Gitennes eyes Nunavut, Peru

Armed with airborne geophysical data, the world’s second-largest copper producer, Phelps Dodge (PD-N), is set to launch an 8-to-10-hole drill program on the Nowyak gold-silver-zinc property in Canada’s Nunavut Territory.

Targeting the Hub Lake alteration zone, where boulder samples returned up to 20.31 grams gold and 1,400 grams silver per tonne, plus 9.1% zinc, the major will test two induced-polarization geophysical anomalies defined over lengths of 800 metres and 1 km, respectively. The company says the area’s geophysical characteristics suggest potential for hosting significant massive sulphide mineralization.

Vancouver-based junior Gitennes Exploration (GIT-T) has so far spent $400,000 exploring the Nowyak property and is also funding the current drill program. Once the program is complete, the junior and Phelps Dodge will each hold a 50% stake in the property.

Meanwhile, in Peru, Gitennes has discovered a new gold prospect on its wholly owned Rio Seco property, while continuing to review geological data from the Virgen property.

Situated north of the port city of Huarmey, the 34-sq.-km Rio Seco property hosts two newly discovered gold-bearing zones. The main prospect has been outlined over a 45-by-90-metre area, with mineralization occurring as lenses and beds of quartz, sericite, feldspar and barite hosted in pyritic tuffs and porphyry. Rock samples from the zone have returned anomalous gold values ranging from 200 parts per billion to 1.6 grams.

Some 700 metres to the northwest, the junior has identified a similar zone of alteration and mineralization. According to Gitennes, the two prospects are separated by sand and gravel overburden and may represent one continuous target. A 1,500-metre drill program will test the prospects.

Cambior (CBJ-T) reports that an in-house resource estimate on the Rio Suro gold zone at Virgen has come in at 12 million tonnes grading 1.22 grams per tonne. The new estimate is based on 56 previously drilled surface and underground holes and 38 new infill holes completed by Cambior last year. Using a 0.4-gram-gold cutoff grade, the deposit hosts a measured resource of 3.5 million tonnes grading 1.62 grams gold, an indicated resource of 8.6 million tonnes grading 1.05 gram and an inferred resource of 4.4 million tonnes grading 0.86 gram. In February, Cambior terminated its option to purchase the property.

The Rio Suro zone is an oxide gold deposit discovered by Gitennes in 1997. Cambior entered into an option agreement to buy the property in December 1998 for US$7 million in cash, payable in three payments over three years. Cambior paid US$2.5 million on signing but returned the property to Gitennes before paying the second US$2.5-million payment.

Initial metallurgical tests by Gitennes indicate that run-of-mine ore may be heap-leached, with a minimum 80% gold recovery.

Rio Suro is one of 10 mineralized gold zones in nine exploration concessions that comprise the Virgen property. Lesser-explored targets on the property include the Centro, Alumbre, Paloquian and Cuchi zones.

Gitennes intends to evaluate all the information from Cambior’s 1999 exploration program before proceeding with further exploration.

At the Azul project in eastern Peru, low gold prices and the high cost of exploring this rugged area have induced Gitennes and joint-venture partner Navigator Explorations (NVR-V) to shelve plans for further exploration. The partners spent US$136,000 on the property in 1999.