Lake Shore finds new zone at Timmins mine

As Lake Shore Gold (LGS-T) gets ready to reach commercial production at its Timmins gold mine near Timmins, Ont., the company is finding new mineralized areas outside current resources at the mine.

Lake Shore has just released results for 44 drill holes amounting to 7,600 metres worth of drilling at the Timmins mine; 13 holes were from an 88-hole program completed in 2009 while the rest were from the current 2010 drill program.

New high grade mineralization was identified in a previously untested gap below current resources in the Ultramafic zone between the 740 and 785 levels including 13 metres grading 7.55 grams gold per tonne and 22.5 metres grading 8.84 grams gold per tonne.

There was also new mineralization detected in the Footwall zone near the 650 level outside of current resources including 10.25 metres grading 5.91 grams gold per tonne and 18.5 metres grading 5.08 grams gold per tonne.

Lake Shore also intercepted a few high grade sections within current resources which compare favourably to more widely spaced surface drilling. Highlights include 8.5 metres grading 23.26 grams gold per tonne and 13.3 metres grading 12.13 grams gold per tonne.

Lake Shore president and CEO Tony Makuch says the results support the original resource estimates and also highlight the potential for extending the resource blocks and discovering new resources at the mine.

“We are continuing to drill underground for both mine planning and resource expansion, and plan to extend a development ramp above the 650 level and establish a series of sub-levels in anticipation of initial test stoping during the summer and commercial production later in the year,” Makuch said in a statement.

The company is currently processing development ore and advanced exploration material at its Bell Creek 1,500 tonne per day mill.

Lake Shore is also developing the underground at the nearby Thunder Creek mine to connect to the Timmins mine, and aims to intersect Thunder Creek mineralization from the 200 level in June and from the 650 metres level by the end of September.

Lake Shore shares were up nearly 4% today, or 12¢, to $3.21 apiece on a trading volume of 1.6 million shares.