Shares of Richmont Mines (RIC-T) jumped $1.42 or 15.32% to $10.69 on drill results from its Wasamac property in Quebec and the company plans to expand its exploration program there by another 10,000 metres to 45,000 metres this year as part of an effort to evaluate the potential for an underground bulk mining operation.
Drill hole WS-11-72 returned 31.40 metres of 7.28 grams gold per tonne and hole WS-11-74A cut 32.88 metres of 2.17 grams gold. Other notable intercepts included WS-11-73, which cut 6.6 metres of 1.62 grams gold; WS-11-77, which returned 9.80 metres of 1.82 grams gold; and 10.32 metres of 2.03 grams gold in hole WS-11-81.
Richmont is working on an updated resource calculation that should be released before the end of the year and a preliminary economic assessment is targeted for completion in the first quarter of 2012.
As of Dec. 31 2010, Wasamac has measured and indicated resources of 5.1 million tonnes grading 2.51 grams gold per tonne for 411,073 ounces of contained gold. Inferred resources add 11.5 million tonnes grading 2.72 grams gold for just over 1 million ounces of contained gold.
The 7.58 sq km Wasamac property is 15 km west of Richmont’s headquarters in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec in the heart of the Abitibi gold mining district and less than 10 km east of its Francoeur mine, which it is currently advancing to commercial production.
Richmont acquired 100% ownership of the Wasamac property in 1992 and started dewatering the pre-existing underground operations as well as some surface drilling. The project was shelved in 1994 due to poor economic conditions.
Gold at Wasamac was discovered in 1936 through surface trenching work. Intermittent production between 1965 and 1971 totaled 1.9 million tonnes grading 4.16 grams gold per tonne for 252,923 ounces of gold.
At presstime in Toronto Richmont was trading at $10.94 per share. The company has about 31.7 million shares outstanding.
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