Drilling under way at Dunkwa property

The first two diamond drill holes at the Dunkwa property in Ghana have been completed.

Partners Birim Goldfields (CDN) and Hemlo Gold Mines (TSE) are looking to correlate their diamond drill results with those obtained from reverse-circulation (RC) work earlier this year.

Although results will not be ready until year-end, quartz veining and sulphide mineralization have been noted in both holes.

The initial diamond drill program will be confined to the Mampon prospect, where Birim has found continuous gold mineralization in bedrock averaging 6.3 grams gold per tonne over 45 metres true width. Included in this section were two central RC holes which bottomed in high-grade mineralization (15.8 grams gold per tonne over 13 metres and 14.8 grams over 8 metres). One of the RC holes averaged 7.07 grams gold per tonne over its entire length of 59 metres.

With this new drill program, Birim plans to test the full vertical extent of the mineralized zone and determine the direction in which the mineralized zone is plunging. At this point, the dip appears to be westerly, and mineralization appears to extend to a minimum vertical depth of 110 metres.

Systematic fences of drill holes will be emplaced to provide base data for a preliminary reserve calculation for the Mampon prospect.

As it is only 500 metres from the Mampon prospect, the Aboronye prospect will also be subjected to diamond drilling.

Hemlo Gold can acquire a 65% interest in the Dunkwa property by spending $7 million over the next four years and buying $150,000 worth of Birim shares each year for three years. Birim is the operator of the project during the exploration phase, and has the option of being carried through to full feasibility.

Meanwhile, Birim has raised $1.8 million by means of the exercise of 2.4 million share purchase warrants at 75 cents per share. The funds will be used to explore the Dunkwa property further.