by Stockwatch Business Reporter
New York spot gold gained $3.70 to $1,248.00 on Thursday. The TSX Venture Exchange gained 4.13 points to 658.38 while the TSX Gold Index gained 5.51 points to 207.61. Canadian gold stocks moved higherq with bullion today, led by Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM), which gained $1.63 to n$53.24 on 1.63 million shares, and Kinross Gold Corp. (K), which gained 26 cents to $5.97 on 17.08 million shares. Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. (KGI) was one of a few laggards; it dropped five cents to $8.17 on 1.16 million shares.c
Marie-Jose Girard's Dios Exploration Inc. (DOS), down 1.5 cents to 12.5 cents on 749,000 shares, has received assays of up to 1.15 grams of gold per tonne over 64 metres at its Heberto project in the Otish Mountains region of Quebec. The drill hit from the company's 19th hole included a 13-metre interval that averaged 3.65 grams per tonne. The latest assays come from the company's eight-hole, 1,500-metre drill program that Ms. Girard, president and chief ecxecutive officer, says follows Dios's "successful and significant first-ever" drilling at Heberto, which took place last fall.
That drilling amounted to a total of 2,500 metres, apparently spread across 18 holes. (Dios's previous numbering system -- lettering might be more accurate -- left something to be desired.) Whatever the hole count, Dios did produce some intriguing drill hits from its fall drilling, including intercepts of 2.00 grams per tonne over 22 metres, 1.63 grams per tonne over 18.5 metres and 2.13 grams per tonne over 22.9 metres. The latter hit included an 8.65-metre zone that assayed 4.79 grams per tonne.
Ms. Girard's promotional result is usually inversely proportional to the amount of geological gobbledygook she lets fly and she was in rare form today, prattling on about potassic altered shear zones, granodiorite-tonalite plutons and disseminated pyrite. She reminds investors that Dios is "looking for a significant world-class oxidized IRG gold deposit," leaving them to assume that if an acronym is unexplained, it must be good. (Dios apparently hopes the Heberto gold is an intrusive-related gold (IRG) deposit.)
Mark O'Dea and Cal Everett's Pilot Gold Inc. (PLG), unchanged at 70 cents on 277,000 shares, has started a 10-hole drill program at its Goldstrike project in southwestern Utah. The new drilling is for "metallurgical and other purposes," according to Mr. Everett, president and CEO, and Mr. O'Dea, chairman. (Essentially, the work is needed to aid the calculation of a resource estimate.) Pilot Gold had originally planned the core drilling for late this year, but it now says that the schedule has been advanced because of "positive results" from the company's earlier reverse circulation (RC) drilling, so that the metallurgical data will be available this year.
The recent RC drilling included hits of up to 2.1 grams per tonne over 35.1 metres, including a higher-grade zone that averaged 4.42 grams per tonne over 13.7 metres. Pilot Gold's focus is the area surrounding a dozen old pits left by a mine that Tenneco Minerals operated in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That operation produced 210,000 ounces of gold and nearly as much silver from 6.2 million tonnes of mined material, an average of 1.4 grams of gold per tonne. Meanwhile, Pilot's RC drilling at Goldstrike continues. The company's program is open-ended and its extent depends on results, but the results so far have Pilot already planning 15,000 metres spread across 100 holes.
Mark Selby's Royal Nickel Corp. (RNX), down 3.5 cents to 42 cents on 3.51 million shares, has received the results of a 150.6-kilogram test of "visible, coarse gold ore" taken from the Hand of Faith (HOF) zone at its Beta Hunt gold project in Western Australia. The sample yielded 56.3 ounces of gold, an average grade of 11,626 grams per tonne, a result bolstered by a 2.6-kilogram "bonanza-grade specimen stone" that accounted for 11.2 of the ounces. (The stone was an eye-popping 13.5 per cent gold.)
Mr. Selby, Royal Nickel's $350,000-per-year president and CEO, says the results from the "selected HOF ore" demonstrate the potential for Beta Hunt to exceed production expectations, given the significant potential for multiple HOF-type zones. (Despite a modest rally at the open, the results appear to have fallen short of investors' expectations.) The potential for high-grade gold was a major reason why Royal Nickel acquired Beta Hunt early this year, according to Mr. Selby, although at the time Royal Nickel touted the project for its "high-grade nickel mineralization and low-cost gold production." Meanwhile, underground mining continues to chase high-grade gold -- the company hopes to reach 45,000 ounces per year -- and drilling has recommenced to find more. Assays are expected shortly.