WMC drilling expands zone at Meliadine West

Resource drilling by WMC International, the North American unit of Australian metals giant Western Mining Corp., is offering hope for an increase in the resource at the F zone of the Meliadine West gold deposit, 20 km north of Rankin Inlet, N.W.T.

WMC, operator and 56%-owner of the Meliadine West property, has been pursuing a drill program at the F zone and the nearby Tiriruniak and Wolf gold prospects. So far, WMC has put down 146 holes for a total of 36,000 metres of drilling in a program designed to increase the indicated resource on the property.

A prefeasibility study delivered in July concluded that Meliadine West could support annual production of 400,000 oz. over a 10-year mine life, provided that resources with a total gold content of 1.5 million oz. can be blocked out. An indicated resource of 9.8 million tonnes with an average grade of 10.5 grams gold per tonne has been outlined, with 8 million tonnes grading 11.1 grams at Tiriruniak and 1.8 million tonnes grading 7.8 grams at the F zone. The resources are based on a minimum width of 2.5 metres and a cutoff grade of 5 grams per tonne. No resource has yet been calculated for the Wolf zone.

WMC’s drilling success, and the feasibility of the Meliadine West project, is vital to Cumberland Resources (CBD-T) and Comaplex Minerals (CMF-T), each of which has a 22% interest carried through to production. WMC can buy out 2% from each company for $1-4 million, depending on when the deposits are put into production.

A series of 28 holes drilled along a 50-metre strike length of the F zone shows that its strike length — 300 metres at surface — may increase at depth. Deeper holes have shown that the zone is likely to continue to a minimum depth of 310 metres below surface.

Hole 273, drilled near the eastern end of the known mineralized zone, intersected the zone at a depth of about 190 metres, where an 11.3-metre interval ran 6 grams gold per tonne. Another 100 metres vertically below hole 273, hole 274 cut 0.9 metre grading 6.3 grams. Down-plunge and east of those two holes, hole 305 intersected 3.6 metres grading 5.2 grams.

Recently drilled infill holes suggest that grades are continuous. Hole 216, at the western end of the zone and 100 metres below surface, intersected two intervals of gold mineralization; the first interval contained an average of 12.7 grams over 2.4 metres, and the second contained an average of 10.1 grams over 4.4 metres.

Similarly, hole 217, drilled near the middle of the F zone, graded 3.7 grams per tonne over a core length of 10.3 metres.

Grades in other holes ranged from 1.9 grams to 242.9 grams per tonne, with the best intersection being a 4.7-metre length grading 21.2 grams in hole 250.

Metallurgical tests on mineralized material from the F zone indicate that a conventional gravity and cyanidation process should recover more than 92% of the gold in a mill feed.