Drills spin at Buffalo Hills

As many as 25 targets will be drill-tested this winter by Ashton Mining of Canada (ACA-T) as it searches for additional kimberlites in the Buffalo Hills region of north-central Alberta.

Ashton is operator of the project and will, upon completion of the 1999 program, hold a 45% interest. Alberta Energy (AEC-T) will also have a 45% interest, with the remainder held by Pure Gold Minerals (PUG-T).

On the much broader Cayo package, Ashton and Alberta Energy will each hold a 35% share, leaving Pure Gold with 30%. The 1999 program is budgeted at $7.4 million.

Ashton began ground geophysical surveys in January and recently resumed drilling selected targets using both a core rig and a reverse-circulation rig. A second core rig will be added later in the weeks ahead.

In the meantime, microdiamond analyses of samples weighing about 50 kg each from three recent kimberlite finds yielded only one microdiamond from LL-8.

Neither BM-2 nor BM-3 contained any diamonds.