The gold potential of the Hanhimaa Shear Zone was first identified in 2002 when the first indications of gold were found via geochemical sampling and trenching. Since then, three gold prospects have been located within the 100-200 metre wide domain of strongly sheared and hydrothermally altered rocks, in the northern part of the more than 20 kilometre long, north-south trending structure.
The exploration campaign initiated during 2007 continued into 2008 with further diamond core drilling and regional geochemical programs.
Additional diamond drilling was conducted at Hanhimaa in early 2008, with a further 17 holes completed. Ten of the holes were drilled at the Kiimalaki prospect targeting down-dip and along strike extensions of earlier drill results, yielding a number of intercepts including highlight 7.50m @ 5.88 g/t gold and 11.78 g/t silver.
Significant Drill Results in the Kiimalaki and Kellolaki Areas
The remaining seven holes were completed on the Kellolaki prospect, some 2 kilometres northeast of Kiimalaki. Results returned from the area were generally of a lower grade, with four holes failing to return any significant results.
North and south of the Kiimalaki and Kellolaki prospects a program of bedrock chip sampling was completed designed to test areas that displayed indications of shearing, hydrothermally altered rocks and/or containing anomalous concentrations of gold or pathfinder elements.
Results yielded numerous samples with indications of anomalous gold or silver and included the identification of a new area of precious and base metal mineralisation at Kiimakuusikko, where five trench samples returned values for gold ranging up to 3,820 ppb, 106 g/t silver, 0.36% copper, 8.09% lead, 0.42% zinc, 4.28% arsenic and 1.97% antimony.
Geochemical Results on the Hanhimaa Project
The Kiimakuusikko area is located approximately four kilometres south of the Kiimalaki-Kellolaki prospects and is the third significant zone of mineralisation to have been identified along the Hanhimaa Shear Zone.
A short diamond drill core program targeting the Kiimakuusikko area late in 2008 intersected zones of hydrothermally altered rocks with elevated gold and silver contents, including a best intercept of 3.45m @ 3.94 g/t gold and 5.26 g/t silver. The drilling also intersected several narrow veins containing base and precious metal mineralisation.
Results from samples representing the weathered part of the bedrock collected at intervals from 1 to 4 metres from trench M42 located at Kiimakuusikko were also received. The best interval comprising altered mafic metavolcanic rock and quartz-carbonate vein contains 4.03 g/t gold, 150 g/t silver over 1 metre. Several other sampling sections contain anomalous gold, silver and arsenic contents.
Excavation of further trenches in the Kiimakuusikko area has been completed. A total of six trenches were excavated in preparation for mapping and percussion drilling. Geochemical sampling across sixteen profiles was completed, a total of 406 samples for Ionic Leach analysis and 406 samples for ICP analysis dispatched to the laboratories.
