Aurizon Mines, the production-focused gold mining company which has assembled a portfolio of ten very nice properties in Quebec, as a part of a larger regional strategy for the prolific and very mining friendly north-western Abitibi region, reported some choice additional results today from this year’s drilling program at the company’s flagship production site, the Casa Berardi Mine.
Out of 24 new holes we have some excellent intervals, including 10.1 g/t Au over 45.6 feet and 31 g/t Au over 8.2 feet (true widths). The overarching goal of the 2012 drilling program for Casa Berardi has been to refine the resource model for the known Zone 123 and happily, fourteen of the holes intercepted a total of eighteen mineralized intervals with a metal factor of 10 or greater (true width in meters multiplied by grade in g/t).
Needless to say, the quartz veins, cherty units, and large sulphides nestled in a volcanic sedimentary bed between the east and west breaks known as the Zone 123, have shown some impressive results lately and investors are now looking at this agile little gold producer with increased interest. With additional intervals outside the known resource block in the neighborhood of 16.1 g/t over 21 feet, Aurizon’s results thus far in the 2012 drilling program largely validate the previously quantified mineralized lenses, as well as indicating yet more mineralized structures outside the main block.
The newest drilling largely focused on the area 984 feet below and 328 feet above the 2657 foot level, out over a 1312 foot wide stretch that is some 984 feet along strike (roughly 0.62 miles from the West Mine shaft). This work on Zone 123 has improved overall knowledge of the mineralization styles present at Casa Berardi, bolstering confidence as Aurizon looks ahead in 2012, with in-fill drilling slated to be continuous via one to two rigs throughout.
Gilles Carrier, Principal Exploration Geologist for Aurizon, noted how these new results accentuated prior analysis, with the mineralized lenses in the bite of folds all along the sides of a major stratigraphic horizon now established and this model easily extrapolated against raw data from returns outside the primary area. The additional finds outside the main block confirm Aurizon’s interpretation of the mechanism of ore deposition and this will allow the company to forecast where additional clusters may be with considerable accuracy.
Mineral reserves for Casa Berardi (as of Dec 31, 2011) stand at 1.088M tonnes grading 6.5 g/t Au (225.7k ounces), with indicated mineral resources of 279k tonnes at 6.3 g/t Au (or 56.9k oz Au), or inferred resources of some 447k tonnes at 6.8 g/t Au (104.1k oz Au). Forward momentum on the in-fill drilling will seek to delineate the down-dip and up-dip lens extensions, as well as adding to the baseline resource values for Casa Berardi, with Aurizon targeting year-end (Dec 31, 2012) for an updated mineral resource estimate.
Gilles Carrier acted as the NI 43-101 Qualified Person for today’s report and core sample fire assay (as well as atomic absorption finition) with full quality assurance/quality control (via ALS Chemex lab in Val d’Or), including insertion of duplicates and blanks has been performed (more details in March 2011 Technical Report on the Casa Berardi Mine), with primary exploration assay being handled on site as well as at the Swastica lab in Ontario.
For more information on Aurizon Mines Ltd., please visit the company’s website at: www.Aurizon.com
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