Ramp nears target at Eagle River bet

The 1,750-ft decline ramp is being sunk to intersect a gold- bearing quartz vein zone within a granodiorite intrusive.

Central Crude President Richard Nemis says there is about 310 ft remaining in the ramp before the No 8 zone is intersected. Crews are expected to reach their target by month end, he said.

Planned development within the No 8 zone will include at least 1,376 ft of drifting on two levels to determine viability of mining the deposit. It is expected that initial metallurgical testing will be conducted at Hemlo’s Golden Giant mill.

Preliminary reserves at Eagle River stand at 1.7 million tons grading 0.25 oz gold per ton (cut) or 0.51 oz (uncut). That figure was calculated over a strike length of 5,500 ft and to a depth of about 1,300 ft on the No 8 and No 6 zones only. The deposit remains open in all directions. Diamond drilling has also intersected the No 8 zone to vertical depths of 2,000 ft and o ver a strike length of 8,500 ft.

Meanwhile, surface exploration work elsewhere on the Eagle River property has come up with some other encouraging results.

The Falcon Creek trend, situated 3.8 miles east of the No 8 zone, has yielded results as high as 0.59 oz gold per ton. The gold values are hosted by a 13-20-ft wide zone of quartz stringers and carbonate, with 3% sulphides. Work is continuing to more fully evaluate that zone, which has been traced for 1,300 ft along strike.

A new high grade discovery, called the Hilltop vein, has been found 1.5 miles northeast of the No 8 zone. Grab samples as high as 5.37 oz gold per ton have been obtained and one chip sample yielded 1.78 oz over 1.6 ft. The gold occurs in a 5-7-ft wide quartz vein.

Sampling is also under way on yet another discovery known as the Post vein, situated 2.5 miles west of the No 8 zone.

The Eagle River gold project is a joint venture between Noranda subsidiary Hemlo Gold (60%) and Toronto-based junior Central Crude (40%). The companies are spending about $7.8 million at Eagle River this year.

Hemlo Gold also announced recently that it plans to acquire a further 486,600 shares of Central Crude through a private placement bringing its holdings in Central Crude to 2,124,300 shares or 34.1%.

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