Pioneer drills Grace

Vancouver — NovaGold Resources (NRI-T) will test the Grace copper-gold project, held by Pioneer Metals (PSM-T) in northwestern British Columbia.

Last year NovaGold signed an option to acquire a 60% interest in the project from Pioneer by spending $5 million on exploration over five years. As part of the deal, NovaGold bought 3.9 million units of Pioneer for $1 million, and now holds a 7.1% stake in the company.

The Grace property is adjacent to the Galore Creek and Copper Canyon projects, which are under option to, and being explored by, NovaGold. Galore Creek hosts a measured and indicated resource of 516.7 million tonnes grading 0.59% copper, 0.36 gram gold and 4.54 grams silver per tonne, plus an inferred resource.

NovaGold is searching for similar gold-copper targets on the Grace property. Plans call for geophysical surveys and at least 1,200 metres of drilling to test targets identified last summer.