Vancouver — Initial results from ongoing drilling by
The infill program is designed to update the indicated and inferred resource by drilling the C88 and Scout zones at 25-metre spacings. So far, the newly minted junior has completed 4,810 metres of core and 2,095 metres of reverse-circulation drilling, and results for the first 33 holes have been received.
Holes 230 and 380 show the high-grade potential of individual shoots within the C88 zone, returning 6.3 grams gold per tonne over 72 metres and 10.3 grams gold over 65 metres, respectively. Overall, the results confirm the previous grades and widths of the C88 zone.
Highlights include the following:
q Hole 217 — 30 metres grading 2.1 grams gold per tonne at a down-hole depth of 87 metres.
q Hole 218 — 44 metres grading 3.4 grams gold at 77 metres down-hole.
q Hole 220 — 43 metres of 2.5 grams gold at 15 metres down-hole, plus a new zone grading 4.9 grams gold over 8 metres from surface.
q Hole 221 — 11 metres of 2.9 grams gold at 75 metres down-hole.
q Hole 231 — 16 metres of 2.5 grams gold at 60 metres down-hole.
q Hole 233 — 12 metres of 2.7 grams gold at 25 metres down-hole.
q Hole 379 — 10 metres of 2 grams gold at 26 metres down-hole.
q Hole 381 — 16 metres of 7.4 grams gold at 3 metres down-hole.
The 71 sq. km project lies in the northeastern part of French Guiana, some 45 km southeast of the capital city of Cayenne, and covers metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks, which have been cut by an east-west structural zone. Gold mineralization is controlled by both stratigraphy and late structures and is associated to quartz-sulphide veinlets.
Two major mineralized zones have been traced for 1.8 km along strike. The Scout zone is marked by steeply dipping elongated mineralized shoots averaging 8 metres in thickness, with the strike length reaching 250 metres. The oxidized saprolite cover extends to 100 metres.
At the C88 zone, the gold values are generally higher, with mineralization hosted in shallow dipping zones measuring up to 85 metres thick.
The current indicated and inferred resources, based on a cutoff grade of 0.5 gram gold per tonne, is 1.4 million tonnes grading 2.08 grams gold in the Scout zone and 6.77 million tonnes grading 3.34 grams gold in the C88 zone.
Ariane aims to drill 18,800 metres this year as part of a US$2.8-million program. The initial target is to define the saprolite resources of the C88 and Scout zones at 25-metre spacings suitable for a feasibility study. The mineralization in the saprolite is extractable using conventional carbon-in-pulp milling techniques, but the sulphide mineralization is refractory. Also, additional metallurgical tests are under way in an attempt to improve recoveries.
Ariane was formed early this year by the former management of Hope Bay Gold. (The new company’s name is a nod to the Ariane rocket, which is launched from the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, northwest of Cayenne.) In February 2002, Hope Bay struck a deal to buy the Grupo Mexico subsidiary Asarco Guyane Francaise, which owns the 1.9-million-oz. Camp Caiman project. The price tag came in at US$16.4 million payable in staged payments.
Be the first to comment on "Ariane confirms French Guiana grades"