NovaGold, Costigan hit base metals in virgin territory

Partners NovaGold Resources (TSE) and Costigan Gold (COATS) have made a base metal discovery on their Sewell Brook property, near Plaster Rock, N.B. All four holes on the previously undrilled property intersected a lead-zinc zone at a vertical depth of less than 200 ft. hole 90-08-2 returned a 14.5-ft. section grading 10.7% zinc, 2.6% lead and 1.1 oz. silver per ton. Hole 90-08-1, which intersected 6% zinc and 3% lead over 5 ft., also returned a 33-ft. section grading 3.7% copper from a zone immediately below the lead- zinc mineralization. The holes were drilled at a 50 degrees angle.

The lead-zinc zone, outlined along a strike length of 400 ft., remains open along strike and downdip. Coincident geochemical and geophysical anomalies suggest it continues to the north along a strike length of at least 1,400 ft.

“If we pull a couple more good holes, I think we’ll see some fireworks,” said NovaGold President William Young. Costigan stock has already reacted to the discovery, more than doubling in value to 60 cents.

A fifth hole, currently being drilled to test another IP (geophysical) anomaly 250 ft. further north, has intersected a large pyrite zone, which may represent the hangingwall of the main zone, Young told The Northern Miner. Drilling will continue on this and other anomalies, he said.

It was pure luck that brought NovaGold, which has been active in the Bathurst area, to the Sewell Brook property nearly 125 miles to the southwest. According to Young, a bulldozer driver hit a zinc-laden outcrop while clearing a logging road on the property. As soon as NovaGold personnel caught wind of the accidental find, they staked up the area surrounding the high- grade outcrop. Along with partner Costigan, which is earning a 40% interest in the project by spending $400,000, NovaGold now lays claim to over 3,000 acres.

Young said that, unlike the fine- grained Bathurst ores, mineralization at Sewell Brook is relatively coarse-grained. Metallic minerals include galena, sphalerite and chalcopyrite.