Mixed results at Golden Bear

Drilling at the Golden Bear mine property in northwestern British Columbia is returning mixed results for Wheaton River Minerals (TSE).

The company is drill-testing two zones, Ursa and Grizzly, in an effort to outline additional reserves to restart the mine.

Work on the Ursa, about 4 km north of the mine’s existing mill, is concentrating on expanding the zone.

Drilling to date has tested about 120 metres of strike down to a maximum depth of 100 metres, with one of the best intersections returning 63.5 grams gold per tonne over 27.2 metres (previously released hole 95-268).

Hole 95-270, which was drilled to intersect the zone about 50 metres below 95-268 and 25 metres to the north, encountered low-grade gold values. The closest intersection in the area is hole 95-269, which returned 77.8 metres grading 15.1 grams gold 25 metres to the south.

Not all the news from Ursa is disappointing, however. Hole 95-271 returned 17 metres grading 11.6 grams gold about 20 metres below and 15 metres south of the intersection in hole 95-269. Future drilling will test the Ursa zone on strike and at depth to the south.

Furthermore, Wheaton believes there may be a second high-grade zone in the vicinity of the Ursa. Geochemical work on the high-grade boulder train, which originally led to the discovery of the Ursa zone last year, has determined that the boulders do not match the Ursa chemistry.

Finding the source of the gold-mineralized boulders will form part of a grassroots exploration program on the property this summer.

The company also plans to test the Kodiak fault between the Kodiak A deposit (473,000 tonnes grading 4.6 grams gold) and the Ursa. The 800 metres of strike between the two zones has never been drill-tested.

Meanwhile, drilling is continuing on the underground Grizzly zone, which sits adjacent to the mothballed mill.

The program is designed to expand and upgrade the current resource estimate of 271,000 tonnes grading 16.3 grams gold. The resource is contained within a strike length of about 200 metres, a dip extent of about 50 metres and an average width of just over 10 metres.

Assay results from the first four holes of the current drill program include: 19.5 grams gold over 5.7 metres in hole 95-133; 3.3 grams gold over 3.7 metres in 95-135; and 6.3 grams gold over 2.7 metres in 95-132. Hole 95-130 returned no significant results.

Hole 95-133 is an infill hole roughly in the centre of the resource area, whereas hole 135 is about 50 metres below, at the margin of the resource area.

Holes 130 and 132 were drilled outside the zone, on strike to the south.

Drilling on the Grizzly is continuing with two rigs, and Wheaton expects to add a second rig at the Ursa zone in the near future.

Wheaton controls the Golden Bear property through a majority shareholding in North American Metals (VSE) which, in turn, owes Wheaton more than $60 million.