Miramar expands Suluk

Vancouver The latest results from the Suluk zone has prompted Miramar Mining (MAE-T) to drill an additional 8,200 metres in the Madrid area on the Hope Bay gold property in Nunavut.

"Results from the Madrid area continue to provide encouragement,” says company President, Tony Walsh. "The Suluk area in particular demonstrates the significant gold potential of this area, as we expand the gold mineralization along strike, to depth, and discover more mineralized lenses parallel to those previously identified."

Earlier drilling in the Suluk area cut several parallel, steeply dipping mineralized zones over a 250 metre strike length. Miramar punched 12 new holes into the zone yielding 31.6 grams gold per tonne over 6.2 metres from 226.5 metre down hole in hole 214, 4.2 grams gold over 10.9 metres from 121.3 metre down hole in hole 218 and 5 grams gold over 7.2 metres from 288.9 metres down hole in hole 219A.The latest bout of drilling has extended the mineralization to over 400 metres in length down to depths of more than 250 metres below surface.

Mineralization lies along interbanded basalt and argillite units, and comprises higher grade cores surrounded by large halos of lower grade gold mineralization.

Based on the promising results, the company has added another 8,200 metres of drilling to its recently completed 12,000 metre program.

Moving to the south, the prospective horizon shifts 100 metres to the east and the Suluk mineralization appears to narrow but further east two holes hit a new mineralized lens. Hole 92B returned 10.6 grams gold over 6.2 metres with a second zone running 11.5 grams gold over 4.2 metres cut lower down in the hole. Hole 93 yielded 5.2 grams gold over 5.2 metres followed by 6.2 grams gold over 3.4 metres lower down in the hole.

Mineralization occurs in altered silicified basalt proximal to an argillite interflow to the south, and stratigraphically east of the main Suluk lenses.

At the Rand Spur target some 700 metres north of Suluk, hole 216 tested the down dip extension of the mineralization cut in hole 206 (56.7 metres grading 2.6 grams gold) and returned 1.3 grams gold over 52 metres.

Moving 2.2 km south of Suluk, 10 holes were drilled into the Patch 7 area. The 2,883 metre program cut thick sections of altered interbedded volcanics and argillite with hole 86A yielding 3.9 grams gold over 3 metres, hole 89 returned 35.5 grams gold over 0.9 metre, hole 94 cut 2.3 metres grading 12.4 grams gold and hole 95 returned 7 metres grading 3.9 grams gold.

Miramar also completed 4,289 metres of reverse circulation drilling over 7 target areas on the Hope Bay belt. The 248 holes identified three drill target areas. The most promising appears to be the Nexus target where an extensive trend of anomalous gold values in altered bedrock has been identified and the Gas Cache prospect where drilling stepped out to the north and south of previous work.

A 9,000 metre drill program aimed at testing the depth potential of the Boston deposit got underway in mid-March and the initial results are expected later this month.

"The Boston Deeps program is warranted by the scale of the Boston gold system and its potential persistence to depth, a typical feature of many Archean shear-hosted gold deposits.” Said Walsh.

To date, the Boston mineralizing system marks the largest gold resource in the Hope Bay belt with a measured and indicated resource of some 1.4 million tonnes grading 15 grams gold per tonne. Previous reconnaissance drilling by BHP, now BHP Billiton (BHP-N) showed the gold mineralization continues to depths of at least 600 metres below surface. Archean shear hosted gold deposits often extend to depths of 2-to-3 km and so far the Boston system has only been systematically explored to depths of 350 metres. Miramar aims to test the zone to at least 1-km below surface.

At last count, the Hope Bay project holds a measured and indicated resources of 3.36 million tonnes grading 15.4 grams gold, plus an inferred 6.7 million tonnes grading 12.3 grams gold.

In January, an independent scoping study on the Doris area alone concluded that the high-grade Hinge zone can support a stand-alone operation with a capital investment of $26.7 million. A stockpile of 9,000 tonnes of Boston material would expand the Hinge zone resource to the tune of 471,600 tonnes averaging 18.5 grams gold.