Unigold rises on drill results

Shares of Unigold (UGD-V) jumped 14.3% to 28¢ on news of one of the best-ever drill results from the Candelones Extension, part of its Neita concession in the Dominican Republic.

Drill hole LP52 on Anomaly B returned 69.4 metres grading 3.75 grams gold per tonne including 15.8 metres of 11.4 grams. Other highlights were Hole LP50, the easternmost drill hole on Anomaly A, which has extended mineralization an additional 100 metres east. LP50 cut 116.9 metres of 0.70 gram gold, while LP 51 on Anomaly B, returned 97.9 metres of 0.84 gram gold, including 43.9 metres of 1.32 grams gold.

The Candelones Extension zone (known locally as Lomita Piña) is open in three directions and drilling demonstrates a strong correlation between IP chargeability anomalies and mineralization, the company says.

Of the 53 diamond holes for which Unigold has received assay results, so far, 34 have intersected significant gold mineralization with important credits in silver, copper and zinc. Assay results are still pending from five holes.  

Highlights from previous assays include hole LP17, which returned 73 metres grading 2.36 grams gold and LP28, which cut 77 metres of 3.81 grams gold. The 53 holes were drilled over an area of about 1,100 metres east-west by 700 metres north-south.

Neita is Unigold’s flagship project and one of four contiguous projects the company has in the Dominican Republic. The Neita concession spans 22,616 hectares about 200 km northwest of the capital city of Santo Domingo. Santiago de los Caballeros, the second largest city in the Dominican Republic, is about 100 km northeast of the project. The western limit of the Nieta property is defined by the Haiti border.

Previously the property was a government Fiscal Reserve but was granted to Unigold in 2002. The Neita property lies within the Greater Antilles volcanic arc that extends from the island of Hispaniola through Cuba.

Candelones — which includes both the main Candelones zone and the Candelones Extension — is Unigold’s priority project and is thought to be within a field of multiple large volcanic hosted massive sulphide deposits (VHMS). Drilling has demonstrated the zones are locally stacked, indicating numerous mineralizing events.

Since 2010, the company has focused on the Candelones Extension and the recent drilling there was based primarily on IP anomalies identified in 2011.

Unigold has $9.7 million cash in its treasury.

Over the last year the company, which has 211 million shares outstanding, has traded in a range of 9¢-52¢.