Dec 7 2012
Confederation Minerals Ltd. ("Confederation" or the "Company") announces that, as part of its ongoing drilling program at the Newman Todd gold project, it has completed a 1024 meter-long drill hole (NT-129) to test the gold-bearing Newman Todd structure at depth. The hole was drilled at an angle of 80 degrees from the horizontal, and was oriented at azimuth 300 degrees.
The hole was collared in the central part of the 1.8 kilometer long Newman Todd structural-alteration zone, from which gold mineralization has been intersected in 98 percent of the drill holes completed since January, 2011 when the current program began (refer to previous CFM news releases for a complete list of drill holes and results and visit the CFM website).
The objective of NT-129 was to test the depth continuity of the Newman Todd structure. Drilling of the Newman Todd structure began as 50 meter-spaced fences of holes, while during 2012 the spacing between drill fans has tightened up to 25 meters over the 200 meter "Hinge Zone". Nearly all drilling to date has been test shallower and intermediate depth mineralization, generally not deeper than 350 meters. Drilling to date has intersected gold mineralization grading 3 g/t gold and higher in 98 percent of the holes; 5 g/t gold or higher in 85 percent of the holes; and, greater than 20 g/t gold in 46 percent of the holes. The objective of hole NT-129 was to test the depth continuity of the gold-hosting Newman Todd structural-alteration zone.
At 815.8 meters core length, the hole entered the target zone (the Newman Todd structure) composed of a highly-altered and brecciated carbonate rock which is the primary host for gold on the project. This is a silica-carbonate-altered breccia, identical in appearance and alteration intensity to the same gold-hosting unit much higher in the system. The hole penetrated 152.7 meters of the altered unit, and intersected the footwall contact at 968.5 meters. Accounting for the drilling angle, the Newman Todd unit was intersected between 787.5 meters and 931.8 meters below the surface.
Within the zone of alteration, base metal sulphides including chalcopyrite, galena and sphalerite are observed locally, while magnetite replacement zones (a common and important host for gold at Newman Todd) are observed commonly within the Newman Todd structure. A minor amount of visible gold was observed macroscopically at 862.1 meters. Assays are pending.
Drilling of the Newman Todd structure at least 500 meters deeper than previous drilling is an important advance for the project. Importantly, the Newman Todd structural/alteration zone now appears to host identical geological characteristics and contains a similar strength of alteration and structural preparation to a depth of over 900 meters below the surface, while remaining wide open to depth. Very extensive depth continuity, up to and exceeding 2,000 meters below surface, is one of the characteristics of Archaean-hosted mesothermal gold deposits, such as Goldcorp's Red Lake mine, situated in the same greenstone belt as Newmann Todd. By increasing significantly the volume of potentially gold-hosting breccias within the Newman Todd structure, the exploration target has grown significantly, as has, in the opinion of Management, the potential for increasing the precious metals content of the system.
Andrea Diakow, P.Geo, is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed the technical content of this news release.
Source: http://www.confederationmineralsltd.com