Vancouver, BC, Canada, June 30, 2015. Columbus Gold Corporation (CGT: TSX-V) (�Columbus Gold�) is pleased to announce the commencement of the Phase III drilling program at its 100% owned Montagne d�Or Gold Deposit, Paul Isnard Project, French Guiana.
Drilling equipment has arrived from Georgetown, Guyana, at the port of Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, French Guiana, and cleared customs formalities. The Shipment is currently being mobilized to the project base at Camp Citron, and includes two track-mounted multi-purpose drill rigs, capable of reverse circulation (�RC�) and Diamond drilling (�DD�), support vehicles and equipment, and supplies. All equipment is expected to arrive on site and drilling to commence by July 6th.
The Phase III program, which will support the completion of a bankable feasibility study on Montagne d�Or, will consist of a combination of RC and DD drilling as follows:
- 5,000 meters of RC fence drilling for infrastructure site condemnation;
- 14,500 meters of combined RC and DD in-fill drilling to: 1) convert a portion of the current Indicated resources to the Measured category, and 2) better define mineralization contained within the surface saprolite zone (oxide), and;
- 1,900 meters of DD geotechnical drilling.
The work is being funded by Nord Gold N.V. (LSE: NORD LI) as part of a minimum US$30 million exploration and development program pursuant to which they can earn a 50.01% interest in Montagne d'Or and the Paul Isnard mineral claims, by completing a bankable feasibility study no later than March 2017. The results of a Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") on the Montagne d'Or deposit are anticipated to be released in early July.
About the Montagne d�Or Gold Deposit
Following the completion of the 2014 Phase II in-fill drilling program, the Montagne d�Or pit constrained resources, at a cut-off grade of 0.4 g/t gold, are estimated at (SRK Consulting (US) Inc., 2015*):
Classification |
Tonnes (M) |
Grade (g/t) |
Contained Gold (M oz) |
Indicated |
83.24 |
1.455 |
3.893 |
Inferred |
22.37 |
1.550 |
1.115 |
* Resources are confined by a Whittle Pit shell based on $US 1,300/oz gold price. For additional information please refer to Columbus Gold's news release dated April 21, 2015, and the company's website, www.columbusgold.com.
The estimation is based on 56 historical Diamond drill holes (10,916 m) together with the results of 171 Diamond drill holes (42,300 m) completed by Columbus Gold from November, 2011, to November, 2014 (Phase I and II).
The Montagne d�Or Gold Deposit is hosted within a bimodal felsic and mafic volcanic-plutonic sequence that strikes east-northeast and dips steeply south. All units have undergone ductile deformation and tight folding. The sulfide-gold mineralization is mainly hosted within felsic volcanics and occurs as a number of tabular bodies consisting of higher grade lenses within broader zones of low grade to anomalous mineralization (0.25 to 0.4g/t Au). The main area of gold mineralization has overall dimensions of 2,200 meters along strike, by 400 meters wide, and to at least 200 meters vertical depth. The mineralization is open at depth and along strike and has been encountered outside the main area of mineralization over a strike length of at least 3,500 meters.
Preparation of this press release was supervised by Rock Lefran�ois, P.Geo. (OGQ), Columbus Gold�s COO and Qualified Person.