Kena yields broad low-grade gold

Vancouver The latest drill program over the Gold Mountain zone on the Kena gold property in southeastern British Columbia has returned mixed results for partners Sultan Minerals (SUL-V) and Kinross Gold (K-T).

The program tested the favourable intrusive-volcanic contact at depth and along strike of earlier drilling with 19 holes. Despite cutting mineralization in every hole, the values were generally low with the exception of hole 62, which yielded 2 metre grading 34.4 grams gold per tonne within an 83.3 metre interval grading 1 gram gold. Other highlights include:

• Hole 46 254.2 metres grading 0.21 gram gold,
• Hole 49 137.2 metres grading 0.43 gram gold,
• Hole 48 186.5 metres grading 0.34 gram gold,
• Hole 53 328.7 metres grading 0.21 gram gold, including a 2 metre section running 11.8 grams gold,
• Hole 54 122.7 metres grading 0.18 gram gold,
• Hole 55 47.9 metres grading 0.34 gram gold,
• Hole 61 2 metres grading 1.04 gram gold,
• Hole 63 10 metres grading 0.62 gram gold,

Part of a 33-hole, 5,700-metre program that also tested South Gold zone, the Starlight Trend, the Great Western zone and the Kena Gold zone, the first results cover a 1.8 km strike length of the Gold Mountain zone. Assay results for the additional zones are still pending.

Kinross funded the drilling as part of an earlier deal that saw the company spend $500,000 on the 77-sq km project last year, plus agreeing to spend another $500,000 by Sept. 4. The gold producer must then spend another $9 million over five years and make annual payments of $250,000 to earn a 60% stake.

In 2001, Sultan drilled 29 holes into the Gold Mountain zone. Four of the first five holes cut broad low-grade mineralization ranging up to 1.87 grams gold per tonne over 116 metres in hole 3. The style of mineralization suggested a gold-bearing porphyry, favourable for a large tonnage, open-pit operation. Subsequent drilling hit sporadic intervals of low-grade mineralization with some holes yielding bonanza grade gold values over 2 metres width.

Most of the high-grade intersections lie near the contact between the Silver King Porphyry and the Elise footwall volcanics, and the values occur in either rock type. The highest gold grades came from hole 3 where a 1.23-metre section returned 240 grams gold and hole 8, which yielded a 2-metre interval grading 172.1 grams gold per tonne. These holes were collared 125 metres apart covering a vertical depth of 40 to 190 metres.

So far, Sultan has identified seven promising target areas over the project. Previous exploration focused on Gold Mountain and the Kena target, some 2-km to the south. The third target, lying another 3 km to the south, is marked by a large geochemical anomaly, dubbed South Gold. The other prospects are defined by historical working dating back to the early 1900s and include the Great Western, Tough Nut, Starlight, Cariboo and Silver King Mine.