Sunrise Resources (LON:SRES) shares advanced around 7.5 percent after it revealed encouraging exploration work from the Long Lake gold project.
Long Lake is situated in Ontario, near the famous Sudbury mining region. The site hosts a historic gold mine which produced 56,000 ounces of gold up until it was closed in 1939.
The company completed its first drilling programme on the property back in December and now it has completed the geophysical exploration work and the results have revealed several anomalies that warrant further exploration. Importantly the geophysical results backed up the findings of recent drilling data.
"Results from the initial exploration programme have exceeded our expectations,” chairman Patrick Cheetham said.
“The geophysical results released today have identified a number of additional drill targets and planning for a second phase of drilling at Long Lake is already underway."
This morning’s results highlight several near surface anomalies that have been recommended for ground checking and drill testing. These anomalies are near the historic Long Lake mine and at the E1 prospect which is 350 metres south of the mine.
It said that 3D imaging at E1 suggests lateral continuity of mineralisation between surveyed drill holes.
“Overall the survey looks to have provided a sound basis of knowledge for the next phase of the exploration,” Northland Securities analyst Andrew McGeary said in a note to clients.
McGeary adds: “Results are particularly encouraging in relation to the, as yet undrilled E1 prospect.
“The geophysical data was an important step in the work programme, particularly in relation to the highly prospective E1 area.
“E1 is host to a second quartzite sedimentary sequence in which 1970s and 1980s drilling intersected high-grade gold mineralisation. This has not yet been explored in this drilling programme because controls on gold mineralisation were poorly understood and the prospect needed to be 'worked-up'.
“Thus the suggested lateral continuity suggested here, is very encouraging.”
Importantly Sunrise said that the significance of the findings are underlined by the same anomalous geophysical response of known mineralisation in drill hole 10LD003.
This was one of nine holes drilled by Sunrise at the end of 2010. Hole 10LD003 had some of the programme’s best results, finding an intersection with 35.43 metres of mineralisation grading 2 grams per tonne and includes 2.27 metres grading 16.1 grams per tonne.
Last month Sunrise released the findings of the drilling programme, which showed that gold mineralisation extends near surface beyond the historic pit limits and confirms that mineralisation continues at depth below the mine workings – just as Sunrise predicted.
The company drilled nine holes in and around Long Lake’s historic mine workings. The programme tested near-surface gold mineralisation beyond the historic pit. It also tested the gold mineralisation adjacent to and below the historic mine workings, which reached a vertical depth of 55 metres.
The best results include 17 metres grading 2.9 grams per tonne gold, as well as 2.3 metres grading 16.1 grams per tonne gold within a 35 metre thick interval grading 2 grams per tonne gold. The highest grades reached 55 grams per tonne gold, albeit over narrow intervals.
Importantly the deepest hole in the programme has confirmed the continuation of the gold mineralisation at depth, also as predicted.
This morning’s geophysical results have thrown up a few additional areas of interest, as it highlighted several near surface anomalies that have been recommended for ground checking and drill testing. These anomalies are near the historic Long Lake mine and at the E1 prospect which is 350 metres south of the mine.
Sunrise said that 3D imaging at E1 suggests lateral continuity of mineralisation between surveyed drill holes.
Additionally the geophysical work also confirmed ‘Anomaly 23’ as a strong target. During the drilling phase Hole 10LD006 tested geophysical anomaly A23, which was first identified by an airborne survey, but it did not contain sufficient mineralisation to explain the anomaly.
Although it was missed by recent drilling, Sunrise said that: “The results from a surface IP line and a down-hole survey carried out at the site of A23 confirmed the occurrence of a significant anomaly, with high conductivity and low resistivity at approximately 100 metres and below the depth tested by hole 10LD006.
“This anomaly is the strongest detected in the whole programme and suggests a significant sulphide mineral accumulation not yet tested.”