Sona Resources Corp. has reported that it has concluded the latest surface diamond drill program at its 100 percent owned, formerly producing Blackdome Gold Mine property, located in the Clinton Mining District of southern British Columbia.
The exploration program was designed to drill for new gold-bearing structures or extensions of known areas of mineralization, and to outline potential areas for economic development of gold-bearing ore. It succeeded in drilling 16 holes totalling 3,176 metres.
"We intersected a promising new mineralized zone, and we feel optimistic about the assay results," says John P. Thompson, Sona's President and CEO. "We have undertaken an aggressive exploration program that has tested a number of target zones. Our discovery of this new gold-bearing structure is significant, and it represents a positive development for the Company."
Southern Zone
Holes BD11-04 to BD11-13 were drilled as an east-west-trending fence to test for a southern extension of the historically mined No. 1 and No. 2 Veins. They covered a distance of approximately 1,000 metres, to a maximum depth of around 200 metres below surface. The fence of drill holes was located about 300 metres south of any previous drilling on these zones, and about 650 metres south of the southernmost underground workings on the No. 1 and No. 2 Vein systems. Hole BD11-08 returned an assay of 13.6g Au/t over 1.50 metres core length, and it has opened up a whole new area of potential high-grade gold mineralization for future drill testing.
An adjacent hole (BD11-05) assayed 3.3g Au/t over 1.50 metres core length, at an intersection down dip from the intersection in Hole BD11-08. Another adjacent hole (BD11-06) intersected 0.7g Au/t over 1.50 metres core length, up dip from Hole BD11-08. Hole BD11-04 intersected a separate zone, assaying 0.6g Au/t over 1.50 metres core length. The other fence holes returned values no greater than 0.5g Au/t, and one hole (BD11-07) was lost.
Southwest Vein extension
Holes BD11-01, BD11-02 and BD11-03 tested the northern extension of the Southwest Vein and the immediate area, approximately 400 metres south of the property's tailings pond, but they only intersected low values. While testing the northern extension of the Giant Vein, Holes BD11-14 to BD11-16 also intersected low values.
Ten distinct auriferous structures have been modelled on the Blackdome Gold Mine property, with the bulk of gold production coming from the No. 1 and No. 2 Veins. During the late 1980s, this mine averaged over 20g Au/t delivered to the mill, with a cut-off grade of 10g Au/t. Given current gold prices, the cut-off grade for resource estimation could be significantly lower, and the mineralized areas not drill tested in the 1980s remain as targets to be evaluated.
Current NI 43-101-compliant indicated resources have principally been estimated on the No. 1 and No. 2 Veins, with lesser tonnages on the Watson Vein, Vein 11, Vein 18, the Redbird Vein and the Giant Vein, using a cut-off grade of 5g Au/t.
Material samples for analysis and assay were cut in half using a diamond saw. Half of the core was sent to the lab for analysis, and the remaining half preserved for future reference. The samples were analyzed for gold by standard fire assay atomic absorption finish techniques, as well as multi-element ICP on most samples. A strict QA/QC program was followed, including the use of certified pulp standards and blanks at Acme Labs in Vancouver, and verification analyses at a second laboratory.