High grade samples chipped by Lightning Minerals on Northwest

** gold property ** A 4,000-ft diamond drilling program is scheduled to start on the Lig htning Minerals gold property 50 miles northeast of Yellowknife, N.W.T.

The drilling will follow up a positive surface exploration program which included trenching and chip sampling on three veins. This work yielded 14 sections which assayed over 0.3 oz gold per ton. Widths of the chip samples ranged from 2-5 ft.

Drilling by previous operators on the property has confirmed the continuity of two zones, the Lambert and 14 veins, to a depth of 150 ft. On the No 18 vein, the surface work identified a 110-ft-long zone grading 0.41 oz gold per ton across a width of 4.5 ft. The drill program will test all three vein systems, Lightning says.