Thundermin, Queenston drill-test Boundary deposit

A 65-hole drill program by Thundermin Resources (THR-T) and equal partner Queenston Mining (QMI-T) has been completed on the Boundary deposit at the Duck Pond base metal property, 30 km southwest of the Buchans mining camp in Newfoundland.

Boundary is the smaller of two copper-zinc-lead-silver-gold deposits at the Duck Pond property, which together contain inferred resources of about 6 million tonnes grading 3.4% copper, 6.4% zinc and 1.1% lead, plus 61.4 grams silver and 0.9 gram gold per tonne.

The bulk of this resource (3.9 million tonnes) is in the main Duck Pond deposit, which, earlier this fall, was tested by eight holes totalling 2,617 metres (T.N.M., Nov. 29/99).

Results from the recent 65-hole program at Boundary will be used to revise the previous resource estimate of 446,000 tonnes grading 3.5% copper, 3.5% zinc, 0.5% lead and 22.8 grams silver, as well as for open-pit modeling.

This resource is found in two near-surface zones of massive sulphides situated 250 metres apart.

Selected results from the latest holes include:

– 8% copper and 5.3% zinc over 13.8 metres in hole 155;

– 4% copper and 4.5% zinc over 20.2 metres in hole 143;

– 4.1% copper and 0.1% zinc over 15.3 metres in hole 145; and

– 5.3% copper and 5% zinc over 11 metres in hole 138.

These results are from the South zone at Boundary, which consists of a thick, high-grade core flanked by two massive pyrite bands, the southernmost of which terminates at its eastern end in a pod of high-grade, zinc-rich massive sulphides. The main resource occurs above a depth of 25 metres at the western end of the South zone in an area measuring 115 metres long, up to 75 metres wide and up to 20 metres thick.

Earlier this month, the partners released results from the North zone, which is 275 metres long, up to 50 metres wide, up to 25 metres thick and occurs above a maximum depth of 42 metres. The relationship of the zones is not fully understood.

Selected results from North zone drilling include:

– 7.6 metres of 6.55% copper, 0.1% zinc, 0.01% lead, 12.18 grams silver and 0.04 gram gold;

– 25.15 metres of 3.13% copper, 5.09% zinc, 0.94% lead, 22.63 grams silver and 0.21 gram gold;

– 12.49 metres of 4.31% copper, 16.61% zinc, 0.47% lead, 26.87 grams silver and 0.42 gram gold; and

– 9.5 metres of 2.36% copper, 5.37% zinc, 0.69% lead, 23.13 grams silver and 0.22 gram gold.

The Boundary deposit is described as “a fairly classical volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit,” consisting mainly of pyritic copper-zinc sulphides with associated underlying stringer pyrite-chalcopyrite mineralization enclosed in an extensive chlorite-rich hydrothermal alteration zone.

The massive sulphides are relatively flat-lying and occur in a lapilli tuff footwall unit at the contact with an overlying quartz crystal tuff. The alteration zone is described as similar to that underlying the Duck Pond deposit.

The partners plan to resume drilling in the new year. The work will entail testing the South Moose Pond area, where disseminated base metal mineralization has been discovered coincident with an untested electromagnetic and gravity anomaly.

The Thundermin-Queenston joint venture is earning a 100% interest in the property from Noranda (NOR-T), which retains a right to back-in for 50% by funding a final feasibility study and arranging production financing.