More discoveries at Rankin Inlet

The Meliadine project near Rankin Inlet, N.W.T., may have the makings of a new Canadian gold district, according to partners Comaplex Minerals (CMF-T) and Cumberland Resources (CBD-T).

“Let’s face it. With the results we’ve been getting, we’d be front-page news if this property were in Africa or Indonesia,” says George Fink, president of Comaplex.

The juniors have spent more than $11 million exploring the Rankin Inlet region and are equal partners at Meliadine. The western portion of the property is under option to WMC International, which can acquire up to a 60% interest by spending $12.5 million on exploration. WMC has spent more than $7 million there in the past two years.

The juniors each hold 50% of Meliadine East, which hosts a resource of 2 million tons grading 0.196 oz. gold per ton in the Discovery deposit, a portion of which may be amenable to open-pit methods. That resource, however, was eclipsed by WMC’s discovery last year of the Tiriruniak Central zone on Meliadine West.

“Tonnnage is building up and we believe Tiriruniak can become a stand-alone mine,” says Phillip Murdy, Comaplex’s vice-president of exploration.

Recent drilling in the Tiriruniak Central (TC) zone has yielded some impressive (uncut) assay results, including 5.18 metres grading 71.45 grams gold per tonne from hole 74 and 3.24 metres of 17.46 grams from hole 66.

Other results include 5.65 metres of 6.1 grams, 5.42 metres of 12.42 grams, and 6.16 metres of 2.65 grams.

The TC zone is in the 2.5-km-long Tiriruniak shear. Based on drill holes spaced at 100 metres, the zone is 500 metres long at surface and plunges about 30 to the east. A cross-section of the zone shows an upper oxide iron formation, followed by a quartz-vein complex and the Tiriruniak shear.

Two deep holes, 64 and 43, tested the zone at a depth of about 400 metres and intersected 9.3 grams over 44.8 metres and 6.27 grams over 57.93 metres, respectively. The zone is still open at depth.

While Murdy describes the target as “classic Archean-style” mineralization, it is Proterozoic, with similarities to the Brazilian Shield. “The analogy is there and the evidence is piling up to support it,” he says.

WMC also drilled the Tiriruniak shear, east of the TC zone. Hole 73 hit 22.39 metres of 3.45 grams and hole 66 hit 3.29 metres of 17.46 grams and 4.53 metres of 12.18 grams. These holes are 175 metres and 600 metres east of the TC zone, respectively.

Mineralization from the TC zone has some arsenopyrite, though the companies note that 95% of the gold is free.

Comaplex expects that WMC will have four rigs on site next year to outline tonnage and bring the project to feasibility. The company believes the major is looking for a threshold of about 2 million contained ounces at Meliadine West.

Comaplex and Cumberland are exploring the Meliadine East property where several gold zones have been located. “Our goal is to look for other targets like the TC zone,” says Murdy.

This year’s program tested targets along the entire 40-km length of the property, including some near the Discovery deposit. Other iron formation and shear-hosted gold targets were also tested. A highlight of this year’s program was the discovery of the Nanook shear zone, which is believed to be similar to the Tiriruniak shear at Meliadine West and two new iron-formation targets.

Comaplex plans more work to test gold zones at its 100% owned Noomut gold project, 170 km west of the hamlet of Arviat, N.W.T. Mineralization has been encountered along a 40-km gold trend related to a major

east-northeast-trending structure.