Laurion Mineral Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE:LME)(OTCQX:LMEFF) has announced that assays have been received from a comprehensive sampling program completed on the 132,000 ton waste rock pile at its Sturgeon River Property located near Beardmore, Ontario.
The assay results and the survey data are currently being incorporated into an ore resource estimate by GeoVector and this information will be used to calculate and complete a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate by the end of Q1-2011.
On May 13, 2010 Laurion reported that grab sampling by the Corporation's Consultants GeoVector Management Inc ("GeoVector") of the waste rock pile returned a range of 0.06 g/t to 10.2 g/t gold for an average grade of 2.83 g/t gold from eight random samples. It was also reported in 1984, that a bulk sample extracted at that time by front end loader returned an average of 2.95 g/t gold which suggested the potential for approximately 11-12,000 ounces of gold in the 132,000 tons of the waste rock pile. This estimate of contained metal is historical and does not conform to the current National Instrument 43-101 standards, and should not be relied upon.
On the basis of these initial encouraging results, Laurion commissioned a comprehensive program to accurately determine the location and volume of the waste rock pile, and to sample the waste rock pile using an excavator to dig pits to acquire representative samples throughout the pile.
The survey of the waste rock pile was carried out by TBT Engineering Consulting Group ("TBTE") of Thunder Bay, using a Trimble R8 RTK GPS, with an accuracy of approximately 1 cm. The excavation was also carried out by TBTE with hole location determined using the Trimble GPS. Depth of the excavated pits was determined using a tape measure to 10 cm scale accuracy. A total of 30 pits were excavated and 46 samples were collected, with deeper pits (maximum 5.2 meters deep) providing 2 or 3 samples at successively deeper levels.
Sampling of the excavated material was carried out by GeoVector to acquire samples that were representative of rock type and broken rock size. Samples were collected in 20 litre pails and delivered to Overburden Drilling Management ("ODM") in Ottawa, Ontario. Individual sample weight was between 20.8-30.7 kg and total sample weight tested was 1.22 tonne. ODM sorted the individual samples into 4 fractions of >63mm, 63-16mm, 16-2mm and <2mm. This separation was to test the assumption that the finer fraction material would contain more gold as the Sturgeon River Mine during its 1936-1942 production period had hand sorted coarse quartz vein material for milling at an average grade of 15.71 g/t gold and remaining finer high grade material and host rock would have been designated to the waste rock pile.
The size fractions from the samples were sent by ODM to Actlabs and they were analyzed by fire assay with AA finish. Any high grade samples over 3000 ppb gold were further treated to fire assay with gravimetric finish to determine a final gold grade.
The smallest size fraction (< 2mm) had the highest grade material (6.20 g/t gold average), and all samples in this size fraction had assays greater than 1.75 g/t gold. The coarsest fraction (> 63 mm) had highly erratic values, but also contained the highest grade sample (32 g/t gold).
The Sturgeon River Mine produced 73,322 ounces of gold and 15,929 ounces of silver processed from 145,123 tons mined primarily from the No.3 Vein during 1936 to 1942. The gold price ranged from $34.87 (1936) to $ 33.85 (1942).
All samples from the 2010 waste pile program were delivered by GeoVector Management Inc. personnel to the Activation Laboratories ("Actlabs") facility in Geraldton. Actlabs is an ISO/IEC 17025 accredited analytical laboratory.
The work programs at the Sturgeon River property are designed and managed by GeoVector Management Inc. The technical information contained in this news release has been verified by Joseph Campbell, P. Geo., President of GeoVector, who is a Qualified Person as defined in "National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Properties."
Source: Laurion Mineral Exploration Inc.