More drilling for Marudi Mountain gold mine

The company operating a large gold mine at Marudi Mountain in the Rupununi has signed a contract for further drilling to be done next year.

In a statement yesterday, Guyana Frontier Mining Corporation announced that it has signed a contract for a 2012 drilling programme at the Marudi Mountain Gold Project with Versa Drilling Inc.  Versa has been contracted for a minimum of 3,000 metres of diamond drilling on the Marudi North and Mazoa Hill target areas. Mobilization of drilling equipment is expected to begin in the first week of January 2012.

The company said that in the Marudi North target area, drill pads have been prepared for the programme, in which a minimum of 12 holes of 200 to 350 metres depth are planned. The purpose of the programme is to test gold mineralization in outcrops that were exposed in 2011 trenches and drill targets that have not been the subject of previous drilling, the statement said. It said that work done by the company earlier this year identified these targets based on a strong association with gold mineralisation at the contact with a group of quartzite-metachert rocks.

The statement said that confirmation holes are also planned for the southern Mazoa Hill target area, where previous explorers encountered significant gold mineralization in the 1990s.

Guyana Frontier’s property at Marudi Mountain consists of one Mining Licence totalling 13,502 acres Guyana Frontier also holds a 100% interest in the adjacent Paint Mountain property, which consists of one Prospecting Licence totalling 8,848 acres and remains largely underexplored. Guyana Frontier has recently commenced exploration at Paint Mountain. Rock and stream sediment samples have been collected and sent for geochemical analysis and petrography. A portion of the property has been selected for detailed mapping and sampling on the basis of favourable geology and the presence of artisanal alluvial gold miners. Airborne geophysical surveys are planned for both Paint Mountain and the Marudi Projects for 2012.

The company’s project entails the excavation of mineralized gravel, the establishment of a mineral processing plant for the recovery of gold using gravimetric separation (screening, sluicing and concentration) and the construction of supporting facilities, buildings and haul roads. The company received its environmental permit from the Environmental Protection Agency in April this year.