St Andrew advances ramp development at Smoke Deep, mining to start by Q4

St Andrew Goldfields (TSE:SAS) said Tuesday that ramp development at its Smoke Deep Zone, part of the Holloway Mine in northeastern Ontario, has advanced to the point where the company can begin excavating to provide access to the western portion of the target.
At the end of June last year, the company made a decision to advance efforts at Smoke Deep by developing an underground ramp, designed to conduct definition drilling to test the extension of the zone, which had never before been tested.
Ramp excavation began last July, and as of this month, development crews started excavating the first crosscut to provide access to the western part of the zone.
The company said that definition drilling has started and development work is expected to be conducted during the third quarter, in order to facilitate the start of mining from Smoke Deep by the fourth quarter of this year.
Ramp development will also continue until it reaches the eastern extent of the zone, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter as well, at which time drilling platforms will be put in place to allow access for continued exploration, with the next phase of drilling due to begin in 2012.
2012 exploration drilling will focus on testing mineralized zones where they remain open along strike, down dip and eastwards, and where previous drilling encountered signficant results, including 5.83 g/t gold over 35.0 metres and 8.84 g/t gold over 14.0 metres.
"We are excited to see what continued exploration will return once exploration drilling resumes," said president and CEO Jacques Perron.
"While the definition drilling will provide us with the information for near term mining at Smoke Deep, the future exploration drilling has the possibility to increase the current level of resources and to extend the mine life of the Holloway Mine."
St Andrew is a gold explorer and producer with an extensive land package in the Timmins mining district, northeastern Ontario, which lies within the Abitibi greenstone belt.