Another new contract. Is this the begining of the upturn for...

Another new contract. Is this the begining of the upturn for BLY?


Mantra to begin 2,500 m drilling program Colorado Creek


2009-06-15 09:36 ET - News Release

Mr. Raj Chowdhry reports

MANTRA MINING AWARDS DRILL CONTRACT AND PROVIDES EXPLORATION UPDATE FOR THE COLORADO CREEK PROJECT

Mantra Mining Inc. has awarded a drill contract for 2,500 metres of core drilling on its Colorado Creek project in the state of Alaska, in the United States, to Boart Longyear Co., a Utah corporation. The company expects to begin the exploration work program in mid-June, 2009.

The drill program will initially target approximately 10 holes within the more than 4.5-kilometre mineralized corridor defined by a coincident gold soil anomaly and magnetic low located adjacent to a large intrusive centre, and associated with a series of rhyodacite porphyry sills and dikes. The drilling is designed to test this large-scale gold-mineralized system with many characteristics similar to the 30-million-ounce gold reserve at Donlin Creek located southwest of Colorado Creek in the central part of the Kuskokwim gold belt. NovaGold Resources Inc. and Barrick Gold have recently completed a feasibility study at Donlin Creek, and are currently advancing the project through the permitting process in anticipation of making a construction decision to build what could be one of the largest gold producing mines in the world.

Mantra also plans additional surface sampling on trend with the northeast-striking mineralized corridor. Historic exploration data, which include 1,372.5 metres of core drilled by Placer Dome in 1997, airborne geophysics, and results from over 1,900 soil samples and 600 rock samples, have been compiled and integrated into a comprehensive project database. The data define a northeast-trending mineralized zone that is at least 4.5 kilometres long and associated with a magnetic low on the margin of a multiphase intrusive complex. Gold mineralization appears associated with the porphyry dikes and sills that intrude Cretaceous-age sedimentary and volcanic rocks, a geologically similar setting to the huge Donlin Creek gold system.

The company's vice-president of exploration, Jerry Zieg, states: "Progress at Colorado Creek is going very well since we completed the acquisition of the project in March 9, 2009. Work has focused at this stage on a systematic compilation of the project database to prioritize the targets for initial testwork and to identify new target areas within the 10,888-hectare (ha) project area. Final planning is nearly complete for the upcoming 2,500-metre drill program at Colorado Creek, which is anticipated to be the first of a series of drill programs that the company plans to conduct to test the potential for a multimillion ounce gold system at Colorado Creek."

The Colorado Creek project is located approximately 70 kilometres northwest of McGrath and 410 kilometres northwest of Anchorage in low rolling hills roughly midway between the Kuskokwim and Yukon Rivers. The Colorado Creek property is located in an area of historical and continuing placer gold mining operations at the northern end of the Kuskokwim gold belt, which has historically produced over four million ounces of gold. Some camp facilities exist on the property and an airstrip serviceable by Hercules aircraft support exploration on the property.