Columbus Gold Corporation reports on the progress of the Phase II diamond drilling campaign currently underway at its 5.37 million ounce Montagne d'Or gold deposit, Paul Isnard Project, French Guiana.
Forty (40) drill holes have been completed to date, for a total of 4,882 metres, as part as of a 26,600 metre (135 holes) drilling program under the terms of the Nord Gold earn-in option.
The holes drilled to date in the current program are short holes at the northern base of the Montagne d'Or deposit, designed to test the near surface projection of the secondary Lower Favorable Zone ("LFZ") and Footwall Zone ("FWZ"). Some of the holes were collared into the principal Upper Felsic Zone ("UFZ") to reach the LFZ. All holes intersected sulphide-gold mineralised intervals.
Gold assay results were released on February 26th for the initial 12 holes (106 to 117) and results have been received for the additional 6 holes (118 to 123). The results reported to date are from holes located along the lower-grade thinner western section of the LFZ. Results for holes located along the higher-grade and thicker eastern section of the LFZ are expected in the upcoming weeks. Notable intersections received in the first 18 holes include:
The drilling is being funded by Nord Gold N.V. as part of a 3 year minimum US$30 million exploration and development program pursuant to which Nord Gold can earn a 50.01% interest in Montagne d'Or and certain Paul Isnard mineral claims, by completing a bankable feasibility study.
The Montagne d'Or deposit contains a NI 43-101 compliant inferred gold resource using a cut-off grade of 0.3 grams per tonne gold of 5.37 million ounces within 117.1 million tonnes at an average grade of 1.43 grams per tonne gold. Using a cut-off of 1 gram per tonne gold a resource of 4.15 million ounces within 58.1 million tonnes at an average grade of 2.22 grams per tonne gold. The resources are defined within a gold mineralized area of 2,250 meters by 400 meters and to an average depth of 250 meters from surface. The mineralized zones remain open in part along strike and at depth.
The objectives of the Phase II drilling program are to:
- complete a 50-meter spacing array to a vertical depth of 200 meters from surface, and select 25-meter in-fill, focused on mineralisation potentially amenable to open pit mining;
- internally increase the current mineral resource;
- increase confidence in the gold grade-width distribution;
- convert inferred resources to the indicated category in accordance with NI 43-101 standards;
- acquire a better distribution of copper assays for added value to the deposit.
Qualified Person, Technical Info and QA/QC
Diamond drill holes were bored with HQ-size core in the upper oxidized saprolitic zone and NQ-size core in fresh rock. The core was placed in plastic core boxes with covers and delivered by the drilling contractor, Performax Drilling Inc., a Canadian company with qualified personnel, to the Citron camp logging facilities, located 5 km from Montagne d'Or. Columbus Gold personnel are present at the camp at all times during the drilling program.
The core was photographed for reference, logged (geotechnical and geological) and identified sulphide mineralised sections were sawed in half. Sample lengths vary between 0.5 to 1.5 metres. Individual half core samples were placed in canvas bags and sealed by batch of 9 samples in polypropylene bags for air transport to the Cayenne and trucking to Filab Amsud laboratory in Paramaribo, Suriname, an ISO 9001 and ISO / IEC 17025 accredited laboratory. The remaining half core is stored in core racks on site at Citron camp for reference. Samples were assayed for gold by fire-assay method using an atomic absorption finish on a 50-gram pulp split.
A quality assurance and quality control program (QA/QC) was implemented by Columbus Gold and Filab Amsud to insure the accuracy and reproducibility of the analytical method and results are maintained. The QA/QC program includes the insertion of standards, blanks and field duplicates in each laboratory assay batch and systematic re-assaying of samples returning values above 5 g/t Au by the fire-assay method using a gravimetric finish on a 50-gram pulp split. As well, 10% of random sample pulps are sent to SGS del Peru S.A.C. laboratory for gold check assaying.
Source: http://www.columbusgoldcorp.com/