Drill turns at Goodpaster

Vancouver — Partners Western Keltic Mines (WKM-V) and Rimfire Minerals (RFM-V) have the drill turning at the Boundary gold zone on the Goodpaster gold project in east central Alaska.

The companies are eyeing the southeastern extension of the 5.5-million-oz. Pogo gold deposit held by Teck (TEK-T) and Japanese-based Sumitomo. Last year, a four-hole drill program tested the Boundary gold anomaly and cut high-grade gold mineralization over narrow widths.

Centred on a 900-by-300-metre gold-in-soil anomaly, three of the four holes contained visible gold.

Hole 1 cut five mineralized zones, including 2.4 metres grading 2.36 grams gold per tonne from 56.3 metres down-hole and 10 cm grading 18.05 grams gold from 64.9 metres down-hole.

Collared from the same site but drilled in the opposite direction, hole 2 cut four narrow zones ranging up to 3.98 gram gold over 20 cm.

Some 300 metres to the south, hole 3 failed to hit any significant mineralization.

Moving 90 metres north of the first hole, hole 4 hit 13 narrow veins. Six of them returned greater than 3 grams gold. Among the higher grades were 24.26 grams gold over 0.5 metres from 147.1 metres down-hole and 35.24 grams gold over 10 cm from 224.4 metres down-hole.

The bonanza-grade mineralization is hosted in 1-5-cm quartz-pyrite-pyrrhotite veinlets. The broader low-grade sections occur in quartz-sericite altered gneiss.

“Continuing exploration by Teck on the Pogo property has shown that gold mineralization is not limited to the deposit itself,” says Donald McInnes, Western Keltic’s president.

“We believe that we have identified a Pogo-style mineralizing system, and that others may be present in the district,” says David Caufield, Rimfire’s president.

Barrick Gold (ABX-T) is funding the program and can take a 51% interest in project by spending $2 million on exploration over three years.

Western Keltic has the right to earn, from Rimfire Minerals (RFM-V), up to an 80% interest in the project that hosts the Boundary anomaly. Barrick financed Western Keltic’s first pass of exploration by subscribing to 675,000 units at 75 each. A unit consists of one share and 0.8 of a share purchase warrant.

Barrick subsequently exercised their warrants at $1.25 per share, giving the major the option of earning a 51% interest.