Eastmain Resources Inc. is pleased to announce trenching results from recent work completed on its wholly-owned Clearwater Project located in James Bay Quebec. The current exploration program is focused on expanding the Eau Claire gold deposit near surface, testing potential resource targets lateral to the deposit, and generating new gold-bearing zones well outside the known corridor.
Surface trenching has increased the footprint of the high-grade 450 West Zone by about 50%. Gold-bearing veins and alteration zones have been uncovered to the south and east of the discovery, exposing the H, I and F veins on the south flank of the hillside. Over 700 channel samples have been taken from the newly expanded 450 West Zone outcrop to evaluate the potential surface mining grades of veins as well as wall rock adjacent to, and between high-grade veins. Many alteration zones previously not assayed have also been sampled in order to gain a better understanding of potentially open-pitable resource grade distribution. Assay highlights are summarized in Table 1.
In the vicinity of the 450 West Zone, the Eau Claire deposit consists of a series of high-grade narrow quartz-tourmaline veins proper, and wider zones of altered schist and wall rock. Together these units comprise the P, JQ, R and S "Veins". These internal mineralized subzones or vein systems/zones occur within a 30-metre-wide corridor exposed on the 450 West outcrop and are open at surface to the south and east.
Recent channel sampling of Vein zones indicates that previously un-sampled wall rock also locally carries low to very high-grade gold. Therefore, in many cases, this increases the width of significant intersections by two to three times that of the high-grade quartz-tourmaline veins alone, and may support a more broad-scoped type of future extraction.
Highlights
The R Vein zone has an average grade of 19.3 grams gold per tonne over an average width of 2.41 metres, and is exposed for a length of 95 metres. Here, gold mineralization consists of an early-stage, quartz-tourmaline replacement zone, which has subsequently been crosscut by later gold-bearing quartz-tourmaline veins.
Channel sample intervals R13 and R15 cover a wide section of altered felsic volcaniclastic rock that had not previously been sampled. R13 cuts an 8.0-metre-wide section of quartz-tourmaline replacement and vein material grading 18.7 grams per tonne (g/t) gold, including a 3.5-metre-interval at 32.9 g/t gold (Au). Channel R15 also consists of massive quartz-tourmaline replacement rock crosscut by quartz-tourmaline veins, grading 39.2 g/t gold over a width of 8.5 metres, including a 4.0-metre interval at 71.9 g/t gold.
The JQ Vein zone, exposed for a length of 195 metres, has an average grade of 11.3 grams gold per tonne over an average width of 3.09 metres. Systematic channel sampling, at 5-metre intervals along the Vein zone, defined high-grade quartz-tourmaline veins, including 32.2 g/t gold over 2.0 metres (JQ4) and 45.4 g/t gold over 2.0 metres (JQ5) at the western end of the zone.
Trenching has also extended the JQ Vein zone to the east, where it blossoms out to wide zones of high-grade, gold-bearing altered rock with little or no quartz tourmaline vein material present. Here, assays of up to 7.77 g/t gold over 9.9 metres (JQ50) have been returned from samples taken 15 metres east of where the original 450 West exposure ended in an alteration zone, where two separate channels assayed 27.1 g/t Au over 9.9 metres, and 51.5 g/t gold over a 5.1-metre section respectively. These high-grade alteration zones are open to the north and east and extend to depth. Drill hole ER-07-98 intersected 39.89 g/t gold over a 35.1-metre interval of altered rock at 30.4 metres.
In addition, numerous north-striking extensional veins, which run parallel to the direction of drilling and therefore would not have been cut by drill holes, occur in this area. JQFK, a extensional vein unearthed in the recent trench expansion, grades 30.4 g/t Au over 1.5 metres and includes a half-metre interval at 84.8 g/t Au.
The P Vein subzone, exposed for a length of 160 metres, has an average grade of 11.1 grams gold per tonne over an average width of 2.53 metres. Highlights from recent channel sampling include 14.9 g/t Au across 5.10 metres (P17), 43.6 g/t Au across 2.70 metres (P1) and 11.7 g/t Au across 6.0 metres (P28).
The S-vein has not yet been exposed beyond its original discovery, where Soquem reported gold grades to 49.89 g/t in a quartz tourmaline vein.
Surface stripping on the south flank of the 450 West Zone has exposed the I Vein zone in three trenches for a length of 90 metres with an average grade of 2.87 g/t gold over an average thickness of 2.16 metres. The H Vein system was also exposed over a length of 50 metres ranging from 2.0 to 5.5 metres in width, with anomalous gold ranging from 0.10 to 3.35 g/t.
The F Vein was exposed in a single outcrop located 150 metres southeast of the P Vein, where a 5-metre-wide interval of altered rock and quartz-tourmaline vein material assayed 6.25 g/t, including a 0.5-metre interval grading 23.1 g/t gold.
According to Don Robinson, "Recent trenching has shown that in the 30-metre section comprising the surface expression of the 450 West Zone, an average of 8.5 to 10 metres is composed of extremely high-grade material, which may support more broad-based open-pit mining methods requiring less sorting. The 450 Zone is open to the east and the south and although drilling did intersect wide zones of gold rich alteration locally, many of these new zones may have been missed due to wider drill-spacing. It is our opinion that by exposing more of the deposit at surface, we gain a better understanding of the geometry and grade of the Eau Claire gold mineralization".
A $5 million exploration budget has been allocated to Clearwater for the 2013 season. 43 drill holes have been completed to date for a total of 15,675 metres. This year's exploration program will include up to 25,000 metres of drilling, focused on adding high-grade resources both within and lateral to the Eau Claire deposit. An updated resource calculation by P&E Mining, incorporating the 2012 drilling, is expected this quarter. Trenching and channel sampling of satellite targets several kilometres east and west of the Eau Claire deposit is also on-going. Additional assays from trenching and drilling are pending.
Dr. Donald J. Robinson P. Geo, President and Chief Executive Officer of Eastmain, Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 reviewed and approved the technical data presented in this press release.
0.5- to 1.0-metre-long channel assay samples were taken across the width of the Vein zones within the corridor, at approximately every 5 metres along their entire lengths. Chemical analysis was completed by ALS CHEMEX Laboratories. All sample material is crushed; one kg is split and pulverized. A 50-gram spilt is analyzed using multi-element ME-MS, gold ICP, AA, Fire Assay and gravimetric techniques. Internal standards provided by an independent company and blank samples were inserted for quality control purposes.
Please see website for map of new 450 Zone channel samples.