Virginia Gold Mines (VIA-T) has released the results of a winter drill program on its Gayot property in Quebec’s Caniapiscau Reservoir area, northwest of Schefferville.
The program targeted five separate sectors with 18 holes for a total of 2,187 metres of drilling. Results from the L, Nancy and Gagnon showings have been reported.
Three holes were collared in the area of the L showing. Hole 33 aimed at testing directly under a previous hole that cut 11.4 metres grading 2.2% nickel, 1.41% copper and 2.29 grams of combined platinum and palladium (Pt+Pd). Hole 33 returned 0.4 metre (from 56.4 metres below surface) grading 1.16% nickel, 1.93% copper and 2.16 grams Pt+Pd. The hole also intersected a fault zone which displaced ultramafic rocks and mineralization.
Two other holes were sunk to test the base of the thick ultramafic flow just east of the L showing and also its down-plunge extension. They failed to return significant mineralization. Virginia says a strong off-hole electromagnetic anomaly may indicate a mineralized zone just east of the holes. The company plans further exploration in the area.
Previous drilling on the L showing returned up to 2.2% nickel and 2.3 grams platinum-palladium over widths of between 8 and 29 metres.
Five holes were sunk in the region of the Nancy showing to verify the continuity of mineralization towards the east. Four of them cut disseminated sulphides in, or at the contacts with, ultramafic flows. Assays range from 0.2 to 0.77% nickel, 0.06 to 0.16% copper and 0.51 and 0.81 gram Pt+Pd. The latest holes confirm the results of previous drilling.
Two of four holes drilled in the Gagnon-Pantoufle area cut mineralized zones. Hole 45 returned 0.5 metre grading 3.3% nickel, 0.15% copper and 3.29 gram Pt+Pd. Hole 44 yielded 5.5 metres of 0.4% nickel, 0.07% copper and 0.38 gram Pt+Pd.
Previous channel sampling at the Gagnon showing returned up to 2.1% nickel, 0.42% copper and 2.46 grams platinum-palladium over 4.85 metres. Previous drilling returned lower grades — up to 0.62% nickel and 0.62 gram platinum-palladium over 19.4 metres.
Billiton can earn a half-interest in the property by spending $4.5 million over three and a half years and has approved a budget of about $600,000 for work at Gayot this summer. The program includes reconnaissance work, geological mapping, stripping and airborne and ground geophysical surveys. It aims to strip the main favourable mineralized contacts on the property and to extend the known mineralized showings. A 3,000-metre drilling program is anticipated for this fall and winter.
Under a renegotiated deal with Cambior (CBJ-T) at the La Grande Sud gold project in the James Bay region of Quebec, Cambior can earn a 50% interest by funding $5.5 million in exploration before June 1, 2007.
A 16-hole, 2,500-metre drilling program is set to begin over several gold-bearing zones and geophysical anomalies. A second, 2,500-metre drilling program will follow in the fall or winter. The project’s resources stand at 350,000 oz. gold.
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