MINING IN CANADA — Virginia Gold Mines drilling at La Grande Sud

Quebec City-based Virginia Gold Mines (VIA-M) is set to begin a new drill program on the Grande Sud property in the James Bay region of Quebec.

Attention is focused on two zones of mineralization, named 32 and Ugo.

Zone 32 was identified last spring, when the company carried out drilling on 50-metre spacings over a length of 500 metres and to a depth of 200 metres.

The subvertical zone consists of three parallel lenses that join to form a structure up to 50 metres wide. Zone 32 is completely exposed on surface and being eyed as an open-pit prospect.

Exploration also led to the discovery of the Ugo zone, where drilling intersected 10.91 grams gold per tonne across 3.4 metres. The Ugo showing is associated with a shear zone that crosscuts basalts near the eastern contact of a tonalite unit. The shear zone, which is characterized by the presence of quartz veinlets, visible gold, pyrite and chalcopyrite, extends east of the known gold-bearing corridor recognized on La Grande Sud.

The best results from channel sampling carried out on the Ugo showing returned 1.75 grams gold over 16 metres. Also, numerous grab samples returned grades of between 10.83 and 31.68 grams gold.

More than 300 showings of the yellow metal have been discovered at La Grande Sud, some of them returning up to 731 grams. The 500-sq.-km property covers a strike length of 70 km and is wholly owned by Virginia.

La Grande Sud is part of the expansive La Grande project, which covers more than 1,000 sq. km in the La Grande volcanic belt. At La Grande Nord, surface exploration has returned up to 41.92 grams gold, 14.37 grams platinum, 13.78 grams palladium and 11,515 grams silver. Also, recent work on this northern portion led to the identification of copper-bearing showings.

The exploration subsidiary of Noranda (NOR-T) is acquiring a half-interest in La Grande Nord by spending $2.5 million on exploration and paying $200,000 in cash over five years.

In the same region, Virginia, together with Cambior (CBJ-T) and Quebec government-owned Soquem, recently joined forces to acquire 22 exploration permits on properties anomalous in gold, copper, nickel, cobalt, uranium and other metals.

The acquisitions follow completion by the provincial government of a massive geochemical survey that covered 350,000 sq. km, or 25% of the province.

Each participant is entitled to a 33.3% interest in each of the properties acquired. The 22 properties cover nearly 2,200 sq. km.

Virginia has $15 million in cash, about 25 million shares issued and outstanding, and no debt. In total, the company holds more than 50 mineral exploration properties covering more than 6,000 sq. km.