Underground drilling at the Sleeping Giant mine in northwestern Quebec has led to the discovery of three gold-rich lenses that could extend the mine life by at least two years.
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The partners drilled the lens on grids ranging from 20-by-20 metres up to 50-by-50 metres, following it over a lateral distance of 400 metres and a vertical distance of 300 metres. The lens remains open to the south and at depth.
In the latest phase of drilling, the partners sunk 256 holes for a total of 64,600 metres and, within lens 8, excavated 265 metres of drifts and 120 metres of raises.
Newly discovered lens 6, situated 400 metres southwest of the shaft, was probed by 59 drill holes totalling 11,500 metres. The inferred resource there is estimated at 22,000 tonnes grading 8.4 grams gold, or 6,000 contained ounces.
As this lens remains open to the south and at depth, the partners say there is “excellent potential” for an increase in resources. Further drilling is planned.
The third new structure is lens 7, which lies 310 metres south of the shaft. The lens was intersected by 18 holes that had targeted the southern extension of lens 8. Eight of these holes returned gold grades varying between 7.6 and 24.4 grams gold over true thicknesses of about 2 metres.
More drilling is planned for lens 7, and the partners hope to have enough data for a resource estimate by year-end.
The new zones tend to have grades about 25% higher than the mine’s recent head grades. (In the first half of 2001, Sleeping Giant produced 32,765 oz. gold at a total cash cost of US$223 per oz., and the average head grade was 9.7 grams gold.)
In other news, Cambior has run into labour trouble at its Mouska gold mine, part of the company’s Doyon operations in Quebec’s Abitibi region. Some 90 recently unionized employees have been on strike since late September.
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