Central Asia proves up Raigorodok resource — Exploration program attempts to define open-pit resource

With seven more holes drilled at the Raigorodok North gold deposit in northern Kazakstan, Central Asia Goldfields (CGZ-M) is nearing completion of a program aimed at confirming and proving up a resource amenable to open-pit mining.

The Raigorodok North prospect is one of three mineralized areas discovered on the Raigorodok property in 1972 by Soviet-era geologists. Today, the property is 60%-owned by Central Asia and 40% by a state enterprise.

The Soviet geologists estimated that the prospect hosted a resource of 21 million tonnes grading 1.5 grams gold per tonne, contained within a steeply dipping, east-west striking high-Temperature skarn deposit. These resources were calculated using a cutoff grade of 1 gram gold and, by Canadian standards, would be classified as probable and possible.

After entering the joint-Venture last year, Central Asia drilled five holes along a north-south-Trending fence so as to confirm Soviet drill results in the Main zone. These were collared between 50 to 70 metres apart, with results indicating a 10% increase over the Soviet values.

More recently, the company drilled off two more fences, which have confirmed the zone’s strike and depth continuity. The fences ran parallel to, and 100 metres on either side of, the initial fence, with holes collared at centres of roughly 60 to 70 metres and drilled at angles of 45 to 50 to the south.

Along the eastern fence, two holes hit two zones of mineralization, while the third hit three.

Selected results from each of three holes include: 13.7 metres of 1.8 grams gold, starting at a depth of 11.6 metres, in hole 6; 40.9 metres (from 61.7 to 102.6 metres) of 1.5 grams gold in hole 7; and 59.9 metres (from 105.7 to 165.6 metres) averaging 2.3 grams gold in hole 8.

Results from drilling along the western fence have proved more auspicious, with the most recent hole drilled, 14, returning 108.3 metres (from 18.7 to 127 metres) averaging 1.89 grams gold. The mineralized zone starts at the lower limit of oxidation and contains three higher-grade zones, the best of which returned 4.33 grams gold over 9.7 metres. A separate zone of 23 metres (from 149.7 to 173.7 metres) was intersected farther down-hole and averaged 0.96 gram gold. The zone also includes a 14.9-Metre interval (from 154.6 to 169.5 metres) of 1.14 grams gold. The hole was collared north of hole 13 in an attempt to undercut the zones intersected in that hole. Hole 13 hit 23.7 metres (from 17.5 to 41.2 metres) of 0.7 gram gold and a second, 35.6-Metre zone (from 55 to 90.6 metres) averaging 1 gram gold. Two other holes collared south of hole 13 failed to intersect mineralization. Central Asia believes both holes were collared too far to the south and thus intersected the leached-out zone of oxidation, as suggested by results from hole 14.

At the eastern fence, the company is drilling hole 9, about 70 metres to the north of hole 8, in an attempt to intersect the downdip extension of the zones intersected in that hole. One more hole is planned for the fence and will be collared a further 70 metres to the north.

At the western fence, hole 9-15 has been collared about 70 metres to the north of hole 14 and is designed to undercut the zones intersected in that hole. The company also plans to drill an additional hole further north of hole 15.

Another hole has also been spotted for the centre fence and will be drilled north of the last hole drilled on that fence.

If results from drilling continue to prove encouraging, the company says it will drill additional holes before re-Calculating a new resource figure.

Gold mineralization at the Raigorodok North prospect is associated with high-Temperature skarns localized along a tectonic contact between granodiorites and Lower Ordovician conglomerates and sandstones. The gold occurs in free form and within sulphides.

The company has allocated a total of $4.7 million for its 1997 exploration budget. The funds are to be divided among the Raigorodok, Ortasay and Ashiktas prospects, as well as several other targets newly identified on the company’s Kazakstani properties. The latter two prospects are in the Chu-Ily and Balkash licence areas, respectively. At Ashiktas, drilling to date has outlined a resource of 465,000 tonnes grading 2.5 grams gold.