Mining News: News Nuggets: Endurance encouraged; higher grade zone eyed

Endurance Gold Corp. Dec. 8 reported final results from a four-hole drill program completed this year at its Elephant Mountain gold property in Interior Alaska, about 76 miles northwest of Fairbanks. In late October, the company reported 4.6 meters of 4.09 grams per metric ton gold in EL 16-14A, a hole drilled at the South zone target at Elephant Mountain. EL 16-14, drilled about 1,400 meters to the north, encountered a broad zone of gold mineralization in the North zone. This hole cut 147.1 meters averaging 0.63 g/t gold. "This 2016 North zone drill hole located 1.4 kilometers north of our earlier discovery hole with 4.09 g/t gold over 4.6 meters indicates a large and complex gold mineralizing system that is largely untested with drilling," explained Endurance President and CEO Robert Boyd. Hole EL 16-15, drilled a the South zone, a wide oxidized and disrupted zone which includes multiple areas of faulting, brecciation and clay gouge. Only about 68 percent of the core from this hole was recovered. Sections that were recovered returned short sections of low-grade gold. EL 16-16, drilled in the South zone about 249 meters northwest of EL 16-14, encountered short sections of low-grade gold. Endurance believes this hole was collared too far west to intersect the interpreted northwestern strike extension of the EL 16-14. The company is in the early stages of planning its 2017 exploration program, which is expected to include geophysics, soil geochemistry and drilling. "The extensive soil anomalies, a large untested IP (induced polarization) chargeability anomaly between the South zone and North zone discoveries indicates that additional exploration is required to discover the postulated higher grade feeder structures at the North zone and to fully explain the average grade and width of the South Zone discovery,” said Boyd. “We look forward to planning for a 2017 exploration program at Elephant that will expand on these discoveries."

-Shane Lasley