High River advances Taparko gold project

High River Gold Mines (hrg-t) has upgraded to 1 million oz. its gold resource estimate for three deposits on the Taparko Shear zone in Burkina Faso.

The indicated and inferred resource for the three zones totals 10.8 million tons at an average grade of 0.1 oz. gold per ton, using a cutoff grade of 0.5 gram gold per tonne. The resources are classified according to the Australasian code for reporting reserves.

Zones 5 and 3 were drilled to a vertical depth of 100 metres. The deepest hole in the GT zone intersected mineralization at a vertical depth of 225 metres.

Infill drilling is expected to upgrade most of the inferred resources to the indicated category. The gold mineralization subcrops below shallow overburden and dips moderately (generally between 45 and 55 to the east), making it suitable for open-pit mining.

The horizontal length of the GT Zone and of Zones 3 and 5 are 440 metres, 480 metres and 600 metres, respectively. Zones 3 and 5 form a contiguous zone separated by a small-displacement crossfault. Zones 3 and 5 have been drilled to a vertical depth of only 100 metres. All zones are open at depth.

High River’s resource estimate will be used to prepare an open-pit reserve estimate for inclusion in a feasibility study. As envisaged, the initial mining operation will employ open-pit methods, with the gold being recovered by heap- or vat-leach techniques. Higher-grade zones could be mined by underground methods at a later date.

The Taparko shear zone contains seven additional zones of gold mineralization which, although they have received varying amounts of evaluation, have not been included in the resource calculation. The Taparko structure is open to the north and to the south.

Backhoe trenching is in progress north of Zone 5 — the most northerly zone discovered to date on the Taparko property. As well, geologic and geochemical reconnaissance has defined 10 additional targets.

Early evaluation of Area 2 has located two sites of orpailleur workings, each of which is about 80 metres long and separated by 400 metres along the orientation of the 6-km-long regional soil anomaly. Twenty grab samples from the quartz veining at one site averaged 9.15 grams gold per tonne, and five grab samples from a second site averaged 3.76 grams. High River has started a trenching program in this area.

Several strong intersections have been obtained from trenching on Area 3.

This area has been found to contain three mineralized zones: Goengo, Kangarse and Kangarse South. The first of these contains three auriferous vein and vein-stockwork zones; the second contains four gold-bearing zones; and the third represents a large, unexplored area of active orpailleur workings associated with surface quartz veins. Trenching is progressing as the rainy season permits.

On Area 5, rock samples of auriferous quartz with values of up to 3 grams gold per tonne were obtained over a length of 700 metres. The structure has been traced for 8 km and covered with a 38-sq.-km exploration grid which overlies widespread orpailleur surface workings. Following the current surface program, High River will select drill targets.