ONTARIO — Oakville, ON-based St Andrew Goldfields has completed 10,000 metres of surface core drilling a month earlier than planned at its Hislop gold project 85 km east of Timmins and 45 km west of the company's Holt mill. The program was designed to define the distribution of the near-surface gold mineralization that may be amenable to open pit mining. A summary dated April 7, 2009, of core drilling at Hislop included results such as these: 5.19 g/t Au over 10.5 metres, 2.53 g/t over 8.6 metres, 1.58 g/t over 18.0 metres, 7.22 g/t over 18.0 metres, and 2.74 g/t over 22.1 metres. Results of the current program will be used to construct an updated 3-D geological model for resource estimation, said the company. Scott Wilson RPA has been commissioned to prepare a 43-101 prefeasibility study expected to be complete in Q2 2009.
The Hislop property is centrally located in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. The project straddles the Porcupine-Destor fault zone. Gold is associated with the margins of feldspar porphyritic syenite dikes, and sub-parallel zones up to 20 metres in width, that are generally conformable to the contact between the mafic and ultramafic rocks striking west-northwest and dipping steeply to the north. Higher grade gold mineralization, previously mined at depth using underground mining methods, occurs within an envelope of lower grade mineralization extending to surface, which is the focus of the current drilling program.
The Hislop project has been mined during several campaigns since the 1930s and most recently in 1999-2000 and in 2006-07. During those periods, a small open pit was mined from which approximately 225,000 tonnes grading 3.14 g/t Au were extracted and processed at the company's Stock mill. Site infrastructure includes a series of access roads, a power line and a water settling pond. The site is cleared of trees and the central section has minimal overburden coverage, which should allow for the initiation of any mining activities with less difficulty and expense than would be involved with other similar projects in the area.
A video shot at San Gold's mine site is posted at www.SanGoldCorp.com.
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