Vancouver — Drilling by
The program consisted of four reverse-circulation (RC) holes and 11 diamond drill holes, and covered less than 200 metres of the prospective gold-bearing zone.
The RC holes returned mixed results, with the first hole failing to hit target depth. Hole 2 was collared some 6 metres to the northwest, cutting multiple zones grading less than 2 grams gold per tonne but also 3.3 grams gold over 2 metres at a down-hole depth of 160 metres.
Moving some 100 metres to the northeast, hole 3 cut 6.45 grams gold over 5.1 metres at 18.3 metres down-hole. This high-grade zone is enveloped by material generally grading less than 1 gram gold. The last RC hole cut 4.21 grams gold over 1.5 metres at 45.7 metres down-hole.
Among the diamond drill results, hole 30 cut three 2-metre intervals of 8.21 grams gold from 20 metres downhole, 9.48 grams gold from 52 metres downhole and 6 grams gold at 112 metres down-hole. Holes 31, 32 and 36 failed to hit higher-grade sections, returning best values of 4.04 grams gold over 2 metres, 1.66 grams gold over 2 metres, and 2.16 grams gold over 2 metres, respectively.
The most encouraging results came from hole 33, which yielded 4 metres averaging 19.46 grams gold at 9 metres down-hole, plus a 2-metre section running 10.28 grams gold at 62 metres down-hole. Holes 34 and 35 cut 2-metre sections running 7.48 grams gold at 178 metres down-hole and 15.03 grams gold at 117 metres down-hole, respectively. Assay results from the four holes are still pending.
Last year, Sultan drilled 29 holes over the 1.4-km-by-500-metre coincidental geophysical and geochemical anomaly that marks the Gold Mountain zone. The company considers the area prospective for both large-tonnage bulk-minable targets and high-grade gold-bearing structures.
The latest results confirm that high-grade gold values occur within envelopes of lower-grade material generally averaging less than 1 gram gold. Most of the high-grade intersections lie close to the contact of the Silver King porphyry intrusion and the Elise footwall volcanics, occurring in both rock units.
So far, every hole drilled into the zone returned anomalous gold values, with 13 of the 36 diamond drill holes yielding intervals of greater than 10 grams gold. So far, the highest grades cut on the zone came in holes 3, where 1.2 metres returned 240 grams gold, and 8, which returned 2 metres of 172.1 grams gold. These holes were collared 125 metres apart, covering a vertical depth of 40-190 metres.
Petrographic and alteration studies indicate the mineralization is consistent with a porphyry-gold depositional setting. Initial metallurgical tests on two composite core samples show that the material is not refractory, with recoveries hitting 92-97% using cyanide leaching.
The Frank Lang-led junior has tabled a $500,000 budget for the next round of work, which is expected to begin in May. The work will focus on the southern extension of the Gold Mountain zone, as well as five other showings: Silver King Mine, Great Western, Toughnut-Cariboo and South.
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