Cumberland drilling expands Third Portage

Interim drill results from the Meadowbank gold project in Canada’s Far North has expanded the eastern, near-surface portion of the Third Portage deposit, a potential open-pit mine.

The Meadowbank project, wholly owned by Cumberland Resources (CBD-T), lies 70 km north of the ocean-accessible community of Baker Lake in the Kivalliq region of the Northwest Territories.

The company completed 49 holes in 6,100 metres over the course of the summer, of which 25 holes were designed to test the updip, eastern portion of the deposit and confirm a shallow-lying higher-grade core in the central area. The Third Portage is the largest of three closely spaced gold deposits that occur in the same banded iron formation and together contain a combined 1.5 million oz.

Prior to this year’s drilling, which also included 47 holes in 12,000 metres during the spring, the Third Portage was estimated to contain a near-surface resource of 4.5 million tonnes grading 7.06 grams gold per tonne, equivalent to approximately 1 million contained ounces. About 550,000 oz. have been drilled off on 20-metre centres.

The summer drilling concentrated on the deposit’s eastern margin, testing some 450 metres of the 750-metre strike length. Near-surface highlights include:

* 13.35 grams over 3.5 metres in hole 281;

* 3.89 grams over 7.07 metres in hole 294;

* 3.62 grams over 10.25 metres in hole 282;

* 19.24 grams over 4.9 metres in hole 283;

* 4.46 grams over 8.9 metres in hole 289;

* 4.74 grams over 11.2 metres in hole 291;

* 7.17 grams over 4.18 metres in hole 317; and

* 5.78 grams over 5.4 metres in hole 314.

All of the above intersections are approximate true width and occur within 50 metres of surface, adding important near-surface tonnage to a potential open-pit model.

Several holes were put down in the central area of Third Portage, where previous drilling encountered a higher-grade, near-surface core extending over a length of 150 metres. Past results included: 20.5 grams over 4.8 metres; 9.37 grams over 13.5 metres; 14.15 grams over 13.5 metres; and 17.1 grams over 13.7 metres.

The latest results include 22.09 grams over 13.9 metres, starting at just 4.3 metres from surface in hole 291, and 27.33 grams over an estimated true thickness of 20 metres, beginning at 7.82 metres from surface in hole 313.

Cumberland says the incorporation of these new drill intersections in an updated resource estimate will likely result in higher grades and additional tonnage for the overall deposit, but cautions that geology in this area is complex and that more infill drilling will be required to define ore geometry.

Overall, Cumberland says a large component of the Third Portage deposit can now be modelled as averaging a grade in excess of 10 grams in an area pit measuring 500 metres along strike and 30 metres to depth, boding well for a starter pit.

A preliminary scoping study of the Meadowbank project was completed earlier in the year by MRDI Canada, a division of H.A. Simons. The study proposed that a combined open-pit and underground mine, operating at a milling rate of 2,000 tonnes per day, could produce an average of 120,000 oz. per year over a mine life of 10 years at a cash operating cost of US$156 per oz.

Capital expenditures were estimated at US$66 million, with a payback period of 2.7 years.

An open-pit, diluted, minable resource in the Third Portage zone was estimated at 4.9 million tonnes grading 6.46 grams gold at a stripping ratio of 7-to-1. A diluted underground resource, contained in the Goose Island zone to the south, was calculated at 780,000 tonnes grading 10 grams.

Assay results are pending for an additional 24 holes that were drilled in the North Portage area, north of Third Portage. There, a near-surface resource was previously estimated at 818,000 tonnes grading 5.73 grams, equivalent to 150,700 contained ounces.