Kena yields bonanza gold grades

Vancouver — The eighth hole drilled by Sultan Minerals (SUL-V) into the Gold Mountain porphyry zone near Nelson, B.C., has returned a 2-metre section running an impressive 172.1 grams gold per tonne.

Lying on the Kena property, hole 8 marks the first hole of a third round of drilling into the promising gold-porphyry target. Collared 75 metres west of hole 5 (134 metres grading 1.1 grams gold), hole 8 returned an uncut value of 2.24 grams gold over 207.6 metres, from 6.7 metres down-hole. Included in this interval was a band of disseminated, visible gold at 205 metres, which returned the bonanza grades. Using a cut value of 34.29 grams gold, the total interval averaged 0.92 gram gold over the 207.6-metre section.

The junior aims to drill 21 new holes that will test the extent of the gold mineralization over a 1.4-km-by-500 metre area. So far, drilling has covered a 200-by-300-metre portion of a 2.1-km-by-650 metre coincidental geochemical and geophysical anomaly. Holes 1 through 3 were collared from the same drill pad and returned up to 106 metres grading 1.16 grams gold.

Moving 120 metres to the east, hole 4 hit 58 metres grading 1.21 grams gold from 28 metres down-hole, including a 2-metre section that ran 16.3 grams gold.

Collared 50 metres south of the first three holes, hole 6 cut 124 metres grading 0.62 gram gold per tonne. Included in this broad zone were several higher-grade section including the final 2 metres of the hole which ran 9.1 grams gold from 130 metres down-hole.

Hole 5, which was the first hole of the second round of drilling, was collared 50 metres west of the initial holes.

Moving to the southern edge of the coincidental geophysical anomaly some 300 metres south, hole 7 cut 0.55 gram gold over 68 metres from 12.0 metres down-hole. Included in this section was a 22-metre interval grading 1.04 grams gold.

Preliminary petrographic and alteration studies on the drill core has not only confirmed that mineralization is consistent with a porphyry-gold depositional setting (known for large-tonnage deposits), but also that it contains very low values of contaminants such as arsenic, cadmium and lead. Initial metallurgical test work on two composite core samples shows that the ore is not refractory with recoveries hitting 92-to-97% using cyanide leaching.

So far, five holes have been completed in the latest round of drilling. Assay results for the additional holes are pending.