Nov 3 2010
Aurizon (TSX:ARZ; AMEX:AZK) has announced a new series of drill results from the exploration program on the Fayolle project located 20 kilometres north-east of Rouyn-Noranda, Québec and 10 kilometres north of Aurizon's Joanna project.
The current drill program is the first phase of a work program totalling $3.5 million to be spent by Aurizon under the joint venture agreement announced on May 18, 2010 with Typhoon Exploration Inc ("Typhoon"). The Fayolle property is 100% owned by Typhoon Exploration Inc. ("Typhoon") and Aurizon can earn a 50% interest, subject to an underlying 2% net smelter royalty, by incurring expenditures of $10 million, and subscribing for $2 million in common shares of Typhoon, over four years. Aurizon can earn an additional 15% interest for a total interest of 65% by either delivering a feasibility study or spending an additional $15 million on the project.
Additional drill results and associated geological interpretations have been received for holes FA-10-05 to FA-10-11, totalling 2,216 metres which have been drilled in the Fayolle deposit using a 25 to 50 metre spacing to test geometry and grade consistency. The first four drill holes of this 2010 campaign were reported on September 29, 2010. Assays and/or verifications are still pending for the additional 6 holes (FA-10-12 - FA-10-17) that have been drilled to date.
The best results received are from hole FA-10-08 which returned 8.8 grams per tonne of gold over 11.0 metres and from hole FA-10-11 which returned 17.6 grams per tonne of gold over 4.0 metres. All of the intersections were drilled inside the existing drilling pattern following a west south-west drilling direction. However, hole FA-10-05 shows that mineralization remains open to the north-west, and hole FA-10-11 opens a mineralized trend to the east and at depth.
Numerous high-grade mineralized zones intersected in drill holes FA-10-01 to FA-10-11 are located inside lower-grade envelopes. Also, some low-grade intersections of extensive length do not show a local high-grade concentration, which demonstrates the strong bimodal gold distribution of the Fayolle deposit.
Mineralization is hosted by strongly brecciated, altered and deformed ultramafic rocks and by dykes of varied composition, but generally intermediate and bordered by breccias as described above. Alteration is characterized by carbonates and fuchsite in ultramafic rocks and by hematite in dykes. Gold is mostly observed as free grains up to a millimetre in size, as fracture-filling and veinlets in both host rocks.
Outlook
To date, 6,203 metres have been drilled in seventeen holes as part of a 15,000 metre program of approximately thirty nine (39) holes aimed to test the new grade model on the Fayolle deposit and to explore the entire deformation corridor transecting the property along a strike length of more than 2 kilometres.
The objective of the current exploration program at Fayolle is to expand the current resource laterally and down dip and gain enough geological knowledge to efficiently explore the favourable deformation corridor transecting the property along a length of more than 2 kilometres. The current exploration program includes two drill rigs operating for the remainder of the year, at an estimated cost of approximately $3.0 million.
Quality Control and Qualified Person
All drill core is oriented using Fordia's "Corientr" tool to measure the geological structures of the drill core. Core assays are performed on core sawed in half, with standard fire assay procedures and atomic absorption finish. Certified reference material, duplicate and blanks are inserted in the sample sequence for quality control. Primary assaying is performed by ALS Chemex of Val d'Or. The rejects for all samples returning (greater than)10 g/t Au are totally pulverized and re-assayed. Information of a scientific or technical nature included in this release has been prepared under the supervision of Martin Demers, P. Geo., Exploration Manager of Aurizon and Qualified Person under NI 43-101.
Additional information
The attached sketches show the geological context of the Fayolle property, the position of the drill holes and a typical section of the Fayolle deposit.
Source: Aurizon Mines Ltd.