Vancouver — With five drills operating at its Lac Herbin gold mine, 8 km southeast of Rouyn- Noranda, Que., Alexis Minerals (AMC-t) continues to extend the mine’s key S3 zone.
The zone holds about half the total 364,000 proven and probable tonnes grading 7.33 grams gold per tonne that Alexis has so far defined at Lac Herbin. The mine has been in production since July.
Drilling there shows extensions to the east and above the current S3 ore outline from the 236-sublevel to the 180-level. Highlights include 4.2 metres grading 10.44 grams gold in hole 26, 1.8 metres grading 6 grams gold in hole 24 and 1.9 metres grading 6.01 grams gold in hole 25.
Results downplunge of the S3 zone confirm extensions to depth with 3.5 metres grading 19.17 grams gold in hole 28. Alexis says that since the intersection is 80 metres east of the typical plunge and 340 metres below surface beyond the usual trend, “It opens up the possibility for a new trend on the S3 zone, east of the known zone.”
To the northwest of S3, drilling in the HW2 zone at the 250-metre level also confirms extensions of high-grade mineralization. The best result came in at 5.1 metres grading 17.8 grams gold in hole 68.
Alexis started milling a second round of about 25,000 tonnes of mine development ore in mid-September, and so far reports grades of 7.3 grams gold, 3.1 grams higher than anticipated. The company hopes to recover at least 5,000 grams gold from the ore, much of which comes from lateral developments in the mine.
Alexis says it will begin stoping operations in the S1 and S3 zones this September.
The production target is 17,000 oz. gold for 2008 and 36,000 oz. gold for 2009. A 2008 feasibility study estimates that, over a 3-year mine life, Alexis could recover about 84,000 oz. gold at a cash costs of US$472 per oz.
The latest drill results and better-than-expected production grades will be good news the company can trumpet at Lac Herbin’s official opening set for Oct. 2.
Elsewhere, Alexis is in the throes of a prefeasibility study at its Lac Pelletier project, just southwest of Rouyn-Noranda, where the company has outlined a resource of 1.2 million measured and indicated tonnes grading 5.42 grams gold.
Alexis chief operating officer Keith Boyle says that the prefeasibility study will be out “any day now” and if all goes according to plan, Alexis could bring Lac Pelletier to production by the middle of 2009.
On news of the results, Alexis lost 1 to close at 40, giving the company a $49-million market cap.
Be the first to comment on "Alexis extends gold zones at Lac Herbin"