Drilling between April 2010 and January 2011 has boosted measured and indicated in-pit resources by 31% at Aurizon Mines‘ (ARZ-T, AZK-X) Hosco deposit, part of the gold producer’s Joanna project in northwestern Quebec.
At a cut-off grade of 0.5 gram gold per tonne, in-pit measured and indicated resources at Hosco have jumped by 537,000 oz. to 2.25 million oz. gold, the company reports. In-pit inferred resources measure 284,000 oz. gold, showing a drop of 97,000 oz. from the previous resource estimate in July 2010.
Hosco’s measured and indicated resources now stand at 54.14 million tonnes grading 1.29 grams gold per tonne, while inferred resources add 7.67 million tonnes grading 1.15 grams gold.
The new resource figures will be incorporated into Aurizon’s upcoming feasibility study, which will be completed before September.
The company has already started its environmental impact study. A report is anticipated by 2012.
The feasibility study will also include results from metallurgical pilot tests, a geotechnical study and updated capital and operating cost estimates.
Mineralization at Aurizon’s 100%-owned Joanna project, 20 km east of Rouyn-Noranda, is “closely related” to the east-west Cadillac fault and “forms a 200-metre-wide corridor composed of different mineralized lenses parallel to the fault, dipping 55 degrees to the north,” the company notes in a press release.
The mineralization in three main lenses: one to the north of the fault, and the others to the south of the fault. Each lens is 15 to 60 metres thick, and between 300 and 700 metres long.
Drilling this year will focus on step-out holes on 50-metre spacing along the 2.5-km strike length of the project’s Heva deposit, which is 3 km west of the proposed Hosco pit. Two to three rigs have been active there for the first five months of this year, and assay results are pending, the company says.
In Toronto, Aurizon traded at $5.26 per share within a 52-week range of $4.87 (July 5, 2010) and $8.41 (Nov. 9, 2010). The company has about 162.4 million shares outstanding.
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