Field work and drilling by Pele has led to the discovery of several near-surface gold zones at its East Highland Gold Project in Northern Ontario.  East Highland has excellent geologic potential for the discovery of high-grade narrow-vein deposits similar to the nearby Island Gold Mine as well as lower-grade high-tonnage deposits similar to the nearby Magino Mine. 

In the late-1990s, Pele successfully completed a 10,000-tonne bulk sample at the Markes zone, returning positive cash flow when gold was trading at just US$300 per ounce.  The sample was processed at Hemlo, returning 1,702 ounces of gold at an average grade of 5.1 grams per tonne (g/t).  Also in the late-1990s, approximately 3,800 tonnes of material was mined from a shallow open pit at the ‘A’ zone which also returned an average gold grade of about 5 g/t. 

Pele has received updated engineering plans for the extraction of a high-grade, near-surface bulk sample at the ‘A’ zone which is expected to return up to 2,500 ounces of gold.  Plans for the bulk sample include widening and deepening the existing pit under the existing closure plan. The selection of a local mill for processing ore from the bulk sample has not been finalized.  

Drilling has established that the ‘A’ zone has a strike length of a minimum of 65 metres and continues to a vertical depth of approximately 200 metres with the mineralized trend remaining open along strike to the east and at depth.  In 2010, holes were drilled from the existing pit to a vertical depth of approximately 22 metres to delineate a near-surface, bulk mineable, gold resource. Highlights from Pele’s 2010 drill program, all over estimated true widths, include:

• 34.20 g/t gold over 2.78 metres, including significant visible gold (Hole #27)
• 10.61 g/t gold over 4.40 metres (Hole #10)
• 17.15 g/t gold over 2.40 metres (Hole #18)

Also at East Highland, field work by Pele in 2009 led to the discovery of several gold showings including the Lone Ranger zone, a 40-metre wide sheared, silicified, sericitized gold mineralized zone.  Lone Ranger is hosted by a felsic unit that is cut by widespread stockwork quartz veining that contains high-grade and visible gold.  Channel samples cut in three areas over approximately 90 metres of strike yielded individual samples of up to 34 g/t gold over a 2-metre length.   A single composite chip sample across the entire 40-metre width assayed 0.489 g/t gold.  Lone Ranger demonstrates an environment capable of hosting a large, bulk-tonnage gold deposit.

In advance of the proposed separation of the Eco Ridge Rare Earths & Uranium Project from Pele’s gold assets, the Company is updating the NI 43-101 Technical Report for its Highland Gold projects in preparation for an active field season.  East Highland is 100-percent owned by Pele Gold Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.