Richard Boulay, Chairman of StrikePoint Gold (TSXV: SKP) (OTCQX: STK) has announced commencement of the 2011 Strike Point Property diamond drill program and to summarize the results of exploration work conducted during the second half of 2010.
The most significant disclosure in this press release is the drill interception, during the past few days, of the Shoreline Basalt unit within the boundary of the Strike Point joint venture property that is being jointly explored by the Company and San Gold Corporation (SGR - TSX and SGRCF - OTCQX). San Gold has recently reported (See San Gold Corporation press release: February 17, 2011) that the Shoreline Basalt is a second and parallel mine horizon that has been identified as a key host to the numerous new gold deposits, including the L13, L10, 007, 007 East and Emperor gold zones that lie within or in close proximity to the Shoreline Basalt. The identification of the Shoreline Basalt on the Strike Point property represents a dramatic westward extension of this prolific gold host unit.
Drilling on the Strike Point property during 2011 commenced in mid-February with the objective to explore a zone of intense sericite-carbonate-chlorite alteration that returned geochemically anomalous gold assays during the second half 2010 drill program. The alteration zone occurs within a sequence of strongly deformed basalt (now identified as the Shoreline Basalt) and andesitic volcaniclastic rocks that lie to the west along strike within the hanging wall of San Gold's Rice Lake Mine unit.
The first hole of the 2011 program (11SP-01, -50 degree dip) intersected a 25 metre (core width) interval of Shoreline Basalt at a depth of 293 meters. The basalt occurs within a broader 51m (core width) interval of deformed, intensively carbonate-chlorite (±sericite) altered andesitic volcaniclastic rocks. The Shoreline Basalt is underlain by a further two zones of moderate to pervasively sericite-carbonate-chlorite altered intermediate volcaniclastic rocks occurring at depths of 379 and 435 metres. The lower alteration zones occur over widths of 5.3 and 2.6 metres, respectively, and host numerous narrow (5-10 centimetres) quartz-carbonate veins containing up to 0.5% pyrite mineralization. A second, steeper (-65 degree) drill hole (11SP-02) has been collared from the same setup in an effort to further define these significant zones of alteration and deformation deeper at an anticipated downhole intercept depth of approximately 350 meters. The entire interval of Shoreline Basalt encountered in drill hole 11SP-01 has been sampled for fire assay analysis with results anticipated within a few weeks.
Richard Boulay, Chairman of StrikePoint Gold stated: "The interception of the Shoreline Basalt on the Strike Point joint venture property is a significant development. Moreover, the presence of intense gold pathfinder alteration is additionally encouraging and together with the presence of additional altered volcaniclastic units located stratigraphically below the Shoreline Basalt combine to form a prospective environment that demands aggressive drill exploration."
The early success of the 2011 drill program is a result of an extensive drill orientation program executed during the second half of 2010. This program consisted of 15 diamond drill holes for 4532 metres on the Strike Point Property. This program was initially described while it was being conducted in October 2010 (See StrikePoint press release: October 19, 2010). In total 1623 samples (including 156 QA/QC samples) were analyzed for gold by fire assay and multi-element ICP-MS analysis. The 2010 Strike Point Property diamond drilling focused on evaluating the potential of the Townsite and Round Lake volcanic units where they are cut by northeast-trending 16-type shear vein structures that host significant gold mineralization at the Rice Lake Mine.
Drilling within the Townsite section targeted three northeast-trending magnetic low anomalies 500 to 1500 metres west of San Gold's Cartwright Zone at the Rice Lake Mine (see San Gold Press Release December 13, 2006). Drilling intersected intensely sheared chlorite and pervasively sericite-altered basalt and andesitic volcaniclastic rocks of the Townsite section in five drill holes. All five drill holes terminated at depth in faintly layered sandstone and pebble conglomerate consistent with the basal units of the Townsite section (foot-wall rocks of the Rice Lake Mine unit).
The other ten drill holes (10SP-01, 10SP-05, 10SP-06, 10SP-07, 10SP-08, 10SP-09, 10SP-10, 10SP-14 and 10SP-15) targeted dacitic and andesitic volcaniclastic rocks of the Round Lake section in the hanging-wall of the Rice Lake Mine. Drilling defined a zone of intensely sheared albite-ankerite-silica-chlorite altered andesitic volcaniclastic rocks striking west-northwest in the hanging-wall over a strike length of 2000 metres.
The assay results and the presence of intense sericite-carbonate-chlorite alteration along the contact between basalt and hanging-wall sandstone rocks within drill holes 10SP-02, 10SP-03, 10SP-04 and 10SP-11 suggest that additional drilling is warranted within the lower Townsite section. Drilling within the Round Lake section did not return significant assays, but additional targets remain to be tested in hanging-wall volcanic rocks adjacent to the Rice Lake Mine.
While the second half 2010 Strike Point project drill program did not return any significant gold intercepts the information derived was essential to define hanging wall stratigraphy to target the suspected Shoreline Basalt and to identify new targets in the Round Lake section of the property. The Round Lake targets will be investigated with a 1600m drill program following the completion of the Shoreline Basalt drill program.
During 2010, considerable prospecting, mapping, ground magnetic and sampling was carried out in the vicinity of the historic Vanson mine located approximately 3 kms north of San Gold's Rice Lake mine. An encouraging structural, geological and geochemical database has been assembled and will be evaluated for drilling later in 2011.
Kristopher J. Raffle, P. Geol., APEX Geoscience Ltd. is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the preparation and approval of the technical information disclosed in this press release. This press release has been reviewed by Daniel A. Beauchamp, B.Sc., P.Geol., StrikePoint Gold's Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101.