News Release:
Houston Lake receives Tib Lake drilling results
Houston Lake Mining Inc HLM
Shares issued 12,797,432 Oct 6 close $1.26
Tue 10 Oct 2000 News Release
Mr. E. Grayme Anthony reports
Houston Lake Mining has received drilling results from its 1,632-hectare
(4,030-acre) Tib Lake palladium property which is located in the Lac des
Iles area of Northwestern Ontario. The property is located just nine miles
northwest of the Lac des Iles mine of North American Palladium Ltd. (NAPL)
where a $126-million (U.S.) expansion of the mine is under way. Three drill
holes of the seven drill hole diamond drilling program have been now
completed. Drill hole TL-00-16 intersected the Kuhner zone and encountered
22 metres (72.2 feet) of core length grading 1.453 grams per tonne platinum
group elements (PGEs) (0.042 ounce per ton PGEs), 0.17 per cent nickel and
0.15 per cent copper. This intercept extends the PGE mineralization at the
Kuhner occurrence an additional 35 metres (113 feet) from a depth of 30
metres (100 feet) to a depth of 65 metres (213 feet). Drilling has
recommenced as of Friday, Oct. 6, 2000, on the remaining four drill holes
of the exploration program. Houston Lake has earned a 100-per-cent interest
in the property subject to a 2.5-per-cent net smelter royalty with a
buyback of 1 per cent for $1-million.
The diamond drilling program comprises seven diamond drill holes totalling
in excess of 1,000 metres (3,280 feet). The program has a twofold purpose:
to verify palladium-platinum-gold mineralization in the vicinity of the
Kuhner occurrence (TL-00-15 and TL-00-16) while the other five drill holes
test a variety of geological/geophysical environments in a broad area of
sulphidized heterogenous gabbro/gabbro breccia that extend 2.5 kilometres
(1.5 miles) westward from near the Kuhner occurrence to the Jewelweed
occurrence. A total of 505 metres (1,656 feet) of the program has now been
completed in the three drill holes. The program has recommenced last Friday
after a one-week hiatus which allowed modification of the drilling program
with information from a geophysical reinterpretation (IP, magnetics and
VLF-EM) of existing data and the continuing detailed geological mapping
program. Drill hole TL-00-18 was started on Friday and is at 185 metres
(606.8 feet) as of last night.
Drill hole TL-00-16 targeted the downward extension of the Kuhner palladium
occurrence at line 66+00E, 12+00N where surface sampling encountered
several one-metre channel samples of over two g/t palladium. A 1995 drill
hole, TL-95-09, intersected economically significant results of intersected
a core length of 18.47 metres of 1.68 g/t PGEs (palladium, platinum and
gold) at a depth of 30.5 metres (60.6 feet of 0.05 ounce per ton PGEs)
under the Kuhner occurrence. Drill hole TL-98-14 encountered 10.47 metres
grading 0.319 g/t PGEs (34.3 feet of 0.01 ounce per ton PGEs) in the
vicinity of the intercept of TL-95-09.
Drill hole TL-00-16 intersected the Kuhner zone at an average depth of 65
metres (213 feet) and encountered 22 metres (72.2 feet) of core length
grading 1.453 g/t PGEs (0.042 ounce per ton PGEs), 0.17 per cent nickel and
0.15 per cent copper in a vertically dipping and sulphidized gabbronorite
host. The average ratio of palladium to platinum to gold is 6.4:2.4:1.2.
The Kuhner zone appears to be widening with depth and is open along strike.
Results compare favourably with the Roby zone open pit of NAPL's Lac des
Iles mine where reserves are 74.2 million tonnes grading 1.64 grams
palladium, 0.18 gram platinum and 0.14 gram gold per tonne plus 0.07 per
cent copper and 0.06 per cent nickel, based on a cutoff grade of 0.92 gram
palladium equivalent.
Sample
Drill Sample Sample Inter-
Hole Interval Interval section
No. (metres) (metres) (feet)
TL-00-16 65.0-87.0 22.0 72.2
Incl. 15.0 49.2
Incl. 5.0 16.4
TL-00-15 11.0 36.1
Incl. 4.0 13.1
Drill Combined Combined
Hole PGEs PGEs Ni Cu
No. (g/t) (oz/t) (%) (%)
TL-00-16 1.453 0.042 0.17 0.15
Incl. 1.739 0.051 0.18 0.17
Incl. 2.072 0.060 0.19 0.16
TL-00-15 0.470 0.014 0.07 0.08
Incl. 0.734 0.021 0.08 0.08
Drill hole TL-00-15 was drilled just to the north of the Kuhner occurrence
to test a new geophysical target and to add stratigraphic information.
TL-00-15 intersected 11.0 metres grading 0.470 g/t PGEs (36.1 feet of 0.01
ounce per ton PGEs) hosted in a sulphidized gabbronorite and gabbro host.
The third drill hole, TL-00-17, tested the broad zone of heterogenous
gabbro/gabbro breccia rocks that extend 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) between
the Kuhner palladium occurrence and the Jewelweed palladium occurrence and
did not return significant assays. All PGE assays used the fire assay
method while nickel, copper and cobalt were analyzed with the ICP method by
Chemex Labs of Mississauga, Ont. The project is under the supervision of
independent consulting geologist, Ken Germundsen, PhD. Additional assays
from drilling, detailed mapping and prospecting are expected over the next
several weeks.
Houston Lake is actively exploring for rare metals, platinum group metals
and gold in Northwestern Ontario. Houston Lake Mining Inc. has a total of
12,797,432 common shares issued and outstanding. |
