Geoinformatics Exploration Inc. July 8 said it has begun its 2008 exploration program on the Whistler gold project approximately 160 kilometers northwest of Anchorage, Alaska and has completed the first drill hole of the campaign.
The company said the initial phase of the 2008 program is focusing on targets near the Whistler zone. The first hole of the program was drilled at the Rainmaker target about 2 kilometers east-southeast of the Whistler zone. This hole is intended to correlate with a hole drilled by Kennecott Exploration Company in 2005, which intersected 184 meters grading 0.44 grams per metric ton of gold and 0.16 percent copper.
Geoinformatics currently has one drill rig at the project and intends to drill as many regional targets as possible during the summer field season. Additional financing is being sought by the company to contract a second drill rig and acquire a portable drill rig for testing shallow targets.
The company also plans to test the northern extensions of the Whistler zone and follow up on high-grade breccia intersected in 2007. In January, Geoinformatics reported a NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the Whistler zone. The indicated mineral resource is 840,000 ounces of gold with an additional inferred mineral resource of 2.74 million ounces of gold. When you add in the copper and silver it raises the gold-equivalent indicated resource to 1.31 million ounces and the gold-equivalent inferred resource to 4.44 million ounces.
In June Kennecott sent Geoinformatics an offer letter for the Whistler project which would allow the junior to earn 100 percent interest in the property. The 2008 exploration program has been approved by Kennecott and, when completed, will satisfy the terms of the offer.
