Dr. Michael Byron reports
MERC INTERSECTS 9.80 GRAMS GOLD PER TONNE OVER 8.5 METRES AT RED MOUNTAIN-REPORTS ADDITIONAL NEAR-SURFACE MINERALIZATION
Merc International Minerals Inc. has provided results on the remaining 13 drill holes from the recently completed 2010 winter drill program at its Damoti Lake gold project, Northwest Territories.
Eight holes were collared within the eastern limb of the Red Mountain syncline as part of the continuing evaluation of this mineralized fold structure. Twenty metres from surface, hole D10-420B intersected 20 metres of 5.6 grams gold per tonne, including 9.8 grams gold per tonne over 8.5 metres. This hole lies 165 metres north of drill hole D10-416B (see July 6, 2010, news release in Stockwatch) which returned a composite assay interval of 151.4 metres of 1.64 grams gold per tonne starting 30 metres below surface. Hole D10-420B has significantly extended the mineralization northward along Red Mountain's eastern fold limb and opened up a new area for exploration. Subsequent holes D10-421, 421B, D10-422 and 422B all intersected mineralization north of 10-420B, further extending the target area in excess of 200 metres north of D10-416B.
Delineation of a newly defined mineralized corridor, as described in the July 6, 2010, news release in Stockwatch, is largely based upon drill results to date and results from the winter ground geophysics program. The corridor includes the Red Mountain zone, the high-grade Horseshoe zone (125 metres to the east of the Red Mountain zone), and the magnetic high associated with an induced polarization (IP) anomaly located 250 metres farther east of Horseshoe. Current drill results further confirm the presence of this feature and its extension to the north. Merc is presently working at developing drill targets within the corridor, as this represents an exciting new prospect.
"In addition to the high-grade mineralization, drilling at Red Mountain has also identified several near-surface areas of extensive lower-grade mineralization that is considered of great exploration significance," commented Dr. Michael Byron, Merc president and chief executive officer. "Coinciding with the large composite lengths reported for previously drilled holes D10-416B and D10-420B, drill hole D10-422B intersected, starting from surface, 86.5 metres grading 0.44 grams gold per tonne. Such pervasive mineralization may be indicative of nearby higher-grade zones," added Dr. Byron. "These opportunities will be evaluated further upon completion of our geological modelling, as this mineralized setting may be amenable to bulk-mining methods."
Drill holes D10-427, 427B and 427C tested the near-surface northern extension of the Horseshoe mineralized zone returning the following: 5.03 grams gold per tonne over 3.5 metres and 14.95 grams gold per tonne over 0.5 metre; one metre of 14.66 grams gold per tonne, including 0.5 metre of 28.2 grams gold per tonne; and 2.5 metres of 6.56 grams gold per tonne, including 0.5 metre of 22.9 grams gold per tonne. Additional holes are to further evaluate/extend the Horseshoe mineralization northward within the fold limb, and to more effectively model the controls on mineralization. These results continue to demonstrate the continuing potential of this mineralized zone.
Two holes, D10-430 and 430B, were drilled in the nose of a fold west of the Runway syncline, 200 metres southwest of the Red Mountain drilling. Drilling appears to have intersected the fringe of a mineralized zone with results of 3.5 metres of 3.49 grams gold per tonne, including 12.5 grams gold per tonne over 0.5 metre. Given these encouraging early results, geological modelling of this area will better define additional targets.
The 2010 winter drill program was intended to trace mineralization northward within the Horseshoe zone to extend new zones discovered at Red Mountain by the 2009 summer drill program, and to confirm and expand the high-grade mineralization previously reported for the BIF Island zone. Drilling was successful in infilling and extending the stacked mineralized zones identified at Red Mountain, intersecting additional near-surface mineralization, and opening up the northern portions of the Red Mountain and Horseshoe synclines.
Additional drilling and exploration work is planned and is contingent upon the incorporation of the present drill results into an expanded geological model to assist in target generation and evaluation.
