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Sona Resources Corp. is a junior resource company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, specializing in gold exploration, development and mining in North America.
Sona intersects over 28 g/t gold at Elizabeth deposit
Sona Resources (CVE:SYS) said Friday it intersected up to 28.1 grams per tonne (g/t) gold at its wholly owned Elizabeth gold deposit in southern British Columbia during a recently completed drill program.
The program included 20 surface diamond drill holes totaling 3,182 metres, which tested the Southwest and No. 9 veins, and 35 underground drill holes totaling 4,173 metres, which tested the D, Southwest, Main, and West veins.
Intended to test the Southwest vein, hole E11-05 intersected 28.1 g/t gold over 1.46 metres. Meanwhile, hole E11-01, also testing the Southwest vein, intersected 8.4 g/t gold over 0.51 metres.
Drilled only 30 metres to the southwest of previously drilled hole E10-69, hole E11-07, which was to test the southwest extension of the vein, intersected 6.2 g/t gold over 1.15 metres.
Testing the No. 9 vein, hole E11-18 returned 1.01 metres at 1.5 g/t gold and 0.53 metres at 1.0 g/t gold. Hole E11-19 found 0.96 metres at 1.3 g/t gold and 0.87 metres at 1.9 g/t gold, while hole E11-20 intersected 1.37 metres at 1.5 g/t gold and 1.2 g/t gold over 1.52 metres.
"We look forward to incorporating the positive results from the 11,134 metres of diamond drilling we have completed over the past two years into a new mineral resource report, due for completion early in the new year," said president and CEO, John P. Thompson.
"The updated resource will be incorporated into a new Preliminary Economic Assessment, which constitutes another step toward putting the former Blackdome Gold Mine mill back into production."
Among the underground holes that Sona drilled, hole E11-U107 intersected 0.45 metres at 1.7 g/t gold, 0.67 metres at 6.1 g/t gold, 1.5 metres at 1.3 g/t gold, and 0.98 metres at 3.8 g/t gold. The hole, which was intended to target both the D and Southwest veins, was drilled northward to determine the presence of the D vein, and to test for the northeast extension of the Southwest vein.
Other underground drill holes were drilled to determine the southwest expansion of the known mineralization in the Main vein. Testing the Main vein, hole E11-U98 intersected 5.25 metres at 2.8 g/t gold, including 1.65 metres at 5.4 g/t gold, and 0.5 metres at 7.2 g/t gold.
Meanwhile, testing the West vein, hole E11-U80 returned 1.66 metres at 4.1 g/t gold, including 0.6 metres at 9.7 g/t gold, while hole E11-U93 found 0.6 metres at 8.0 g/t gold, and 0.8 g/t gold over 1.5 metres.
Hole E11-U97 was drilled 100 metres to the west of the West vein. It intersected 4.02 metres at 1.0 g/t gold, including 0.56 metres at 2.1 g/t gold, 0.52 metres at 1.6 g/t gold, and including 0.5 metres at 1.9 g/t gold. These assays confirm that this vein continues to the west, Sona said.
In addition to defining these extensions, Sona said it intends to include these results in an updated Ni 43-101 compliant resource estimate for the Elizabeth property.
Based on data from 2009, the current resource stands at 206,000 ounces of gold at an average grade of 12.2 g/t gold, including 143,900 ounces of gold at 13.6 g/t from the Southwest vein, and 62,239 ounces of gold grading 10.0 g/t on the West vein.
Sona said it expects the updated resource estimate in the first quarter of 2012.
The Elizabeth mine is located 30 kilometres south of the company's Blackdome gold mine, which has a mineral resource estimate of 52,600 ounces of gold grading 11.3 g/t in the indicated category, and 90,600 tonnes grading 8.8 g/t gold in the inferred category.
Sona said it expects to bring the Blackdome mill back into production over the next year-and-a-half, at a rate of 200 tonnes per day, with feed from both the formerly producing Blackdome mine, and the Elizabeth property.
