Monument Bay yields high grades

The first hole reported from an ongoing drill program at Monument Bay, Man., assayed nearly an ounce of gold over 2.35 metres. The project is shared between Wolfden Resources (YWO-V) and Bema Gold (BGO-T).

Monument Bay was first explored by Noranda (NRD-T) in the late 1980s. It was then shuffled off to various companies before winding up in Wolfden’s hands. Bema joined the project earlier this year and can earn up to a 70% stake by spending $6 million on exploration over three years, paying $225,000 and issuing 150,000 shares.

Bema can recoup 35% of the money spent on exploration (to a maximum of $400,000 annually) in northeastern Manitoba via the provincial government’s Mineral Exploration Assistance Program.

The deal with Bema was signed as the Canadian exploration arm of Newmont Mining (NEM-N) cancelled a back-in right at Monument Bay. The back-in right was inherited via Newmont’s takeover of Battle Mountain Gold, one of the previous owners.

In return for the cancellation, a unit of Newmont will be paid $500,000 if a feasibility study is tabled and $500,000 more if commercial production follows. It also retains a net smelter return royalty.

Gold mineralization is associated with narrow quartz veins and zones of alteration in the 30-km-long Twin Lakes-Monument Bay deformation zone. The structure cuts through a sequence of overturned volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Stull Lake greenstone belt.

Noranda, the original discoverer and only other company besides Wolfden to sink holes on the property, outlined four zones of mineralization. Results from both companies are variable, running as high as 107 grams per tonne over a few metres.

So far, Bema has sunk seven holes to test the A and B shoots of the Twin Lakes zone, which is the most continuous of the bunch. The high-grade intercept represents the latter shoot and came from hole 69, which also cut 2.55 metres of shoot A. Shoot A averaged 5.55 grams per tonne over 2.55 metres of true width.

Hole 69 was a stepout from hole TL-001, which was drilled last year and returned 29.96 grams over 4.2 metres. Mineralization remains open to the west.

The current drilling campaign will span 3,500 metres.