Mining News: Northern Neighbors: Northquest aims to drill new Howitzer zone

Northquest Ltd. Dec. 15 said results from a glacial till sampling program recently completed at its Pistol Bay gold project in Nunavut has identified a large new zone that will be the target of significant drilling in 2016. This year, the company set aside C$500,000 for geochemical surveying of promising gold targets concealed by glacial overburden, known as till. An initial 40-sample pilot survey was conducted in July to test the Vickers gold zone and Bazooka gold occurrence. The 12-kilogram samples were collected at 200-meter intervals on lines 500 meters apart and oriented northeast, perpendicular to the southeast glacial ice flow path. At Vickers, a 200-meter-wide gold dispersal train with gold counts up to 731 grains per sample was identified and traced 500 meters along the south-easterly direction of glacial ice flow. At the Bazooka gold occurrence, a 1,000-meter-wide gold grain anomaly with counts up to 358 grains per sample was identified. This anomaly covered an area much larger than the relatively small Bazooka gold occurrence and extended glacially up-ice beyond the showing, indicating a previously unknown bedrock source to the northwest. The pilot survey was followed by a larger, 424-sample survey covering an additional 50 square kilometers (19 square miles) at each Vickers and Bazooka. At Vickers, the dispersal train from the known gold deposit was delineated more precisely but only a few small outlying gold grain anomalies were encountered. At Bazooka, however, the newly discovered anomaly was shown to be part of a very large and systematic dispersal train that the company is calling the “Howitzer Anomaly.” Northquest said the data from the survey provides sufficient density of sampling to target drilling of the Howitzer Anomaly. As soon as possible in 2016, geologists will map and sample the outcrops in the source area of the gold dispersion train and lay out the first bank of drill holes. Given the large size of the anomaly, it is anticipated that a minimum of 10,000 meters of drilling will be required for the initial evaluation of Howitzer. Northquest CEO Jon North said, “This new discovery is associated with a large area of mineralized intrusive rocks that resemble those at the Vickers gold zone is particularly encouraging, and we look forward to drilling the first holes at the Howitzer Anomaly in 2016.”

- Shane Lasley