High-Grade Gold-Quartz Veins Drilled In The Klondike Area
COEUR D'ALENE, ID - New Jersey Mining Company (NJMC) reported the latest assay results from its ongoing core drilling program at the Golden Chest. These recent gold intercepts lie within the Klondike area and represent another potential mining target north of the existing underground mining area. All intervals are reported in drill thickness (as vein orientations are yet to be determined) and in grams of gold per tonne (gpt): GC 21-203 intercepted 1.8 meters of 14.4 gpt gold (including 0.8 meters of 31.8 gpt gold); and GC 21-204 intercepted 7.5 meters of 5.2 gpt gold (including 3.3 meters of 9.4 gpt gold) in the upper vein and 3.4 meters of 12.2 gpt gold (including 1.1 meters of 34.1 gpt gold) in the lower vein.
After completing its successful program in the Joe Dandy/Paymaster area, the core drill mobilized to begin drilling the Klondike area in early July. The holes were planned to test the deeper extensions of the historically mined Klondike shoot below the old underground workings. The usual drill targets at the Golden Chest are typically just above and just below the Idaho Fault, however these newly discovered high-grade gold veins were intercepted in both holes much shallower (considerably higher in the hole) than expected in the hangingwall of the Idaho fault.
The first core hole, GC 21-203, identified a new vein set that assayed 1.8 meters of 14.4 gpt gold. The second drill hole, GC 21-204, intercepted long intervals of strong pervasive silicification of wallrock with massive and banded quartz veining. The order of magnitude of silicification is greater than before seen in other mineralized areas at the Golden Chest Mine. Assay results are pending for the deeper veins in drillhole GC 21-204. Drillhole GC 21-205 also intercepted the same zone, but deeper and is currently being logged by Company' geologists. The next holes are planned to step-out and expand on the good results encountered in these first two Klondike drill holes.
Vice President of Exploration, Rob Morgan, said, "These drill results are exciting because they intercepted high-grade gold mineralization at shallow depths in an area that is largely unexplored. For example, the lower vein in GC 21-204 is projected to the 938 elevation which is 20 meters above the historic No. 3 Level; and more than 100 meters to the west of the No. 3 Level. We already have more drilling underway to further delineate this potential gold resource - and if further drilling extends the current gold mineralization, which is also open in all directions, then a ramp to access this area could be readily driven from a new portal site in the Klondike area. With continued success, the plan for production from these areas; the Joe Dandy/Paymaster to the south, the Skookum (current operations), and the Klondike to the north will quickly move closer to reality."