Queenston pulls high-grade gold at McBean project

Drilling down-plunge from the McBean open pit, east of Kirkland Lake, Ont., Queenston Mining (QMI-T) has encountered several significant gold intersections, including one with a multiple-ounce grade.

Five holes of a 24-hole program are complete, the best intersection being a 2.2-metre length grading 273.9 grams (7.99 oz. per ton). Another intersection in the same hole assayed 3.1 grams over a 2-metre length.

Two other holes returned high-grade intersections: a 3.4-metre length in one hole intersected a gold grade of 7.2 grams per tonne, while two intersections in another hole graded 15.1 grams over 1.6 metres, and 13 grams over 3.3 metres.

Queenston and joint-venture partner Franco-Nevada Mining (FN-T) have embarked on a $3.5-million program to investigate deep extensions of known mineralized structures in the Kirkland Lake camp. The McBean mine, which was in production in the mid-1980s, produced 50,000 oz. gold.

“We let the holes wander a little bit and whacked into a carbonate-gold zone,” says Charles Page, president of Queenston. Previous interpretations of the McBean geology had suggested that the Larder Lake fault zone was near the pit boundary, and that the mineralization would likely be cut off there. But the mineralization was intersected beyond the inferred location of the fault zone, indicating there may be a wider target to test.

The other two completed holes intersected mineralized zones over core lengths of 2-7 metres, carrying grades of 1.4-3.1 grams per tonne. The lower grade in these holes is not an indication that the holes are unmineralized, since gold at McBean is known to be erratically distributed and drill holes tend to underestimate the actual grade. (Similar effects were common at the nearby Kerr Addison mine, where, typically, one hole in six would encounter an ore-grade intersection.)

Queenston has added a second drill at the project, and while one drill continues to test targets at McBean, the other will be used to investigate extensions of known mineralization at three prospects (Anoki, Esker and Biroco) west of McBean.

Also in the Kirkland Lake camp, Transpacific Resources (TRNP-C) has started drilling at its Instant Creek gold prospect in McGarry Twp., and induced-polarization and magnetic surveys are providing additional drill targets.