JUNIOR MINING

Brigus grows new gold-rich zone, mobilizes drills at Black Fox mine

Follow-up drilling in a newly discovered gold zone at Brigus Gold's Black Fox mine has paid off with confirmation of high grades over growing strike length.

Author: Kip Keen
Posted: Wednesday , 27 Apr 2011

Halifax, NS  - 

With six drillholes confirming high-grade gold over 250 metres of strike in a recently discovered area at the Black Fox mine in the Timmins district, Canada, Brigus Gold (TSX: BRD) dedicated all drilling resources on site to the new prospect that it's calling the 147 zone. On news of the quickly growing gold zone Brigus' shareprice gained over three percent and was trading at C$1.48 at presstime.

"Expanded drilling of the 147 Zone is now a key focus for Brigus as we continue to delineate this new discovery," Howard Bird, Brigus vice president of exploration, said in a prepared statement.

In February Brigus cut as much as 18 metres @ 9.04 g/t gold in hole 147 - after which the new zone is named - in an area parallel to the more extensively explored Contact zone, a couple hundred metres to the west. After drilling hole 147, Brigus collared a half dozen follow-up drillholes to test the extent of the new zone.

That decision appears to have paid off as the latest results expand mineralization with strong grades of gold to 250 metres of strike length; for example, hole 176 hit 25 metres @ 20.99 g/t Au and hole 152 returned 23 metres @ 7.98 g/t Au.

Meanwhile the mineralized area is still open to the north, east and at depth. The new zone could, if infill drilling proved successful, ultimately add resources to the Black Fox mine, Brigus' single operating gold mine.

At Black Fox, an open pit and underground mine, Brigus reported gold production of 69,992 ounces in 2010, and, with newly completed underground ramps at Black Fox, it estimated gold production would hit the 100,000-ounce-per-year rate by the third quarter 2011.

Brigus, which has proven and probable reserves of 1.9 million ounces gold, is also advancing the Goldfields project in northwest Saskatchewan where it has proposed to produce between 70,000 and 90,000 ounces gold a year.