Emgold up ahead of Casa South assays

Emgold Mining Corp. [EMR-TSXV] said Wednesday it has completed 3,021 metres of diamond drilling at the Casa South property in Quebec.  Core logging is underway and initial samples have been sent for assaying, with assays pending.

Emgold has the option to earn a 91% stake in the Casa South property, which consists of 180 active titles, covering 10,061 hectares. The property is located 80 kilometres south of La Sarre.

Emgold said the main objective of the drill program was to test the Kama Trend gold-bearing structure located just to the south of the property boundary with Hecla Mining Corp.’s [HL-NYSE] Casa Berardi mine, which has produced over 2.0 million ounces of gold since starting production in 1988.

Casa Berardi produced 162,744 ounces of gold last year, Hecla has said.

Emgold shares advanced on the news, rising 5.26% or $0.01 to 20 cents on active volume of 625,500. The shares trade in a 52-week range of 4.5 cents and 22 cents.

The Kama Trend structure is a 7.0-kilometre long by two kilometre wide east-west gold-bearing structure discovered in the 1980s. It hosts numerous anomalous gold zones with historic assays above 300 ppb gold. The Kama Trend is a carbonatized andesite, containing up to 7% arsenopyrite with variable amounts of pyrite.

Holes CS-19-01, CS-19-02, CS-19-04, CS-19-05, CS-19-06, CS-19-07 and CS-19-08 all intersected the Kama Trend structure with various widths from 4.5 metres up to 18.3 metres. In addition, Hole CS-19-03 shows a volcanic breccia in interval 99 metres to 114 metres with 10% quartz veining hosting 5-10% sulfides and ankerite replacement by arsenopyrite.

Moreover, numerous cases of ductile deformation have been observed in most holes, indicating that other mineralizing events may have occurred.

Emgold is a Vancouver-based gold exploration and mine development company with exploration properties located in Quebec, Nevada and British Columbia.

These include the Golden Arrow, Buckskin Rawhide East, Buckskin Rawhide West, and Koegel Rawhide properties in Nevada, and option to acquire a 91% interest in the Casa South property in Quebec, and the Stewart and Rozan properties in B.C.  Emgold can earn the 91% interest in Casa South by spending $1.6 million on exploration during the option period. It would then form a joint venture with the Emgold acting as the manager, and leaving the vendor with a 1.5% net smelter royalty on the property.

The company has a strategic investment of 3.75 million shares of Troilus Gold Corp. [TLG-TSXV]. Troilus is a Quebec-focused, exploration and development company. It is aiming to restart the former Troilus gold-copper mine, which is located on 16,000 hectares of ground near Chibougamau, Quebec. From 1997 to 2010, Inmet Mining Co. operated the Troilus project as an open pit mine, producing more than 2.0 million ounces of gold and 70,000 tonnes of copper.

After the mine ceased production in 2009, the 20,000 tonnes-per-day mill processed low grade stockpiles until June 29, 2010. The mill was sold and shipped to Mexico and the main camp facilities were dismantled.

Right now, a small number of personnel are based at the site to oversee the on-going site restoration, environmental monitoring, and exploration work. A new 50-person camp, core logging facility and office were built last year.