Orofino contemplates next move at remote Canuc bet

With all the results in now from a 10,000-ft drill program at the Canuc Resources (TSE) property in the Northwest Territories, Orofino Resources (TSE) is contemplating its next move.

Orofino can earn a 70% interest by spending $5 million over five years but it has yet to decide whether it will do definition drilling in an area where the company pulled 75.76 ft of 0.35 oz gold per ton in hole G-88-3.

Alternatively, when exploration resumes again next June, Orofino could opt to hedge its bets and drill in an area 100 ft further south where the company intersected 1.48 ft of grade 10.80 oz.

It could also examine an area 600 ft northwards along strike on the X vein which is believed to be an extension of a system which produced an 11.32 ft intersection grading 0.21 oz. Reserves on the property stand at 860,000 tons of grade 0.22 oz gold per ton.

“We have to put our thinking caps on and decide what hole G-88-3 means in terms of the surrounding intersections,” said project geologist Francis Mann. Included within the 75 ft intersection was 43 ft of 0.42 oz. It in turn contained 4.7 ft of 2.34 oz.

Located two hours by air from Echo Bay Mines’ (TSE) Lupin gold mine, the Canuc property is situated close to the Arctic Ocean on Coronation Gulf. As a result, Orofino and Dore-Norbaska Resources (TSE), which is helping to finance the current program, have been able to ship in enough fuel to complete another 10,000 ft of drilling.

Since the area between two of the most encouraging drill holes is covered by overburden, the potential may exist for a wide and relatively rich gold deposit, Orofino says.

Nevertheless, the property’s remote location means that grades must be much higher than in more accessible regions like Timmins, Ont., or Val d’Or, Que., to be considered economic.