Northgate advances Kemess North

Vancouver — Northgate Exploration (NGX-T) has launched a prefeasibility study over its Kemess North copper-gold project in central British Columbia.

The move was prompted by the final assay results from its 2002 exploration program, which confirmed mineral contiuity and delineated a high-grade core of greater than 1-gram gold equivalent per tonne.

“I am very pleased to announce the next stage in the development of Kemess North based on the additional drill information from our 2002 program,” syas company president, Ken Stowe. “Furthermore, the addition of the Nugget Zone to our growing portfolio of porphyry deposits in the Kemess camp is exciting, as is the enhanced potential for additional areas of porphyry mineralization in the Kemess region that is suggested by our 2002 exploration results.”

A total of 42 holes were drilled during the recent program, defining the higher-grade core over a 700-by-400-metre area with thicknesses reaching 370 metres. Drilled off at 100-metre sections, Northgate is currently recalculating the Kemess North resource. Highlights from the drilling include:

• Hole 1 – 154.1 metres grading 0.89 gram gold and 0.46% copper,
• Hole 4 – 111.4 metres grading 0.84 gram gold and 0.37% copper,
• Hole 13 – 200.2 metres grading 0.71 gram gold and 0.37% copper,
• Hole 16 – 206 metres grading 0.54 gram gold and 0.29% copper,
• Hole 24 – 71 metres grading 0.89 gram gold and 0.44% copper,
• Hole 36 – 47.6 metres grading 0.65 gram gold and 0.34% copper.

Moving 1.3-km to the southwest, diamond drilling in the Nugget zone has cut gold-copper mineralization up to 159 metres thick over 300 metres of strike length. To date, the highest values 115.64 metres grading 0.46 grams gold amnd 0.19% copper. Mineralization is hosted in the same monzonite-takla volcanic geologic setting as Kemess North and remains open in all directions. The widest intercept came from hole 49, which cut 159.7 metres grading 0.36 gram gold and 0.19% copper. Hole 48 returned the best values, 115.6 metres grading 0.46 gram gold and 0.19% copper. Other higlights include:

Hole 23 hit three zones of mineralization with grades reaching up to 0.55 grams gold and 0.13% copper over 62 metres.

Hole 43 cut three zones including one that returned 0.46 gram gold and 0.16% copper over 100 metres.

In the previously unexplored Central Cirque area, results from hole 55 indicates that mineral continuity occurs between the Kemess North and the Nugget Zone. The hole hit two zones grading 0.49 gram gold and 0.14% copper, followed by 140 metres grading 0.44 gram gold and 0.2% copper, respectively. Some 650 metres remains unexplored between hole and the Nugget Zone.

A total of 4-holes tested the Kemess East target in hopes of finding the faulted off northeastern extension of the high-grade porphyry dome at Kemess North. Two of these holes hit barren monzonites, while the other two hit the target but only returned short intervals of 15.5 metres grading 1.17 gram gold and 24 metres grading 0.78 grams gold, respectively. The copper values came in at a low 0.05% and 0.04%, respectively.

The latest result has lead Northgate to believe that Kemess North, the Nugget zone and the existing Kemess South mine are all part of one continuous porphyry system.