Drilling confirms Lightning zone

The latest batch of drill results from the Lightning zone of the Holloway project owned 60/40 by Noranda (TSE) and Freewest Resources (TSE) confirm a major gold deposit with significant widths is taking shape on the Matheson area property. The joint venture is situated along the historic Porcupine-Destor fault about one mile north of the Holt- McDermott gold mine owned by American Barrick Resources (TSE).

To date, Noranda has completed about 126,500 ft. of drilling as part of a planned 165,000-ft. program on the Holloway joint venture.

A source at Noranda’s Toronto office told The Norther Miner that navi-drilling crews have been mobilized into the site and will conduct wedging of the deeper holes into the deposit. (Navi-drills can wedge off existing holes to get cheaper and quicker results than could be obtained by drilling completely new holes.)

Of interest in the recent set of 25 assay results, are two of the deepest intersections to date in the Lightning zone in holes 110 and 120.

They yielded 26 ft. grading 0.24 oz. gold per ton and 70 ft. grading 0.33 oz. (0.26 oz. cut) respectively at depths of 2,000-2,300 ft. on the Teddy Bear Valley Mines (COATS) claims.

The Teddy Bear property is adjacent to the Noranda-Freewest claims which host the bulk of the Lightning zone deposit. A joint venture comprising Noranda (51%), Freewest (34%) and Newmont Mining (15%) may earn a 70% interest in the Teddy Bear claims.

About half of the recent holes tested the eastern end of the Lightning zone which still remains open down-plunge and along strike to the east.

Some of the better assay results (cut to 1 oz) from the recent infill holes are as follows: Noranda-Freewest property Depth Width Gold Hole (ft.) (ft.) (oz./ton) 62W 190 0.16 incl 1,476

43 0.21 72W 1,345 37 0.28 104 1,552 55 0.24 109 1,663 40 0.65 112 1,617 87 0.21 121 1,007 43 0.16 125 1,394 58 0.22 Noranda-Freewest-Newmont-Teddy Bear 103 1,939 36 0.13 107 1,899 13 0.41 108 1,847 60 0.16 110 2,293 26 0.24 111 945 14 0.27 114 1,125 49 0.30 115 1,378 24 0.22 116 2,221 38 0.19 117 912 15 0.17 118 1,634 15 0.19 1,677 25 0.17 120 2,040 70 0.26

Five rigs are continuing to put down infill holes into the main Lightning zone as well as conducting delineation drilling along strike and down plunge to the east.

The common shares of Freewest began trading on The Toronto Stock Exchange on Nov. 5, and at presstime were trading at around $3, down 10 cents from an earlier high of $3.10 before the results were announced. The company has about 11.7 million shares outstanding on a fully diluted basis. Meanwhile, the price of gold bullion rose to US$385 per oz. in London as tensions in the Persian Gulf heated up.

David James, a mining analyst with Richardson Greenshields, predicts gold will range between US$350 and US$425 per oz. over the next year, but the Gulf Crisis still remains a “wild card,” he says. Martin Murenbeeld, another analyst, thinks a brief war in the Persian Gulf will probably buoy gold, but a prolonged war would create “desperate financial hardships” and greatly increase the need for liquidity. He predicts gold will continue trading over a range of US$355-425 per oz.