Brandon gears up for more drilling

Junior Brandon Gold (BG-V) is set to resume diamond drilling on its Kiruna property in northern Sweden.

From late January to early March, the company will carry out a 2,000-metre program, focusing on three targets: Viscaria South, Huornaisenvouma and Copper Lake.

Viscaria South hosts a large conductive geophysical anomaly that intersects the bedrock surface 400 metres south of Outokumpu’s Viscaria copper-gold mine. That mine operated from 1982 to 1997, churning out 12.5 million tonnes grading 2.29% copper from a minable tonnage of 14.2 million tonnes of 3.54% copper, 0.7% zinc and 0.3 gram gold per tonne.

The geophysical anomaly is on strike with the Viscaria mine and plunges gently toward the southwest. (Individual ore lenses in the past-producing mine also plunged toward the southwest.) The target has been traced for about 400 metres to the southwest along strike and is believed to continue at depth.

In 1998, Brandon drilled a shallow hole 600 metres southwest of the mine. The hole passed over the main conductive body and intersected limited copper and zinc mineralization. Brandon believes the bulk of the mineralization occurs within the geophysical anomaly.

The Huornaisenvouma target is a 560,000-tonne deposit grading 4.8% zinc, 1.7% lead, 0.2% copper and 12 grams silver per tonne. A deep-section induced-polarization survey was able to recognize the original deposit and also revealed a source 160 metres east of, and parallel to, the existing zinc deposit. This geophysical target extends for more than 3 km to the south. Brandon intends to drill this target in an attempt to expand the tonnage and grade of the existing deposit.

The Copper Lake target is 35 km northeast of the Viscaria mine. Interpretation of the ground geophysics and analysis of previous drilling indicate that known zones of mineralization can be traced for at least 500 metres along strike.

Mineralization is in the form of a stacked massive sulphide system beneath a shallow lake. Highlights from last year’s drill program in the area include: hole 4, which cut 4.15 metres grading 0.7% copper and 0.04% cobalt (including 1.65 metres of 1.45% copper and 0.06% cobalt); and hole 5, which intercepted 19.8 metres of 0.65% copper, 0.03% cobalt and 0.11 gram gold. Recent interpretations of the drill data indicate that core drilling may have missed the heart of the geophysical anomaly.

Brandon has 20.5 million shares fully diluted and $1 million in working capital.