Equal partners
The two plan to sink some 18,000 metres worth of diamond drilling to test extensions of the Green Altered zone plus some newly identified gold zones.
Initially, two drill rigs will be stationed 50 metres from the northwestern shoreline to test the downdip projections of mineralization previously cut at the West Deeps, East Deeps and Hot Spot no. 1 zones.
Drilling is targeting the West Deeps area, where four widely spaced drill holes were highlighted by hole 37, which cut 4.3 metres (from 428 metres below surface) grading 21.5 grams gold per tonne, and hole 43, which included a 2.2-metre (from 385.3 metres) section grading 15.2 grams gold. That section was included in a 13-metre (from 379.5 metres) interval averaging 4.2 grams gold. The remaining holes generally returned 1.4-10 grams gold over widths of 1-12 metres. All of the intercepts were encountered at similar depths.
Drilling will next move downdip of the Green Altered zone to the area known as Hot Spot 1, with follow-up drilling planned for targets at East Deeps.
Meanwhile, preliminary metallurgical tests on a composite sample of core from East Bay indicate no significant processing difficulties at Placer Dome’s Campbell mill. Based on five metallurgical tests, gold recovery is pegged at 92-97% through gravity, direct cyanidation and flotation.
Placer and Wolfden have accelerated plans for underground exploration, permitting and definition drilling at East Bay in anticipation of ramp mining to a depth of 500 metres to provide supplementary feed to the Campbell mill. The mill, 10 km away, is currently running with spare capacity.
As operator, Placer can boost its stake in East Bay to 65% by funding a feasibility study to advance the property to production.
Final results from a 75-hole program of winter drilling are expected shortly.
In other news, Placer has declared a semi-annual dividend of US5 per share, payable on Sept. 20 to shareholders of record on Aug. 20.
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