The first hole of a planned US$300,000 program at the Butte Highlands gold project in central Montana has intersected 225 ft. grading 0.69 oz. gold per ton from 755 ft. to 980 ft.
Orvana Minerals (TSE), which has the right to buy the project for US$2 million, shot up over $2 per share on the news, to trade at the $6 level. Six of the forty-five 5-ft. assay intervals exceeded
1 oz. within the 30-ft. section from 755 ft. to 790 ft. Included was one 5-ft. section grading 12.26 oz. Check and re-check fire assays of that interval returned grades of 14.59 oz. and 13.05 oz. respectively. If all the high-grade values are arbitrarily cut to one ounce, the 225-ft. interval grades an average of 0.32 oz.
The company plans to complete 18,600 ft. of rotary and 2,800 ft. of diamond drilling in this phase of work. The objective is to expand the current estimated resource of about 500,000 tons grading 0.47 oz.
Prior to shutting down in 1942 because of the War Measures Act, the Butte Highland mine produced an estimated 107,000 tons grading 0.6 oz. The former operator of the mine completed underground development on seven levels in the hangingwall above a steeply dipping skarn body. Gold mineralization occurs at or near the upper contact of the skarn and overlying marble.
Most of the old production came from what was termed an oxidized “grey quartz breccia” zone, between the 400 and 800 levels. The mining covered a strike extent of up to about 450 ft., says Orvana President Neil Hillhouse. The former operators completed development down to the 1050 level, about 200 ft. vertically below the lowest level of historic mining.
Underground drilling by Butte Highlands Mining in 1941, from various levels, returned intersections ranging from 2.3 ft. at 0.12 oz. up to 31 ft. at 1.06 oz. That drilling formed the basis of the current resource estimate. Battle Mountain Gold later explored the property’s potential for hosting an open-pit, bulk-tonnage deposit, but the company’s shallow drilling was inconclusive.
A deep hole by Battle Mountain in 1989 returned 63 ft. grading 0.52 oz. in one hole at about the 1,100-ft. level, below the old workings. The company subsequently optioned the ground to Placer Dome.
Placer also drilled a deep hole, intersecting 23 ft., grading 0.26 oz. about 250 ft. downdip from the Battle Mountain hole.
Hillhouse said the two companies did not follow up the deep intersections and dropped the property.
Gold mineralization below the 800 level is unoxidized and associated with pyrrhotite, pyrite, minor chalcopyrite and silica in a pyroxene-amphibole skarn.
The mineralized zone remains open on strike and to depth.
Hillhouse noted that the recent hole intersected the zone about 650 ft. along strike to the east of the previous drilling and workings.
Orvana’s drilling will include 13 rotary holes in two tiers; one at a depth of about 800 ft. and the other at a depth of about 1,100 ft. The horizontal spacing between the holes will be about 100 ft. and a number of the holes will be completed with diamond drilling to test the mineralized zone.
On completion of the program and depending on results, Orvana may re-open the main adit to conduct further work.
Orvana has about 21.5 million shares outstanding, $2 million in working capital and no debt.
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