 0.084 0.084 0.53 0.18

808 210.0-267.2 57.2 0.330 0.330 1.32 1.27

304.3-457.0 152.7 0.302 0.389 1.37 1.33

210.0-457.0 247.0 0.265 0.318 1.31 1.27

811 372.0-490.0 188.4 0.171 0.235 0.59 0.90