Ongoing underground infill drilling by
Results include: hole 45 — 13 ft. grading 1.23 oz. gold and 6.12 oz. silver per ton, including a 3.5-ft. section of 3.5 oz. gold and 8.79 oz. silver; hole 46 — 3 ft. averaging 1.68 oz. gold and 6.62 oz. silver; and hole 47 — 2 ft. of 0.55 oz. gold and 3.01 oz. silver.
The holes have verified the continuity of the 3800 zone, increasing its minable extent and volume. The high-grade portion of the 3800 zone has now been drilled over a strike length of at least 150 ft.
Meanwhile, encouraging results have been obtained from the western extension of the Morning Glory vein system, along strike and within the same vein system that hosts the Martinez resource.
Hole 14 returned 2.3 ft. grading 0.19 oz. gold and hole 18 contains a 3-ft. section of 0.21 oz. gold. The holes were drilled 300 ft. west of the main Morning Glory vein.
Reverse-circulation drilling on the westerly extension of the Chesco vein continues to cut anomalous gold and silver values. Hole 9 intersected 15 ft grading 0.2 oz. gold and 2.5 oz. silver per tonne, including 5 ft. of 0.4 oz. gold and 5.48 oz. silver.
A new underground resource figure for Prospectus will be calculated once the current drill campaign wraps up. At last count, underground resources for the vein stood at 187,993 tons grading 0.49 oz. gold and 1.9 oz. silver.
Overall measured and indicated resources at Esmeralda stand at 30.7 million tons grading 0.031 oz. gold, for 952,700 contained ounces. An additional 9.2 million tons of material running 0.025 oz. gold are classified as inferred.
Metallic hopes to have Esmeralda producing at full-steam by early 2004. The company is fine-tuning the operation’s 350-ton-per-day, carbon-in-leach mill.
The mill is expected to begin processing development ore in early January, with full production slated for the end of that month. A tailings dam expansion to accommodate future production is half-complete.
So far, more than 6,000 ft. of underground development have been completed on Martinez and Prospectus. At the latter, five crosscuts are being driven towards the deposit, and three of them (the 3575, 3755 and 3800 crosscuts) have intercepted the vein. Construction of the initial sill drift has begun, and ore from the sill drift will be stockpiled.
The first crosscut in the Martinez mine has also been completed, and a second is under way. Both will allow development of ore along the Morning Glory vein.
Rehabilitation of the old Chesco underground workings, in anticipation of underground core drilling and future production, is almost done.
Shares in Metallic Ventures were 80, or 10% higher, at $8.79 in mid-afternoon trading on Nov. 24.
Be the first to comment on "Metallic drills gold"