Auriga hits near-surface gold at Maverick project (May 16, 2011)

Shallow drilling has returned several high-grade intercepts for Auriga Gold (AIA-V) at its Maverick gold project in northwestern Manitoba.

The results come from a 1,600-metre follow-up drill program on the property, having secured the property from Barrick Gold (ABX-T, ABX-N) last year.

The latest program targeted an area 300 metres southeast of a historic mine portal, which was active in the late 1980s and descends 130 metres.

Hole 6 hit 5 metres carrying 6.59 grams gold per tonne from 8 metres depth, hole 24 intersected 2.7 metres averaging 5.08 grams gold, and hole 26 cut 2.4 metres of 7.08 grams gold.

The company reports that the southern section targeted has shown less consistent mineralization than the northern section of the deposit, but the results confirm historic drilling and still show regular mineralization. Of the 13 holes in the phase two program, all hit short intercepts of varying grades except for one hole with no significant assays and another that hit former mine workings.

Earlier drilling closer to the historic workings cut 2 metres of 9.19 grams gold from 176 metres depth and 2 metres of 30.44 grams gold from 298 metres downhole. 

Auriga is trying to determine the shallow mineralization potential at the project, and the possibility of switching to open-pit mining from the historic underground approach, as well as judge the reliability of the historic drilling and resource. The 1993 non-compliant resource at Maverick established 1.3 million “probable” tonnes of 8.57 grams gold and 833,700 “possible” tonnes averaging 7.15 grams gold.

Along with the historic resource, the site hosts a mothballed 1,000-tonne-per-day mill from when the Puffy Lake mine was operational. Auriga combined the Puffy Lake property with a 54% interest in the adjacent Nokomis property to form the Maverick project, while the company has since staked 26.4 sq. km of contiguous ground.

Maverick sits 65 km northeast of Flin Flon and now spans a total of 66.4 sq. km. Barrick holds a 3% net smelter return royalty on the property.

Along with changing project names, Auriga changed its own name from Ursa Major International in mid-2010, while instituting a 4-for-1 share rollback. 

The company is targeting gold projects in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, stating in its management circular that it “considers that these provinces currently offer a particularly favourable environment for mineral exploration and development.”

Along with the Maverick project, Auriga holds a 100% interest in the Fox River project and 75% interest in the Dunlop project that it refers to as the Fox Properties. The platinum group and base metal properties cover 580 sq. km of northern Manitoba and are subject to royalties of between 1% and 2%. 

Just across the border in Saskatchewan, Auriga has option agreements to secure 100% ownership of the Knife Lake, or Mokoman, copper gold property. The project spans 15 sq. km in an area 75 km northwest of Flin Flon, and hosts a historic, non-compliant resource of 6 million tonnes grading 0.9% copper and 0.18 gram gold that was established in 1997 by Micon International.

The day after the latest results, Auriga’s share price closed at 50¢, a new high. Shares have traded as low as 22¢ since the rollback, and there are 33.5 million shares outstanding.