St Andrew finds more gold at Stock

Drilling at the former Stock gold mine in the Matheson area of northwestern Ontario continues to provide encouraging results for St Andrew Goldfields (SAS-T).

Stepout hole 7 intersected a narrow, high-grade zone near the West zone, about 27 metres south of old mine workings. At a vertical depth of 311 metres, the hole hit 1.6 metres of 32 grams gold per tonne.

The hole was originally intended to test the Central zone at a vertical depth of 488 metres in an area 91 metres west of a previous intersection but was cut short as a result of poor ground conditions. (Hole 2, drilled in 1996, returned 20 metres of 3.8 grams, including 5.2 metres of 7.2 grams.) In addition, a second hole, which was testing an induced-polarization anomaly 183 metres south of the mine shaft, hit 1.6 metres grading 2.4 grams. The gold-bearing zone was intersected in a green carbonate unit, similar to the one underlying St Andrew’s Taylor property, where high-grade zones have been reported. The Taylor property lies 10 km to the east of the Stock mine.

Meanwhile, St Andrew has halted its drill programs on the Taylor, Stock and nearby Hislop properties until after spring break-up, which is expected to last one month. During this hiatus, the company will continue dewatering underground workings at the Stock mine and expects to have the seventh level clear of water by month’s end. Shortly thereafter, underground drilling will begin testing the depth extensions of the West, Central and N2 zones.

At the time of its closure, in mid-1994, the Stock mine contained proven and probable resources of 96,713 tonnes grading 6.5 grams, as well as possible resources of 629,017 tonnes grading 2.9 grams.