More high-grade results reported at Siwash

Deep drilling at the Siwash gold mine property in southern British Columbia has returned multi-ounce values for Fairfield Minerals (TSE).

The program included five holes that tested an area where earlier, widely spaced surface drilling intersected up to 11.69 oz. gold per ton over 2.9 ft.

Two of the five holes were drilled from underground, returning 3.62 oz. gold over 1.5 ft. and 9.43 oz. over 0.7 ft. The three surface holes included 3.92 oz. gold over 0.7 ft., 0.78 oz. over 1.1 ft. and 14.62 oz. over 0.9 ft.

The deeper drilling extends from a depth of 750 ft. down to 1,000 ft., and the vein remains open to expansion.

Fairfield’s exploration work at the Siwash property this year included more than 25,000 ft. of drilling in 217 underground holes, and 21,000 ft. in 98 surface holes.

Most of the drilling included closely spaced (33-by-33-ft.) definition work designed to define the vein systems over a strike length of 1,100 ft., down to a depth of 750 ft.

Fairfield expects to complete a prefeasibility study on the Siwash project before year-end, and is now compiling results from the closely spaced drilling for a reserve estimate.

Fairfield has funded its exploration and development work at Siwash from profits generated by mining operations.

Previous open-pit mining by the company from 1992 to 1994 produced 47,500 oz. gold plus a further 3,750 oz. from underground test mining in 1994. Ore grades for both the surface and underground operations averaged more than 2 oz. gold per ton.