Foundation and Alto continue to explore Coldstream project

Vancouver – Foundation Resources (FDN-V) and 40% joint venture partner Alto Ventures (ATV-V) have been releasing a steady flow of gold results from its winter drill program at their Coldstream project in northwestern Ontario.

The 6,000-metre drill program was designed both to expand known mineralization in prospective zones as well as provide confirmation and infill drilling for an upcoming resource estimate. The resource, expected in the early fall, will cover the four northeast-striking zones known as Main, North, East and Sanders that extend over roughly 1.5 km.

On the Main zone, hole 11-58 and 11-60 expanded the zone by 180 metres, returning 56 metres grading 0.5 gram gold from 64 metres, 44 metres carrying 0.53 gram gold respectively.

Hole 11-68, drilled both through the East and Main zones, extended the East zone by 120 metres and the Main zone by 50 metres. The hole hit 42.6 metres grading 0.93 gram gold from 22 metres depth in the East zone, then 13 metres carrying 3.45 grams gold from 226 metres in the main zone.

Other recent results include holes 11-66 that hit 38.3 metres grading 1.1 gram gold from 265 metres as part of a test of the down plunge extension of the East zone, and hole 11-62 that hit 16 metres grading 1.06 grams gold in the Main zone and then 47 metres averaging 0.72 gram gold in the North zone.

Results from 2010 on the Main zone included 27.3 metres grading 4.88 grams gold and 111.3 metres grading 1.12 grams gold.

In 1990 Noranda calculated a historic resource of 5.1 million tonnes grading 1.43 grams gold. The current joint venture is looking to add to that resource both through step-out drilling on the East, Main and North zones and also through the inclusion of results from the Sanders zone, which as outside of Noranda’s land package.

Results from the Sanders zone, sitting roughly 500 metres northeast of the Main zone and 125 metres south of the East zone,  have included 35.7 metres grading 2.1 grams gold from 97 metres and 27.4 metres averaging 1.06 grams gold from 65 metres downhole.

The Coldstream project, sitting 115 km west of Thunder Bay, spans roughly 54 sq. km. The property sits near rail, power, and the Trans-Canada Highway. The land package also hosts the Goldie and Iris zones near the East Coldstream deposit and the Span Lake area further southwest.

In late March the joint venture staked 5 sq. km of land adjacent to the Iris Lake target, roughly 1.5 km north of the East Coldstream deposit. The land expansion came after the venture drilled three holes in the area, with hole 11-02 hitting 26 metres grading 3.68 grams gold from 3 metres depth, hole 11-01 cutting 1.6 metres grading 5.29 grams gold from 82 metres and hole 11-03 returning 8.9 metres averaging 1.76 grams gold from 102 metres depth.

The Coldstream property falls within the western Shebandowan greenstone belt of Wawa sub-province. Gold mineralization at East Coldstream is associated with pyrite and chalcopyrite, with quartz and quartz-feldspar porphyries hosting the bulk of the gold mineralization.

The joint venture started another 6,000-metre drill program on the property in February to further expand the East Coldstream deposit, test the Iris zone and around the Span Lake area.

Foundation’s share price has crept downwards following recent drill results, recently hitting a 52-week low of 16¢. The company share price briefly spiked as high as 60¢ in September and it has 34.3 million shares outstanding. Alto Ventures’ share price has kept to the single digits and recently closed at 5¢, with 190.3 million shares out.