Further Meliadine drilling planned

A second phase of drilling on the Meliadine project near Rankin Inlet, N.W.T., is expected to get under way shortly.

Partners Comaplex Minerals (TSE) and Cumberland Resources (VSE) recently completed the first phase, which included drilling water-covered areas from lake ice (T.N.M., July 4/94). The upcoming program will follow up ice drilling results on land-covered areas.

Work in the spring included drilling 22 holes on the Wes Meg prospect and nine on the Musket Bay area, 6 miles to the west.

Drilling on Wes Meg concentrated on the Pump Grid in the southwest corner of the prospect area, with the best of nine new intersections returning 57.5 ft. grading 0.28 oz. gold per ton. The Grid is covered with shallow lakes and swamps and, as a result, follow-up drilling will have to wait until next winter.

Drilling near Musket Bay included widely spaced reconnaissance holes which returned encouraging results but no indication of the source of a large field of gold-mineralized boulders. Additional reconnaissance drilling is planned for the area.

The second phase of drilling will concentrate on evaluating targets, including the F Grid where two previous holes about 165 ft. apart encountered 0.23 oz. gold over 90.5 ft. and 0.31 oz. over 22.3 ft., respectively. Drill results from the winter program, which returned better than 0.1 oz. over 4.9 ft., are as follows:

Hole Interval Width Gold

(ft.) (ft.) (oz./ton)

94-45 150.3-156.5 6.2 0.69

94-47 167.6-194.1 26.5 0.31

94-52 136.3-141.2 4.9 0.24

94-55 190.3-195.2 4.9 0.15

94-59 96.8-154.3 57.5 0.28

94-63 360.3-366.8 6.5 0.38

94-65 65.4-87.7 22.3 0.10

94-67 107.7-117.2 9.5 0.33

94-71 213.5-222.5 9.0 0.11

94-72 275.3-282.6 7.3 0.18

94-73 90.3-99.1 8.8 0.18

* All holes from Wes Meg area, except 94-52 which is Musket Bay