All but one of 43 holes drilled by
The program tested a 1.6-km portion of the vein system to various depths, and so far assay results for the first 16 holes have been received.
Selected results include the following:
— hole 4 — 29.9 metres (from 148.3 metres below surface) grading 28 grams gold and 221 grams silver per tonne, including 13.1 metres (from 162.6 metres) running 57 grams gold and 445.2 grams silver;
— hole 6 — 12.9 metres (from 230.6 metres) averaging 36.4 grams gold and 370.7 grams silver, including 3 metres (from 238 metres) of 87.7 grams gold and 709.5 grams silver;
— hole 7 — 15.5 metres (from 14.9 metres) grading 43.8 grams gold and 441.2 grams silver, including 6.1 metres (from 21.3 metres) running 61 grams gold and 496.8 grams silver;
— hole 9 — 18.3 metres (from 102.5 metres) grading 65 grams gold and 1,021.3 grams silver, including 4 metres of 143.75 grams gold and 1,984.1 grams silver;
— hole 11 — 23.8 metres (from 148.9 metres) carrying 27 grams gold and 426.5 grams silver, including 6.8 metres (from 157.4 metres) of 50.9 grams gold and 1,063.1 grams silver.
In all, 5,630 km worth of drilling traced Kupol’s mineralized vein system for more than 2 km of strike length and to a depth of at least 250 metres. The system remains open along strike, to the north and south, and at depth.
Based on earlier drilling and trenching by Russian operators, resources (C1/C2 reserves under Russian guidelines) at Kupol are pegged at 780,000 tonnes grading 33.3 grams gold and 372.8 grams silver. The estimate is based only on a 400-metre section of the vein strike length to a maximum depth of 100 metres.
Highlights from previous drilling include 41.3 metres grading 51.6 grams gold and 531 grams silver, 29.2 metres grading 16 grams gold and 340 grams silver, and 6.6 metres grading 85.3 grams gold and 704 grams silver.
Trenching over a 1.8-km section returned an average of 35 grams gold and 325 grams silver, including several bonanza intercepts: 11.8 metres grading 183 grams gold and 2,557 grams silver, and 9 metres grading 155 grams gold and 549 grams silver.
Two Canadian and two Russian drill rigs continue to turn at Kupol; a total of 26,000 metres of drilling is planned for 2003.
Bema has already paid the government of Chukotka US$8 million in cash to earn an initial 20% interest in Kupol by spending US$5 million on exploration before the end of 2003. To take a 40% stake, Bema must pay an additional US$22.5 million and finance another US$5 million worth of exploration by December 2004.
The company can boost its stake to 75% by completing a bankable feasibility study and paying US$5 per oz. for 75% of the gold defined as proven and probable. Once mine construction begins, Bema must pay an additional US$5 per oz. for three-quarters of the ounces identified as ore.
Kupol is 950 km northeast of Bema’s Julietta gold-silver mine, which produced 108,844 oz. gold at a total operating cash cost of US$119 per oz. in 2002, its first full year of production. Bema expects Julietta to churn out 116,000 oz. gold at US$110 per oz. in 2003.
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