New Gold is accelerating its drill program for its Blackwater project in central B.C. The company has budgeted $20 million for between 40,000 and 50,000 metres of drilling in the second half of this year. That is over double previous owner Richfield’s exploration program, which had targetted just 30,000 metres for the full year.
“The holes drilled since the March 2011 resource estimate have shown good continuity and we look forward to building upon these successful results to grow the Blackwater resource,” said Mark Peterson, New Gold’s vice president, exploration.
The deposit contains 1.83 million ounces of gold in the indicated category and 2.34 ounces inferred, with a cutoff grade of 0.4 g/t. The last resource estimate was done in March 2011 and was based on 77 holes drilled in between 2009 and 2010.
New Gold acquired Blackwater as part of a $513-million acquisition of Richfield Ventures earlier this year.
New Gold has three producing assets and three projects in development. The Mesquite Mine in the United States, the Cerro San Pedro Mine in Mexico and Peak Gold Mines in Australia are expected to produce between 380,000 and 400,000 ounces of gold in 2011. The New Afton project in central B.C. is currently in construction and is scheduled to open in 2012. New Gold also owns 30% of Goldcorp’s El Morro project in Chile and. For more information on the company, please visit
www.newgold.com.
Sign Up for the Precious Metals Digest
