Bonanza puts second drill on East Poirier base metal property

A second drill is being deployed by Rouyn-Noranda-based Bonanza Metals (ASE) on its East Poirier zinc property south of Joutel, Que.

The 14-claim property is situated about one mile east of the past- producing Poirier base metal mine. That mine was closed by Rio Algom in 1976 with remaining reserves estimated at 763,800 tons grading 2.2% copper and 716,500 tons grading 10.4% zinc.

Forbex Resources (ME) can earn a 50% interest in the property being explored by Bonanza by contributing $3 million in exploration funding. Bonanza is the operator of the joint venture.

Two new zinc zones were discovered by Bonanza last year as the result of a 14-hole drilling campaign on the East Poirier claims.

Lauri Boivin, vice president of exploration for Bonanza, says the company will continue to explore the new discovery zones this year by testing borehole EM anomalies outlined during geophysical surveys in the phase-one program.

Some of the better assays from the 1989 program included 8 ft. of 17.2% zinc in hole 14 and 8 ft. of 7.3% zinc in hole 13. Other significant assays from the program were 13.9% zinc over 29 ft. in hole 9 and 3.9% zinc over 8 ft. in hole 7.

Assay results reported from the Q-horizon were 13.1 ft. of 5.3% zinc in hole 4, 16 ft. of 3.07% zinc in hole 10 and 36.7 ft. of 12.7% zinc in hole 11.

The company has completed holes 16 and 17 which tested westerly extensions of the Q-zone. “Both holes intercepted more than 150 ft. of mineralization,” says Boivin. “There are small quantities of visible sphalerite and assays are pending.”

A silver-bearing pyrite horizon, barren of other metals, has also been identified in the recent drilling, says Boivin. Hole 3 intersected 18.6 oz. silver over 4 ft. and 6.1 oz. silver over 4 ft., while hole 2 cut 3.1 oz. silver over a 1-ft. width. Further work is planned to assess that horizon and determine if other silver- bearing zones are present on the property.