EXPLORATION 1999 – Virginia confirms potential at La Grande prospects — Junior pioneers exploration in remote regions of Quebec

Drilling by Virginia Gold Mines (VIA-M) at projects in far northern Quebec has confirmed mineralization at depth below several mineralized showings.

At Virginia’s La Grande Sud project, between the LG2 and LG3 Reservoirs of the James Bay hydroelectric project, drill holes on three showings — Mico-Milan, Pari and Breche — indicated gold mineralization at depth. Breche, the newest showing, had previously yielded a grab sample with a gold grade of 8.6 grams per tonne and channel samples with 1.3 grams per tonne over 3 metres and 2.2 grams over 8 metres.

At this showing, Virginia’s drill hole 139 intersected 16.7 metres that graded 1.4 grams gold per tonne, part of a larger interval that averaged 0.7 grams over 69.7 metres. A second drill hole, 148, intersected 12 metres grading 1.6 grams per tonne, part of 68 metres that averaged 0.8 gram.

At Mico-Milan, where a previous grab sample graded 27 grams gold per tonne and a previous channel sample ran 2.7 grams over a 3-metre width, three drill holes intersected gold mineralization at depth. Hole 128 cut 3.8 metres grading 5.6 grams per tonne, hole 129 cut 1 metre grading 3.5 grams, and hole 140 cut 1 metre grading 5.5 grams.

Pari, which, in previous exploration programs, had yielded channel samples with grades of 21.3 and 69.6 grams per tonne, had been drilled previously; the first drill hole on the showing turned up a 1-metre interval grading 95.7 grams gold per tonne. Results this season were more muted, but each of three holes intersected two zones of gold mineralization.

Hole 123 intersected a 2-metre core length with a grade of 2.8 grams gold per tonne, and a separate 2.7 metres grading 2.1 grams. Hole 143 cut 1.2 metres with 4.7 grams and 7 metres deeper in the hole that graded 1.9 grams per tonne. Drill hole 149 encountered a 6-metre core length grading 1.1 grams and 14 metres with 1.2 grams per tonne.

Virginia also completed a till sampling program on the property, concentrating on the As grid, where earlier till sampling had returned high gold-grain counts. In these samples a large proportion of the grains showed a delicate shape, considered to be a sign that the grains had not been transported very far.

The till survey found two glacial dispersion trains, one with a source that appeared to be in mafic volcanic rocks immediately south of a tonalite body, and another that appeared to originate in felsic volcanic rocks yet farther south. Induced-polarization and electromagnetic (EM) surveys of the area near the up-ice end of the second dispersion train located 12 conductive or chargeable zones, and drill holes on two of these geophysical anomalies returned base metal mineralization, including one intersection that ran 0.48% zinc over a core length of 23 metres.

A third dispersion train included one sample that contained 250 gold grains, of which 202 were “delicate.” More drilling is planned in this area.

Virginia is still preparing a resource calculation for its Zone 32 gold deposit on the La Grande Sud property, south of Mico-Milan and southwest of Breche and Pari. An earlier estimate placed the gold resource in all categories at 2.1 million tonnes grading 2.9 grams gold per tonne.

Farther north, Virginia and Osisko Exploration (OSK-M) have finished an airborne magnetic and EM survey on the 174-sq.-km Payne Bay property, on the eastern side of the Ungava Peninsula. There, Virignia can acquire a 50% interest by spending $600,000 on exploration over three years.

Two long gabbro-peridotite intrusive bodies exist on the property, and the magnetic data have assisted the companies in mapping them. In these bodies, the EM survey has defined 28 conductors, ranging form 150 to 900 metres in length. Some of these coincide with nickel-copper showings that had been discovered in a mapping and prospecting program over the summer of 1998. More work is scheduled for June.