Core length From (m) To (m) (m) Au (gpt)D10-416C 21.50 22.00 0.50 9.44 28.00 31.00 3.00 1.63including 29.50 30.50 1.00 2.59 41.00 47.00 6.00 1.70including 44.00 45.00 1.00 7.18 162.00 163.50 1.50 7.27including 162.00 162.50 0.50 12.25 170.50 171.50 1.00 2.39D10-419 11.50 15.00 3.50 1.84 34.50 36.00 1.50 3.25including 35.00 35.50 0.50 6.60 49.00 50.00 1.00 2.00 59.00 61.00 2.00 2.65 63.00 63.50 0.50 3.85 106.50 107.00 0.50 2.39D10-420 11.00 11.50 0.50 1.59 24.50 38.00 13.50 1.42including 24.50 26.00 1.50 2.97including 29.00 30.00 1.00 3.03including 35.00 38.00 3.00 2.70 68.00 69.00 1.00 1.35 76.50 85.50 9.00 1.81 100.00 100.50 0.50 1.47D10-420B 4.00 5.00 1.00 2.00 21.50 41.50 20.00 5.60including 26.50 29.50 3.00 6.56including 33.00 41.50 8.50 9.81including 35.50 37.00 1.50 23.53including 35.50 36.00 0.50 32.80including 36.50 37.00 0.50 35.60including 39.00 41.50 2.50 10.93including 40.50 41.50 1.00 21.81including 41.00 41.50 0.50 35.70D10-421 3.00 17.00 14.00 1.98including 14.50 15.00 0.50 12.00 37.00 38.50 1.50 2.17 43.50 46.50 3.00 3.27 64.50 65.00 0.50 4.93D10-421B 3.00 6.00 3.00 2.93 29.50 30.50 1.00 3.58 76.00 76.50 0.50 2.03 86.00 86.50 0.50 19.45 103.00 104.00 1.00 2.35D10-422 9.50 10.50 1.00 2.03 20.50 22.00 1.50 1.94 30.50 32.00 1.50 1.82 68.50 69.50 1.00 2.22D10-422B 7.00 8.00 1.00 4.56 23.00 25.00 2.00 1.52 27.50 29.00 1.50 2.93 44.00 46.00 2.00 2.37 48.50 50.00 1.50 3.76 52.50 53.50 1.00 1.29 93.00 94.00 1.00 3.00D10-427 62.50 66.00 3.50 5.03including 62.50 63.50 1.00 9.16 72.00 73.50 1.50 8.17including 72.50 73.00 0.50 14.95 100.75 104.00 3.25 3.89including 103.00 104.00 1.00 9.96 129.75 131.50 1.75 4.56 243.50 245.00 1.50 2.09D10-427B 76.50 77.50 1.00 14.66including 77.00 77.50 0.50 28.20 114.00 116.00 2.00 4.46D10-427C 109.00 111.50 2.50 6.56 109.50 110.00 0.50 22.90 176.50 178.75 2.25 1.84D10-430 76.20 77.00 0.80 4.01 83.00 84.00 1.00 1.71D10-430B 74.00 75.00 1.00 4.24 124.00 127.50 3.50 3.49including 126.00 126.50 0.50 12.50
Quality control
Merc International Minerals has implemented a quality control program to ensure best practice in the sampling and analysis of the drill core. NQ-size drill core is saw-cut, and half the drill core is sampled in standard intervals not exceeding 1.5 metres in length while core from the main mineralized horizons or core displaying visible gold or significant sulphides are sampled in greater detail generally not exceeding one metre in length. The remaining half core is stored in a secure location.
Core samples are transported in security-sealed bags for analyses at ALS Chemex Assay Laboratory, Vancouver, B.C. ALS Chemex is an ISO 9001:2000-certified laboratory. Gold assaying is done by a fire assay/atomic absorption spectrometry method on a 30-gram charge of a 1,000-gram pulp. Samples returning values exceeding three gpt Au are rechecked by fire assay with a gravimetric finish. Pulp and metallics assaying for gold is conducted on the entire pulverized sample for all samples within the main mineralized horizons and those samples with visible gold or significant sulfides.
As part of its quality assurance/quality control program, Merc International Minerals inserts external gold standards (low to high grade) and blanks every 20 samples. This is in addition to the standards, blanks and pulp duplicates inserted by ALS Chemex. In addition, samples of pulps have been collected from 10 per cent of all samples analyzed and will be submitted to a second independent laboratory for comparison purposes.
The Damoti Lake gold project is being supervised by William Waychison, MScA, PGeo, the qualified person (QP) for this project.
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