ALASKA & THE YUKON — Drilling disappoints for Ventures

Drilling at the Carrie Creek gold target in east-central Alaska has come up short for Ventures Resource (VRS-V).

The company completed 8,000 ft. of drilling in 10 holes, returning only anomalous gold values from the first five holes. Assay values for these holes, in the northern part of the target area, ran in the parts per billion, though the best intercept graded 0.03 oz. per ton over 23 ft. in hole 4.

Ventures has results pending on three additional holes in the northern area. The last two holes were drilled nearly 2 miles south and tested the newly discovered Serpentine zone, which measures 5,000 by 1,700 ft. Core from these last two holes consisted of altered, fractured and veining rock. The company expects assays in mid-November.

Earlier exploration outlined anomalous values in four parallel zones measuring more than 2 miles long and up to 1,000 ft. wide. Drilling in 1998 was limited to only three holes, owing to weather conditions.

Carrie Creek sits in the northeastern corner of the 1-million-acre Veta property. Eighteen miles to the west is the Pogo gold deposit, a joint venture between Teck (TEK-T) and Japan-based Sumitomo. Teck can earn up to a 70% interest in Carrie Creek, which has potential for similar intrusive-hosted mineralization.

In addition to drilling, Ventures has defined gold anomalies from stream-sediment sampling.

Meanwhile, Kennecott, a division of Rio Tinto (RTP-N), is expected to terminate its option on the Champion property, north of Pogo.

Ventures can explore more than 3 million acres of private land in Alaska through an agreement with Doyon, an Alaskan native corporation.