Altius pulls high-grade at Moosehead

A recent drill hole by Altius Minerals (ALS-V) at the Moosehead property in central Newfoundland has returned high-grade gold values.

Altius, funded by joint-venture partner Sudbury Contact Mines (SUD-T), intersected a 17.1-metre zone of gold mineralization in its hole MH01-13 that averaged 11 grams gold per tonne. Most of the gold in that intersection was carried in a 1.5-metre interval grading 97 grams. There was some visible gold in the core.

Very high-grade “bonanza”-style gold mineralization is known in the area, and such a drill result is not surprising. The mineralization is in quartz veins and vein breccia, with pyrite, sphalerite and sulfosalt minerals. The veins fill fractures in late Silurian-aged siltstone and sandstone of the Botwood basin.

More drilling is being done to determine the orientation of the mineralized structure intersected in the hole.

Five holes drilled northwest of MH01-13 returned elevated gold values in quartz-carbonate veins in sandstone. There are also some strongly altered mafic dykes that carried up to 3 grams gold per tonne.

Five other holes, drilled about 300 metres south of MH01-13, intersected 5- to 30-cm veins carrying quartz and sulfosalt minerals. Samples of this material are currently out for assay.

Altius and Sudbury Contact have added a further 32 claims to the Moosehead property, bringing its size to 22.5 sq. km. Altius has also map-staked additions to its nearby Mustang and Paradise Lake properties, which it owns outright.

Sudbury Contact, a subsidiary of Agnico Eagle Mines (AGE-T), is funding the exploration to earn a 60% interest in the Moosehead property. Sudbury Contact is obliged to spend $800,000 over three years to earn an initial 51% interest, and can increase that to 60% by spending an additional $1 million in the following two years. There are also cash payments to Altius totalling $150,000.