Drilling resumes at Kena (October 03, 2001)

Vancouver — Having cut wide intervals of low-grade mineralization in the first seven holes, Sultan Minerals (SUL-V) has launched a third round of drilling at the Kena property near Nelson, BC.

The junior has spotted 21 drill sites at a 1.4-km-by-500-metre portion of the promissing Gold Mountain zone. An untested coincident geochemical and geophysical anomaly extends for another 700 metres in length and 150 metres in width.

So far, drilling has covered a 200-by-300-metre portion of the target. The first three holes were drilled from the same pad and returned up to 106 metres grading 1.16 grams gold per tonne.

About 120 metres to the east, hole 4 cut 58 metres grading 1.21 grams gold (starting at 28 metres down-hole). This includes a 2 metre section that ran 16.3 grams gold.

Collared 50 metres south of the first three holes, hole 6 cut 124 metres grading 0.62 gram gold. The broad zone of mineralization carried several higher-grade sections, including the final 2 metres, which ran 9.1 grams gold (starting at 130 metres down-hole).

Hole 5, which was the first hole of the second round of drilling, was collared 50 metres west of the initial holes. It returned 134 metres grading 1.1 grams gold.

Some 300 metres to the south, at the southern edge of the anomaly, hole 7 averaged 0.55 gram gold over 68 metres (starting at 12.0 metres). The section included a 22-metre interval that graded 1.04 grams gold.

Petrographic and alteration studies of drill core suggests that the mineralization style is charateristic of a porphyry depositional setting. The preliminary studies also found few contaminants such as arsenic, cadmium and lead.

Mineralization is non-refractory, with two composite samples yielding 92-97% of their gold in cyanide leaching tests.