Donner keeps faith at South Voisey’s Bay

Junior Donner Minerals (DML-V) is encouraged by results from an ongoing drill program at its South Voisey’s Bay project in Labrador.

Since May, Donner has completed 37 holes and deepened five others, raising to 14,000 metres the amount of drilling accomplished this season.

Teck (TEK-T), which stands to earn half of Donner’s interest in its South Voisey’s Bay joint-venture properties, is acting as general contractor on the program.

Several assay results from the 1997 and 1998 programs have been selected for release. Drilling to date has identified four holes with nickel tenors greater that 2%. Three of these, holes 67, 75 and 97, were put down last year; the fourth, hole 131, was drilled this year on ground shared with Northern Abitibi Mining (NAI-A).

Hole 131 was collared 600 metres northeast of previously reported hole 75, which intersected a 1-metre interval grading 11.75% nickel, 9.7% copper and 0.43% cobalt. Hole 131 hit semi-massive sulphides at the base of the gabbro, assaying 4.5% nickel, 2% copper and 0.28% cobalt over 0.2 metre. Massive sulphides were encountered in the footwall gneiss, which assayed 3.4% nickel, 0.5% copper and 0.46% cobalt over 0.3 metre.

With the exception of the massive sulphides encountered in the footwall gneiss in holes 75 and 131, all other sulphide intersections are contained in a flat-lying blanket of mineralization at the base of the gabbro.

Donner is conducting a regional gravity geophysical survey over the suture zone area, on the eastern portion of the project, as well as a pulse-electromagnetic (PEM) survey. The latter is nearly complete.

Results from limited drilling have induced the company to carry out a systematic program of exploration in the suture zone area, scheduled for next year.

Currently, one rig is testing PEM anomalies and extensions of favorable geology on ground shared by Donner, Northern Abitibi, Major General Resources (MGJ-V) and Cypress Minerals (CYP-V).

Highlights from the past season’s drill results include the following:

• Hole 98-98 intersected 1.2 metres grading 0.77% nickel, 0.40% copper and 0.12% cobalt starting at a down hole depth of 164.9 metres. The hole was collared on Northern Abitibi-Donner ground roughly 200 metres south of hole 75, which was drilled last year.
• Hole 101 intersected 0.9 metre grading 0.75% nickel, 0.78% copper and 0.14% cobalt starting at a down-hole depth of 170.1 metres. The hole was collared between holes 75 and 98.
• Hole 102 hit 1.3 metres of 0.75% nickel, 0.49% copper and 0.17% cobalt starting at a down-hole depth of 179.8 metres. This was followed by a 0.9-metre interval of 0.66% nickel, 0.45% copper and 0.15% cobalt starting at a down-hole depth of 182.3 metres. The hole was collared 100 metres southwest of hole 75.
• Hole 103 cut 1.2 metres averaging 0.62% nickel, 0.42% copper and 0.13% cobalt, starting at 167 metres down-hole. The hole was collared between holes 103 and 75.
• Hole 104 returned 1.2 metres of 0.53% nickel, 0.75% copper and 0.07% cobalt starting at a down-hole depth of 160.8 metres. The hole was collared 200 metres south of hole 103.
• Hole 110, which was collared on Cypress-Donner ground, intersected 0.18% nickel, 0.23% copper and 0.08% cobalt over a 0.4-metre interval starting at a depth of 316 metres down-hole.
• Hole 113 hit 0.6 metre grading 1.05% nickel, 0.74% copper and 0.22% cobalt starting at a down-hole depth of 99.8 metres. The hole was collared on Northern Abitibi-Donner ground, 600 metres southeast of hole 75.
• Hole 121, which was collared on Major General-Donner ground, cut 1.7 metres grading 0.43% nickel, 0.33% copper and 0.14% cobalt starting at 129.7 metres down-hole. This was followed by a 0.5-metre interval grading 0.57% nickel, 0.22% copper and 0.17% cobalt starting at a depth of 132.6 metres down-hole.
• Hole 130 hit 1.1 metres averaging 0.99% nickel, 0.65% copper and 0.13% cobalt starting at a down-hole depth of 208.8 metres. The hole was collared on ground held by Northern Abitibi and Donner.

In related news, Donner has been contracted to carry out drilling on a property held by the Labrador Nickel Syndicate, which consists of Labrador International Mining (LAB-V), with a 50% interest, Pallaum Minerals (PLM-A), with 25%, and GlobeNet Resources (GBR-V), also with 25%.

The property, known as the Adlatok River Group of claims, is in the Pantz Lake area, 220 km northwest of Goose Bay and 90 km south of the Voisey’s Bay nickel-copper deposit. The Adlatok claims are contiguous with the South Voisey’s Bay project.

A geophysical survey on the property has identified an anomaly, dubbed “Golden Bear,” which measures 600 by 1,000 metres. Within this anomaly lies a much stronger bull’s-eye anomaly, measuring 400 by 200 metres, which is interpreted to have a strong electrical conductor at depth.

Donner is expected to begin drilling in early December.

Meanwhile, another junior active in the region, Gallery Resources (GYR-A), has released assay results from hole M3 on its Okak Bay property. The hole intersected 20.74 metres of disseminated pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite starting at a depth of 455 metres down-hole. The best assays averaged 0.17% copper, 0.082% nickel and 0.017% cobalt.