StrataGold readies for Tassawini resource

SITE VISIT

Georgetown, Guyana — The waning of the winter rainy season in Guyana has StrataGold (SGV-T, SAGDF-O) gearing up to launch this year’s exploration program on its Tassawini gold project, situated about 170 km northwest of Georgetown, following a successful effort in 2005.

Last year’s $4.75-million program included almost 12,000 metres of diamond drilling in 73 holes plus an additional 287 reverse-circulation (RC) holes totalling 12,000 metres, expanding known gold mineralization at the Tassawini East and West zone, and confirming two new zones (Black Ridge and Sonne) of saprolite-hosted gold.

During The Northern Miner’s recent visit, extensive saprolitic weathering was evident throughout the project area, as is typical in a tropical environment. Gold at Tassawini occurs in a greenstone terrane of northeasterly trending and folded metasediments, with mineralization structurally controlled associated with a hydrothermal graphite-carbonate-pyrite-arsenopyrite-pyrrhotite assemblage and quartz veins.

Saprolite is rock that has been weathered in place to an almost clay consistency. The saprolite horizon at Tassawini extends to at least 65 metres deep, which bodes well for potential future mine development as the material can generally be excavated without the need for blasting, a positive for prospective open-pit economics.

Within excavated sections of the saprolite, remnant structures and fabric were observed primarily in the form of folded millimetre-to-centimetre scale quartz veins. The veins tend to host some of the better gold grades at the deposit.

The Precambrian Guianan Shield in the north-central section of South America (covering portions of Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname) is geologically similar to the now-distant West African Shield that hosts the gold-rich Birimian mineralized belt in Ghana. The two are thought to have adjoined, prior to the breakup of the Gondwana super-continent.

Gold deposits such as Crystallex International’s (KRY-T, KRY-X) 13-million-oz.-plus Las Cristinas project in Venezuela, and Cambior’s (CBJ-T, CBJ-X) now-depleted Omai mine (producing 3.7 million oz.) in Guyana, 3.2-million-oz. Rosebel mine in Suriname, and 2.1-million-oz. Camp Caiman project in French Guiana, are all hosted in the Guianan Shield.

StrataGold’s results

After acquiring rights to the project in mid-2004, StrataGold conducted the bulk of its 2005 exploration work (including 51 core holes) on the Tassawini West zone, where a number of gold intercepts indicate a minimum strike length of 450 metres with an average true width of 40 metres. The zone remains open in all directions.

Some of the better drill results at Tassawini West include hole SD002, which intersected 49 metres grading 4.7 grams gold per tonne from surface, including a 10.1-metre interval of 11 grams gold. Hole SD003 cut 41.4 metres, from 21.7 metres down-hole, averaging 21 grams gold, including 28 metres of 30.1 grams gold.

The Tassawini East zone occurs on the eastern limb of the same fold that hosts the West zone. Gold mineralization has been tracked over at least 300 metres of strike and is open in all directions. The East zone saw 18 core holes last year, with hole SD016 returning a 21-metre section, from 107.5-metres depth, grading 38.1 grams gold, and including 3 very high-grade metres averaging 256 grams gold.

Four diamond drill holes on Black Ridge confirmed the new discovery, indicating similar gold mineralization to the West and East zones. Hole SD072 cut 21.3 metres, from 8.4 metres depth, grading 6.2 grams gold (uncut), including a 3.6-metre interval of 24.8 grams gold. Based on the preliminary drilling, Black Ridge has been traced over 400 metres of strike and has an average true width of 20 metres.

The company has also begun an environmental baseline study at Tassawini, with an eye toward a resource estimate and prefeasibility study on the project.

With the project located in a remote area of Guyana, the company was quick to address access issues. In 2005, an 850-metre airstrip was cut out of the jungle to facilitate turboprop flight access direct from Georgetown, thus trimming travel time from about a day to less than an hour.

StrataGold has also upgraded and expanded the camp at Tassawini, which can now accommodate over 100 personnel and includes core logging and storage facilities.

The deposit underwent historic mining from 1907-1914 by The British Guiana Gold Co., which used steam-powered equipment and hydraulic placer mining to recover just over 11,000 oz. gold from the weathered bedrock.

A United Nations-funded initiative in the late-1960s confirmed zones of gold mineralization, but the project failed to attract a participant until the mid-1980s.

In 1984, a Brazilian tin mining company, Paranapanema, acquired a prospecting licence over the Tassawini area and subsequently spent US$9 million over three years confirming the gold mineralization. However, by the early 1990s, the gold price dropped significantly, prompting Paranapanema to allow its option to lapse.

A reported historic resource estimate (prior to National Instrument 43-101) was conducted by Kilborn Engineering in 1988 and reviewed about 2.2 million tonnes of oxide mineralization (to about 40 metres depth), around the historic pits, grading 2.1 grams gold. The study indicated that open-pit mining, in the saprolite, would be amenable to a relatively steep pit wall design due to its competency.

The mid-1990s saw Canadian junior Menora Resources, now Mengold Resources (MNI-V), spend one year and $1 million on a soil geochemistry survey over the project area, greatly expanding the limits of the gold mineralized zones, before a weak junior resource market caused the company to withdraw from the joint venture.

Tassawini tomorrow

StrataGold has been successful in garnering strong support from the Guyanese Government for potential development of Tassawini. The country is watching its largest gold mine, Omai, wind down, and is anxious to see other major mines brought on-stream to fill the gap as contributors to its economy.

Analysis of potential development at Tassawini has seen parallels drawn to Cambior’s Rosebel gold mine in neighbouring Suriname. Rosebel, which produced 341,000 oz. gold in 2005, is also a saprolite-hosted deposit with a number of separate deposits being developed. The deposit hosts proven and probable reserves of 73 million tonnes grading 1.4 grams gold.

StrataGold’s earn-in on Tassawini will see it hold a 100% interest over three years upon total cash payments of US$750,000, exploration spending of US$2.6 million and the issuance of 800,000 shares and 400,000 warrants. A 2.5% net smelter return royalty can be also purchased for US$4 million.

The company is budgeting $6.2 million in 2006 for Tassawini and other regional exploration programs in Guyana. The first phase of drilling will test mineralization in the saprolite and bedrock on the new Tassawini South zone, plus continued RC and core drilling is planned to further delineate the extent of the East, West, South and Black Ridge zones, where a cumulative strike length of 1,400 metres was outlined.

In late 2005, the company signed on Newmont Mining (NMC-T, NEM-N) as a joint-venture partner on its 4,500-sq.-km Barama reconnaissance permit in Guyana, which surrounds, but excludes, the core Tassawini property. Both companies will equally fund exploration on the permit area, with Newmont able to earn an additional 10%, to hold 60%, by fully funding a specific project to production.

Newmont also owns about a 10% equity interest in StrataGold.

StrataGold was spun out of Expatriate Resources, now Yukon Zinc (YZC-V, YZCCF-O), in 2003, to hold the company’s gold projects. Besides Tassawini, StrataGold holds several precious metals projects in the Yukon and Ontario, including the advanced-stage Dublin Gulch project in the Ma
yo gold district.