Libertad drilling intersects gold (March 13, 2007)

Exploration drilling at the Libertad project in Nicaragua by Glencairn Gold (GGG-T, GLE-X) has confirmed two high-grade zones on the deposit’s Santa Maria vein.

Four holes drilled for metallurgical testing and four drilled for exploration all intersected gold mineralization over core lengths ranging from a metre to 14 metres. The holes covered a strike length of 275 metres at mainly shallow depths, mostly 50-70 metres below surface. The vein is about 1 km east of La Libertad’s two pits, Mojon and Esmeralda.

In the first phase of drilling, three metallurgical holes intersected 3.8 metres grading 24.5 grams gold and 25.3 grams silver, 4.4 metres grading 40.2 grams gold and 10.8 grams silver, and 5.7 metres grading 27.3 grams gold and 43.5 grams silver per tonne. True widths ranged from 70% to 90% of the drilled lengths.

Capping gold grades at 40 grams per tonne in quartz veins, or 25 grams in stockwork material, brought the 24.5-gram grade down to 19.2 grams and the 40.2-gram grade down to 23 grams per tonne. It did not substantially affect the 27.3-gram result.

The second phase of drilling saw another metallurgical hole intersect 8.4 metres grading 8.3 grams gold and 12.8 grams silver per tonne, at the northeastern end of the area and about 100 metres below surface. The true width was 5.7 metres.

One exploration hole slightly to the east of the metallurgical hole cut 3.9 metres (2.8 metres true width) grading 8.9 grams gold and 13.3 grams silver per tonne. Another to the southwest of the metallurgical hole cut two zones, one of 4.6 metres grading 7.9 grams gold and 1.2 grams silver, and the other of 0.9 metres grading 10.5 grams gold and 2.9 grams silver per tonne. True widths were about 70% of core lengths.

An exploration hole nearer the first three metallurgical holes intersected 14.3 metres grading 1.6 grams gold and 11.6 grams silver per tonne, or a true width of 11 metres.

Trenching 400 metres to the northeast of the Mojon pit encountered two zones of gold mineralization on strike with the Mojon structure. One trench sample ran 4.4 grams gold and 18.3 grams silver per tonne over 4.2 metres, while another ran 2 grams gold and 6.9 grams silver per tonne over 16.8 metres.

A feasibility study on converting La Libertad to a conventional milling operation from the current heap-leach is ongoing. Glencairn will shut down mining at La Libertad by the end of March in order to assess the economics of the conversion, which would take about two years to implement.