Clearwater gold zones shaping up for Eastmain, Soquem

Drilling by Quebec government-owned Soquem at the Clearwater property, in the James Bay region of northwestern Quebec, has confirmed that veins exposed at surface in a stripping program last fall continue to depth.

Soquem, which is earning a half-interest in the property from Eastmain Resources (ER-T), drilled 22 holes for a total of 3,100 metres of drilling over the winter. Sixteen of the holes tested the veins at 25-metre intervals along strike, at shallow depths.

The mineralized zones were often narrow — between 0.5 and 1 metre — but their gold grades exceeded 10 grams per tonne in about half the intersections. Three of the wider intersections graded 22.6 grams over 1.9 metres, 17.1 grams over 2.3 metres, and 7.2 grams over 3.2 metres; a 1.1-metre interval graded 88.6 grams gold per tonne, while another cut 0.5 metre grading 200 grams.

Another six holes tested for extensions of known mineralization at depth, and four cut mineralization in the property’s B, C or D veins. The best intersection returned an average grade of 21.7 grams gold per tonne over a 2.3-metre core length, while narrow intersections showed grades ranging from 7.1 to 52.9 grams per tonne.

June will see a program of stripping over surface showings that will guide a drilling program in the fall.

Soquem will be revising the resource estimate this fall to take into account the recent drilling, as well as the field work now scheduled. The existing resource estimate, made in 1999, totalled 544,000 tonnes grading 11.1 grams gold per tonne. The calculation used a minimum width of 2 metres and a minimum grade of 3.5 grams. That resource estimate considered only the property’s G, I and J veins.