Northern Star proves up Midway

Vancouver Encouraging drill results from its Midway gold property has prompted junior Northern Star Mining (NSM-V) to pick up another 275 ha of ground some 10 miles west of Val d’Or, Quebec.

Dubbed Cadillac, the new property lies on the eastern edge of Agnico Eagle Mines’ (AGE-T) Lapa project (4 million tons grading 0.25 oz gold per ton) and only 6 miles east of the Laronde mine.

The price tag for the property tallies 800,000 shares, plus $40,000 payable in stages over a one-year period. The vendors retain a 1.5% net smelter royalty, which can be purchased for $500,000.

“Recently with the discoveries made by Agnico Eagle at Lapa there has been a renewed interest in the Cadillac Break,” says Northern Star’s VP of Exploration, Michel David.

Over the past year, Northern Star has been busy drill tested the nearby Midway property, which hosts the number 1 shaft of the past producing Malartic Gold Fields mine. In production from 1939 through till 1962, the operation produced nearly 2 million oz of gold with mining extended down to the 2,400 foot level. Historical geological reports give the Midway project a probable resource of 420,504 tons grading 0.2 oz gold per ton. The possible resources tally 255,268 tons grading 0.2 oz gold. Some 451,943 tons grading 0.16 oz gold are classified as geological resources adjacent to the old mine workings.

Northern Star has so far focussed on the southern portion of the property, which straddles the prolific Cadillac structural break. Gold mineralization occurs in en echelon veins in gabbro bodies associated with sulphides, mainly pyrite. Lower grade gold mineralization is also found in quartz monzonite intrusive.

“There is the gabbro, where the higher-grade mineralization is contained and the later intrusive, which we believe is responsible for bringing in the gold,” adds David.

So far, Northern Star has punched 9 widely spaced drill holes into the property with an eye on increasing the resources in the upper 700 ft.

“We put together a nine hole program that explored previous mineralization some 1,500 ft from the mine area,” states David.

Highlights from the program include:

• Hole 1 20.1 ft. grading 0.18 oz gold,
• Hole 2 21.3 ft grading 0.33 oz gold,
• Hole 4 22.9 ft grading 0.09 oz gold,
• Hole 6 51.6 ft grading 0.3 oz gold,
• Hole 7 46.2 ft grading 0.3 oz gold,
• Hole 8 22.1 ft grading 0.58 oz gold,

“We hit nine-out of nine, with grades around 0.3 oz gold over good widths,” continues David “This is not a discontinuous quartz vein system but large continuous lenses.”

The latest results combined with previous drilling which demonstrated that gold mineralization is present below the lowest levels of the mine has prompted the junior to greatly expand its drilling program.

“The next phase is a much bigger programupwards of 30,000 ft,” says David. “We will explore the zone at greater depths and laterally along strike.”

The junior is also eager to explore the eastern portion of the property, which has largely been unexplored.

The new drilling program is expected to be complete by year-end with an updated resource calculation coming in the first quarter of 2004.