Aur hits widest section yet in deep hole at Louvicourt

That was confirmed recently when operator Aur released a batch of results which included a 334.8-ft intersection of copper-rich massive sulphides averaging 3.59% copper, 0.15% zinc, 0.31 oz silver per ton and 0.01 oz gold.

As the same intersection also contained a 71.1-ft section of grade 10.44% copper, 0.01% zinc, 0.46 oz silver and 0.02 oz gold, Aur Vice- president Howard Stockford is convinced that the deposit contains a high grade central core.

His prediction is based on the fact that hole 307-74C contained the widest massive sulphide intersection to date in the Louvicourt project. Situated 15 miles east of Val d’Or, the project was a 50/50 joint venture involving Aur and Louvem before lawsuits launched by both companies against each other put ownership rights in doubt.

Stockford declined to speculate on what effect the batch of eight holes would have on the future size of a deposit which is now estimated to contain 20 million tons of grade 3.5% copper, 2% zinc and 0.04 oz gold. However, he said that “when you get widths of 300 ft, you don’t have to be a magici an to know that they increase the tonnage potential rapidly.”

Hole 74C, the hole to which he was referring, intersected the 344-ft copper intersection at a depth of 2,500-2,700 ft, or 400 ft below step out hole 58.

As reported (N.M., Sept 25/89), hole 58 intersected three massive sulphide and stringer sulphide zones 400 ft east of the most easterly ore-grade drill hole.

Another impressive intersection averaging 215 ft of grade 2.26% copper was pulled at a depth of 2,300 ft in hole 309-64A. It confirms the continuity of the ore-grade copper- zinc mineralization between holes 58 and another hole 53B, the company said.

While the latest results confirm what analysts have been predicting for the past couple of weeks, share prices of the three companies most directly involved in the discovery remained quiet before the assays were released. The Aur issue closed at $13.13 after opening at $13, while Louvem was steady at around $8.38. Louvem’s parent company St. Genevieve Resources (TSE) was just as inactive. It stayed at $2.16.

According to Stockford, hole 309-74C means that operator Aur is no nearer to finding the deposit’s centre of gravity, the area at which an underground exploration shaft would be located. “We won’t even know if we are in the middle of the deposit until we drill down plunge,” he told The Northern Miner.

No significant assays were reported in hole 309-69 which failed to reach its target depth of 2,800 ft. But a down-hole pulse electromagnetic survey indicates to Aur that significant sulphide mineralization may be located within 200-400 ft of that hole.

In addition, Stockford believes that new reserves could be found near two holes drilled to test the western up-plunge continuation of the deposit.

Those holes intersected broad zones of low grade copper-zinc mineralization grading up to 1.35% copper over 27 ft and 1.88% zinc over 18.5 ft.

As winter approaches, a deposit that is trending in an east west direction is being tested by more widely spaced drill holes. “We are trying to get down to a vertical depth of 3,000 ft,” said Stockford.

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