Jinshan Gold Mines' planned 5,000-meter drill program has begun at its Dadiangou Gold Project in Gansu Province.
The focus of this drill program will be to establish the potential to host a bulk-tonnage, open-pit gold deposit at the Dadiangou Main Zone.
"Dadiangou is at the exciting early stage of discovery where tremendous shareholder value can be created if successful drill results are achieved," said Jinshan's President, Jay Chmelauskas. "With the Chang Shan Hao gold mine scheduled to start production in June, Dadiangou and Jinshan's other exploration projects provide incremental upside potential for shareholders."
Gold mineralization at Dadiangou has been previously defined by the Chinese partner over a strike length of 1.8 kilometers by trenching and approximately 1,600 metres of underground workings. Bulk gold grades within the main zone are reported to average approximately 1.5 grams per tonne gold over true widths of up to 40 metres.
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Jinshan's planned drilling is designed to test a large volume of rock within the main zone in order to define the potential to host a bulk-tonnage, open-pit gold deposit. The drilling program is budgeted for approximately US$1.6 million and will include approximately 35 drill core holes to depths of up to 300 metres.
If the initial drilling is successful, Jinshan plans to undertake a Phase-II infill drilling within the main zone and a program of step-out drilling to extend the zone along strike. Previous mapping and geochemical work completed by the Chinese partner, suggests gold mineralization at Dadiangou may extend to approximately three kilometres in strike length.
Analytical standards, blank samples, and duplicate samples will be included in the sample stream to ensure data integrity. All samples will be shipped to SGS-CSTC Laboratories in Tianjin, China for sample preparation and gold fire assay.
The CSH gold mine is on budget and scheduled to start commercial production in June, 2007, at an estimated average rate of approximately 117,000 ounces per year. Various pieces of mining equipment have been mobilized to the site this past month, including an initial mining fleet of 10 new Terex haul trucks purchased by the contract miner. Haul roads are under construction and the leach pads are expected to start receiving ore later this month. Mine construction has continued through the winter months and final completion of infrastructure is ramping up with the warmer weather.
