Altavista Mines: Important Gold Discovery in Northwestern Quebec
JAN 14,1997
BOUCHERVILLE, QUE--Altavista Mines Inc. is pleased to announce
the discovery of a major gold-bearing structure on its Santa Anna
property, located 15 kilometres west of La Sarre in Northwestern Quebec.
The new structure, called Zone 8, was initially intersected in
Sept96 by 2 expl holes, holes 96-84 and 96-93.
When drilling resumed in Dec96, hole 96-98, drilled on the
same section as hole 96-84, confirmed the structure's importance,
returning a gold value of 14.85 g/t Au (0.433 oz/t Au) over 5.82ms (19.1 ft).
Zone 8 is presently outlined over a length of nearly 800 ms
and to a depth of up to 140 ms. The north-south oriented zone
remains open at both ends, particularly at depth, and to date
consists of two parallel structures. Gold mineralization is
hosted in a silicified, altered rock containing carbonates and
fuchsite. The mineralization resembles that found at the Kerr
Addison mine. This type of mineralization tends to widen at depth.
Altavista Mines acquired the Santa Anna property, which hosts the
Manley pluton (granite) in May95 on the theory that the small
Manley pluton, the only in the region that hosts high gold values,
was comparable to the Mooshla pluton (Cambior's Mouska mine). The
Doyon mine lies at the contact of the Mooshla pluton. Within a
linear distance of 4.8 km of the Mooshla pluton lie the Doyon mine
(5.1 million ounces of gold, Barrick Gold and Cambior), the
Bousquet 1 and 2 mines (3.8 million ounces of gold, Barrick Gold)
and the Laronde mine (1.8 million ounces of gold, Agnico-Eagle).
If the Manley pluton theory holds, the Company could be looking at
a deposit exceeding one million ounces of gold.
Altavista Mines acquired 29 additional claims in Dec96,
bringing the total to 76 claims. The Company now owns the mining
rights to a 11.2 km, north-south oriented strip of land.
The drill results for Zone 8 demonstrate the importance of the discovery:
/T/
ZONE 8
Section Hole no. Vertical
(metres) depth Intersection
(metres)
g/t oz/t Metres Feet
__________ ________ ________ ___ ____ ______ ____
4550 96-109 5.0 1.97 0.057 3.10 10.2
8.5 2.10 0.061 2.74 9.0
4700 96-84 11.0 2.83 0.083 3.61 11.8
16.0 4.07 0.119 3.54 11.6
4700 96-98 60.5 14.85 0.433 5.82 19.1
72.0 4.23 0.123 4.50 14.8
4800 96-93 63.0 4.74 0.138 5.12 16.8
68.0 1.95 0.057 2.10 6.9
4900 96-110 72.0 5.79 0.169 1.91 6.3
5325 96-100 21.0 14.58 0.425 2.03 6.7
/T/
Drilling on Zone 8 resumed on Jan7,97 and is aimed at
testing the zone extensions. The Company will release the drill
results as they become available.
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