Thunder Creek
Thunder Creek is located immediately adjacent to Lake Shore's 100%-owned Timmins West property where a positive pre-feasibility study was recently completed (see news release dated August 28, 2007) and an underground exploration program is currently under way. The Thunder Creek property represents a primary gold exploration target consisting of 54 claim units.
In December 2007 Lake Shore completed the requirements to vest a 60% option interest in Thunder Creek from West Timmins Mining Inc. Pending final confirmation of exploration expenditures, the Thunder Creek property will move forward as a 60/40 pro-rata funded joint venture between Lake Shore and West Timmins.
Thunder Creek was acquired in order to test for gold mineralization in association with an ultramafic intrusive body, similar to the Ultramafic Zone in the Timmins West property, that extends for over 1,800 metres southwest of the Timmins gold deposit. Certain claims are subject to a 2% or 3% NSR royalty.
A first phase drill program was carried out by the Company in late 2003 and early 2004. Seven holes were completed (totalling 1,945 metres drilled) in the vicinity of two holes drilled by Preussag Minerals in 1981 that reported several anomalous intersections including 4.2 grams per tonne gold over 4.5 metres, and 2.5 grams per tonne gold over 2.3 metres. The drilling indicated a strong zone of alteration in the footwall of the ultramafic intrusive. This zone is host to veining and pyrite, and is highly anomalous in gold with results up to 9.0 grams per tonne gold over 0.8 metres.
Second and third phase drill programs, initiated in August 2004, were completed in May 2005 (18 holes for 6,454 metres) to test several newly identified targets. Recent surface exploration work completed on the Property delineated a well-developed east-west shear zone that offsets the main target ultramafic. This strong shear structure carries anomalous gold in both rock and soil samples and has been defined by surface mapping and geophysics over a strike length of more than 1,000 metres. Mapping and soil sampling also identified a second area north of the shear structure underlain by this same ultramafic and by felsic porphyry with anomalous gold in soils and rock. Mineralization within these targets returned surface values up to 73.0 grams per tonne gold. Limited drilling along a 250 metre strike length on the shear structure returned assays of 3.7 grams per tonne gold over 3.9 metres and up to 13.3 grams per tonne gold over 0.7 metres.
During 2007 Lake Shore intersected four new zones of high-grade gold mineralization in hole TC07-30 that returned 10.91 grams gold per tonne over 3.65 metres, 5.43 grams gold per tonne over 1.2 metres, 27.6 grams gold per tonne over 0.50 metres and 9.77 grams gold per tonne over 3.95 metres. The character of the mineralization in these new gold zones is similar to the Ultramafic zone that hosts the majority of the gold mineralization at Timmins West. An additional hole, TC07-36, contained 24.61 grams per tonne gold over 7.0 metres, located 25 metres west of hole TC07-30 and 300 metres below surface.
