Commander Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE:CMD) reports that it has been informed by AngloGold Ashanti of its intention to proceed with funding a 2011 exploration program on Commander’s wholly owned Baffin Island Gold Project, Nunavut. The program and budget allocations are being designed in consultation with Anglo’s technical team and will be finalized early in the New Year. The program will be operated by Commander and financed by AngloGold Ashanti under the terms of the $20 million farm-in Joint Venture Agreement as announced on September 3rd, 2009.
The parties were encouraged by the widespread gold bearing system discovered at the Kanosak prospect in 2010 (see Commander news releases dated September 23rd and October 12th, 2010) and plan to develop further drill targets in this expansive area. The 2011 program will also focus on developing a pipeline of drill targets at the Ridge Lake and several other prospects by conducting further geophysical surveys. Additionally, extensive prospecting activities will be carried out on the large, highly prospective project area including new claims that were staked in 2009. These claims consist of about 88,000 acres of land within favourable gold bearing Bravo stratigraphy that have had only preliminary examination by Commander. The staging of exploration from grass roots prospecting to advanced geophysical surveys and drilling is intended to yield a steady level of activity at the Baffin camp over a period of years.
The Baffin Gold Project represents a district-scale gold belt with similar geological and genetic origins as the large Homestake area in South Dakota and the Morro Velho mine in Brazil. To date the Baffin project has yielded numerous gold prospect areas occurring over a strike length in excess of 100 kilometres. The property includes high-grade gold values in at least three separate iron formation units, within shear zones and quartz veins in younger granodiorite, gabbro, and metasedimentary units. In each of the different settings, gold occurs primarily as free gold.
The location and detailed results from the gold zones and prospects on the Baffin property can be found on the Commander’s website and in the company’s news releases pertaining to the Baffin Island Gold Project. The property is readily accessible to tidewater, contains abundant fresh water and is located close to a “distant early warning” (DEW line) radar station, which has an operational 4,000-foot airstrip.