Moneta makes headway at Golden Highway

In just under a year Moneta Porcupine Mines (ME-T, MPUCF-O) has discovered three large zones close to its historic resource of 624,500 ounces of 5.98 grams gold per tonne at its Golden Highway project in Ontario.

In the latest assay results from the project, drill hole wedge 162G returned 3.45 grams gold per tonne over 26.13 metres, including high-grade zones of  7.96 grams gold over 5.60 metres and 5.12 grams gold over 12.45 metres. 

Moneta says the results from hole 162G demonstrate a broad and previously untested mineralized corridor in the project’s Southwest Zone East block, and extend the east-west strike to 130 metres and over 150 metres vertically.

The company’s 100%-owned Golden Highway project, is about 100 km east of Timmins and 35 km east along Highway 101 from Matheson.

The project is surrounded by mill infrastructure. About 25 km to the east of Golden Highway lies St Andrew Goldfield’s (SAS-T) Holloway-Holt complex, and  Apollo Gold’s (APG-T, AGT-X) Black Fox operations are 25 km to the west.

“Drill hole162G has confirmed that the previously untested Southwest Zone East Block contains significant grade over substantial width and remains open in all directions for further resource expansion,” the company wrote in a news release. “The recent results are particularly encouraging as the geology and mineralization style of the Southwest Zone East Block is the same as the Southwest Zone Central Block.”

The company believes the 162G quartz vein alteration correlates with previous intercepts from drill hole 162D (4.80 grams gold over 8.61 metres) and hole 273 (3.51 grams gold over 38 metres including 5.66 grams gold over 6.25 metres). Hole 162D is 120 metres east and 30 metres above hole 162G, while hole 273 is 40 metres to the east and 150 metres up dip.

At the Southwest Zone Central block iron formation contact, the vein alteration zone returned 3.59 grams gold over 6.10 metres including 5.68 grams gold over 3.46 metres, 60 metres west of 162B and represents possible continuity of the 162 Zone, the company reports.

 Drill hole wedge 273B intersected a well-mineralized vein alteration zone grading 3.78 grams gold over 11.50 metres, including a high-grade zone of 5.63 grams gold over 6.30 metres.

The project covers mafic to ultramafic volcanic assemblages containing or bounded by sedimentary basins and straddles the Destor Porcupine Fault/Deformation Zone and  hosts two distinctive geological settings or parallel corridors: the Northern Corridor made up of volcanics and local felsic intrusives, and the Southern Corridor defined by Timiskaming sediments and iron formation.

The Northern Corridor has similarities to the volcanics setting of the Holloway mine.  

The Southern Corridor is defined by the belt of Timiskaming sediments trending along the Destor and includes most of the gold mineralization discovered to date on the property. This corridor has a strike length of about 12 km crossing Michaud and continuing north-east into Garrison Townships.

Moneta’s 2011 drill program (30,000 metres and three drill rigs) is designed to try to expand the newly identified gold zones: the 267 Zone, 162 Zone and 273 Zone, which are all part of the greater Southwest Zone. On Mar. 23, the junior raised $6.6 million in a non-brokered private placement with two institutional investors, to help pay for the drilling. The drills have been turning since late January and more assay results are expected shortly.

In addition to the Golden Highway project, Moneta also owns 100% of four other projects in the Destor Porcupine Fault Zone: North Tisdale, Nighthawk Lake, Kayorum and Denton Thorneloe.

Shares of the junior closed at 39.5¢, up 2¢ or 5.3%. The company’s shares have traded in a 52-week range of 17¢ per share (Aug. 20 2010) and 48¢ per share (Feb. 24 2011). Moneta has about 142.9 million shares outstanding.