Omineca Mining drills 25.41 g/m3 placer gold 8 metres at Wingdam underground placer gold project, British Columbia
Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd. [TSXV-OMM; OTCBB-OMMSF] reported results from two geotechnical holes drilled on the company’s Wingdam property located in south-central British Columbia. D&L Mining drilled the two holes, WD23-RC01 and WD23-RC02 (23-01 and 23-02) in conjunction with a comprehensive underground survey to confirm seismic data and further define the underground placer gold-bearing paleochannel at Wingdam in advance of recommencing underground activities on the project.
Of note, drill hole 23-02 recorded 8 vertical metres of gold-bearing gravels above the underground channel floor, yielding an average of 25.41 g/m3Â (0.82 oz/m3) of placer gold.
These drill results are considered exciting given that the 2012 bulk sample test recovered 173.4 ounces of placer gold from an enriched zone of gold-bearing gravels averaging only 1.20 metres in excavated thickness over a crosscutting channel width of 23.5 metres. The results confirm seismic survey data indicating a significant bedrock depression beginning just downstream of the 2012 crosscut and reaching its lowest point approximately 75 metres further on. In this area the depressed section of paleochannel appears to be approximately 40 metres wide with an area of lower elevation extending both up and downstream over a distance of 80 metres. This depression is one of five suggested by the seismic data over the first 300 metres of paleochannel.
The 2012 bulk sample test cut across the paleochannel at an elevation 7 metres higher than the bottom of this first depression but still returned exceptional quantities of gold averaging over 7 ounces per metre of advance in a crosscut measuring 2.44 metres wide 2.44 metres high and 23.5 metres long. The 1.2-metre-thick gold enriched zone of the bulk sample included approximately 0.2 metres of bedrock where significant gold was found trapped in fractures and gouges. That today’s reported drill hole 23-02 intercepted an 8-metre interval of gold enriched gravels is a very favourable development considering the robust gold recovery from the 1.2-metre thickness in 2012.
Paleochannel depressions have the potential to host significantly enriched gold-bearing gravels through the natural sorting of heavy material to the lowest point in ancient stream beds. This tendency was reflected in the 2012 bulk sample crosscut as the highest grades were encountered near the middle, lowest point in the paleochannel. In this regard gold grades increased as the crosscut approached the enriched lower center then decreased as the cut headed across into higher elevations near the north channel rim.
Hole 23-01 intercepted what is presumed to be the shallower (higher elevation) north rim of the paleochannel (approx. 25 metres north-northeast of hole 23-02) but still produced a 3-metre intercept of gold enriched gravels. Hole 23-2 targeted a lower point in the paleochannel depression and intercepted an outstanding 8-metre interval of enriched gold-bearing gravels.
Drill holes 23-01 and 23-02 were drilled with hole diameters of 6 inches (0.1524m). An assessed placer gold purity of 90.9% (fineness 909) is used to calculate pure gold in grams recovered.
Currently, D&L Mining is advancing the haulage/access drift alongside the paleochannel dropping the elevation of the workings to intercept the channel on a trajectory to complete a crosscut directly through a portion of the first depression. With the current advance rate of approximately 3 metres per day, the miners should be making the right angle turn from the bedrock drift into the channel crosscut heading within the next several days. Entrance into the gold bearing gravels is expected over the coming weeks with the intention of driving a 3.5 meter x 3.5 meter crosscut the full width of the channel.
As the project advances it is the company’s intention to complete additional seismic profiling and geotechnical drilling to further define the paleochannel contour and course both up and downstream of the current workings over the immediate 2.5 lineal km area of interest.
Omineca Mining and Metals Ltd.’s flagship Wingdam gold exploration and placer recovery projects are located along the Barkerville Highway 45 km east of the City of Quesnel. The Wingdam property includes mineral tenures totaling over 61,392 hectares (613 km2) and in excess of 15 linear km of placer claims, both encompassing the Lightning Creek valley where topographic conditions created thick layers of overburden, which preserved a large portion of a buried paleochannel containing placer gold-bearing gravels. Omineca also has an exploration and diamond drill program currently underway exploring for the potential multiple hard rock sources of the placer gold at Wingdam.