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Underworld drilling at both Oturehua and Thames projects
2 July 2008, Source: Underworld Resources and Lindsay Clark - Underworld Resources Inc, the New Zealand-based mineral explorer listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has begun gold drilling in Central Otago in the South Island and near Thames in the North Island.
Adrian Fleming, the Dunedin-based president and chief executive officer of Underworld Resources, says that a programme of 1,500 meters of core and reverse circulation drilling is underway at the company’s 75% owned Golden Progress gold project near Oturehua, about 40 km north east of Alexandra in Otago.
Underworld’s target is high grade gold mineralisation at each of the Great Eastern, Golden Progress, West of England and Dover reefs which are typified by steeply dipping mesothermal quartz veins.
Recent work by Underworld has included surface geological mapping, grid soil sampling and rehabilitating the historic workings to allow underground sampling. Underground sampling at the Great Eastern prospect returned gold grades averaging 5.6 g/t over 21 m at a width of 0.3 -- 0.5 m. Two other grab samples from exposed quartz vein material in old workings returned 42.9 and 76.5 g/t of gold.
The Great Eastern and Golden Progress mines saw production in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Production grades reported at Golden Progress were cited at 48.8 g/t Au. Total documented production from the Golden Progress was 4,990 oz.
At the Joker gold project near Thames, a programme of drilling has commenced on the Joker vein in epithermal gold mineralisation.
The Joker vein extends for at least 300 m, perhaps up to 1.5 km, along a north east trend and the vertical extent has been traced for 80 m.
Underworld completed a programme of 11.5 line kms of gradient array IP ground geophysics at Joker in November 2007 to assist planning of the proposed drill programme. Sampling of material from limited access to old adits returned grades of 17.9 and 2.15 g/t Au. Approximately 750 m of reverse circulation drilling is planned.
Small scale gold mining was carried out in this area in the late 1800's with total historic production unknown.