Balmoral hits high grades at Martiniere

Vancouver – Balmoral Resources (BAR-V) has followed up an encouraging March gold hit from its Martiniere project in Quebec with a second rich intercept.  

The drill results come from a 13,000-metre exploration program that started in January on its Martiniere and Fenelon projects, with the latest holes coming from the West zone of Martiniere.

Hole 11-04 is the stand-out among the three most recenlty released, hitting 72.4 metres carrying 2.58 grams gold per tonne from 54 metres depth. Within the intercept was a 9.7-metre section grading 10.51 grams gold from 80 metres and a 6.9-metre section carrying 10.58 grams gold, while deeper down the hole at 170 metres the company hit a 0.6-metre interval carrying 10.95 grams gold.

Balmoral drilled hole 11-04 roughly 60 metres southwest of hole 11-01 that was released in March. Due to a lab error the original grades were under-reported, with the revised results coming in at 72 metres grading 2.70 grams gold from 92 metres, rather than the 2.40 grams gold reported earlier. The hole includes a 12-metre section grading 13.01 grams gold from 106 metres depth and a 5.3-metre section grading 4.54 grams gold from 146 metres.

The company’s share price spiked in mid-day trading as high as 31¢ on the latest results before closing with a more modest 7¢ or 4.5% gain at $1.62.

Balmoral secured the Martiniere project, as well as several others, in November 2010 from American Bonanza Gold (BZA-T) and Radisson Mining Resources (RDS-V).

To get the option agreement on the Martiniere, Fenelon, NS and Northshore properties, Balmoral paid Bonanza $3.7 million and issued 4.5 million shares. To actually secure 100% of the properties, the company has to pay a former property owner US$450,000 before commercial production, while certain net smelter royalties remain.

The secure an initial 51% interest in the Detour East (Massicotte) project from Radisson, Balmoral has to pay $150,000 in cash, issue 100,000 shares to Radisson and spent $1.8 million on exploration. Balmoral can earn a further 9% by delivering a resource of 500,000 oz. gold equivalent or spending $1.5 million more on exploration. The Detour East project sits less than 15 km east of Detour Gold‘s (DGC-T) sizable Detour Lake deposit.

Between the Martiniere, Detour East and Fenelon properties, Balmoral controls more than 70 km along the Sunday Lake deformation zone in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt.

In late March the company announced a $2 million flow-through private placement at $2.09 per share for 957,000 shares. The share price was a 67% premium to the 21-day average trading price before the agreement. As of April 14 Balmoral has 63.8 million shares outstanding or 79.3 million fully diluted.