Deep drill plan by Noranda Expl. on Banbury Option at Hedley, B.C.

Intensive geochemical work and some deep drilling is planned by Noranda Exploration on the Hedley, B.C., gold property it holds under option from Banbury Gold Mines. Noranda recently completed a relatively shallow drilling program which encountered visible gold in carbonaceous stringers in altered quartz diorite.

Multiple drill intercepts were reported in four recent holes with values ran ging from 0.08 oz gold over 4.6 ft to 25.5 oz over 1.1 ft. Some of the longer intercepts included: 11.8 ft grading 0.26 oz; 4.9 ft averaging 0.46 oz; 3.6 ft grading 0.79 oz and 3.6 ft averaging 0.42 oz.

Banbury says the drilling was on the west side of the property not far from the existing mine workings. Noranda’s proposed budget for the year was approximately $140,000 but Banbury’s president, Douglas Dewar, confirms the company has actually spent around $480,000. Noranda won’t earn its 51% interest until it has spent $3 million.

Mr Dewar says Noranda had earlier completed some geophysical and geochemical work on the property which indicated several new gold anomalies. He also confirms that Banbury has had preliminary discussions with Mascot Gold Mines about an eventual custom milling arrangement whereby Banbury would supply ore to the Mascot mill. Several other potential producers in the region have also discussed such action. Mascot is at present developing a major gold producer at Hedley which will come on stream next summer.

Five drill holes were recently completed on Banbury’s Lea No 12 mineral claim group in the Northwest Territories. Anomalous platinum values were located in all the holes and a full report should be available by mid-December.