Ressources Appalaches, Rimouski, Québec, TSX-V : APP, has acquired the gold producer Dufferin Resources, located in Nova Scotia.

The transaction comprises the acquisition of the ramp-access Dufferin Mine, together with its processing plant (mill), mining lease, environmental permits, and all the other infrastructure required for production.

Appalaches confirms the potential of the Dufferin Mine

Ressources Appalaches has successfully completed Phase 1 of its due-diligence study for the acquisition of the Dufferin Mine in Nova Scotia. Read More

Appalaches has reached its first objective: the drill program has confirmed the extent, continuity, and grade of the deposit's gold-bearing structures. Based on these positive results, the Company is now engaged in Phase 2 of its due diligence, which concerns the ore-processing plant (mill) and its production capacity.

Dufferin Mine, Nova Scotia - Drilling Results

The drill program comprised 23 boreholes for a total advance of 2,995 metres. Sixty percent of these boreholes have grades in excess of 8 g/t Au, in line with the results from previous drilling and with the Company's objective: the definition of a deposit grading between 7 and 10 g/t Au,

The results include the sampling of a quartz vein and its wall rocks in Borehole F08-07, which gave 31.64 g/t Au over 4 metres, including 125.5 g/t Au over one metre. Sampling of several stratiform quartz veins in an argillaceous mudstone layer in Borehole F08-11 yielded a grade of 8.34 g/t Au over 9 metres.

Corporate Goal

The Company's exploration target is to define 1,250,000 to 1,750,000 tonne at 7 to 10 g/t Au. This objective is based on an extrapolation of the historical resources in the first two veins to all 13 veins, over the length of 900 metres indicated by the earlier work, which includes about fifty holes.

Resource Estimates

The mineralization at the Dufferin Mine consists of gold-bearing quartz veins of stratiform “Saddle Vein” type, folded en echelon and enclosed in sedimentary rocks. Thirteen veins have been identified by earlier drilling over a distance of 900 metres, down to a depth of 400 metres.

“The production data from this period are incomplete and open to question, but it is clear that the previous operators experienced problems regarding both the mining and the processing of the ore in the mill, and faced an unfavourable gold price. In fact, in 2005 and 2006 the addition of a flotation cell enabled a recovery of 3 g/t Au from the mine tailings” notes André Proulx, the Company's President.

Continuity of the deposit

As expected, the drill campaign has confirmed the extension of the gold-bearing quartz veins towards the east and in depth, as well as their regular arrangement, as predicted by the ‘‘Saddle Reef Vein’’ model. The principal characteristic of this type of deposit, which is also seen at the Dufferin Mine, is the continuity of stratiform veins associated with argillaceous beds and anticlinal folding.

Fifteen Saddle-type veins have so far been identified on the deposit. These 15 veins are disposed subhorizontally in the noses of anticlinal folds, stacked one above another at intervals of 10 to 40 metres. The true thickness of some of these veins can be as much as three metres, on the axis of the anticline.

Extent of the deposit

The extensions of the veins have been followed for a horizontal distance of 725 metres and to a depth of about 300 metres. Boreholes were drilled at irregular intervals of from 25 to 100 metres between the drill sections to confirm the continuity of the saddle reefs. The continuity of the first three veins has been demonstrated by means of drill sections 25 metres apart, incorporating the earlier work. The possibility of a larger deposit was also indicated by the discovery of two new, near-surface veins to the east. The geologic and geophysical surveys also indicate that the deposit may extend in this direction.

Currently, the mineralized zone extends over a length of 900 metres, and to a depth of nearly 400 metres. Read More