Monday junior mining headlines feat. North Arrow, Mariana and Columbus

A flurry of news releases this morning here are several of my favourites with some additional comments on each.

North Arrow Minerals - (NAR:TSXV) - North Arrow along with partner Stornoway has discovered three new kimberlites at the Pikoo diamond project in Saskatchewan. North Arrow has been exploring the Pikoo project since 2013 and can earn in to an 80% interest. 24 drills holes tested targets found with the following highlights:

Three new kimberlite occurrences have been discovered, one each in the East Pikoo, North Pikoo and South Pikoo target areas.
The most significant discovery is kimberlite PK314 in the North Pikoo area, located immediately up ice from a high-priority pyrope garnet anomaly. PK314 has been drilled to a depth of 213 m and appears to be an east-west-trending, vertically emplaced diatreme-like body that is 25 m wide with a minimum length of approximately 40 m.
Diamondiferous kimberlite PK150, first discovered in 2013, has now been drilled to a depth of 199 m and over a strike length of 150 m, and remains open to depth and along strike to the east.
Drilling has confirmed that PK150 is not constrained by the high intensity magnetic anomaly identified as the initial exploration target in 2013.
PK314 and PK150 display textures consistent with coherent kimberlite and transitional to Kimberley-type pyroclastic kimberlite (previously termed diatreme facies kimberlite) as opposed to only hypabyssal textural features that characterize dike-like bodies.
Kimberlite has now been encountered in 11 of 13 drill holes completed to date along a 900 m strike length of the "PK150/151 valley" in the South Pikoo target area.

Ken Armstrong, president and chief executive officer of North Arrow, commented: "The 2015 winter drilling program was a success and has confirmed the Pikoo project's potential for multiple diamondiferous kimberlite discoveries. The discovery of an extensive zone of weakly magnetic kimberlite at PK150 has not only increased the size of the body but also opens up possibilities for new kimberlite targets within the project. Additionally, the PK150 and PK314 kimberlites display textures consistent with, or transitional to, diatreme-like kimberlite bodies. These are not simple kimberlite dikes. Further detailed logging of the drill cores is under way to confirm these interpretations, which have important positive implications for ongoing exploration of the property."

North Arrow stock is up 2 cents on the news to 85 cents in early trading. It will be interesting to see the grade of the latest drill holes.

A reminder to investors North Arrow has more catalysts upcoming with the remaining results of a bulk sample from the Qilalugaq flagship project expected in April/May.

Pikoo is an excellent secondary project with promising results so far. For a video interview with CEO, Ken Armstong discussing Pikoo click here. North Arrow is fully funded to complete all this work and has a strong shareholder base including management/directors (18%) and Zebra Holdings (Lundin Family 18%).

Read: North Arrow Discovers Three New Kimberlites At The Pikoo Diamond Project, Saskatchewan

Mariana Resources (MARL:AIM) - Mariana is one of the most exciting exploration stocks to watch in 2015 after hitting two significant discovery holes in February. This morning the company released an update discussing the highlights for the first quarter and updates on the plans for the second quarter.

Not many people knew Mariana acquire the Hot Maden property when they merged with Aegan Metals in January. Following the acquisition two significant discovery holes returned assays of:

HTD‐04: 103m @ 9.0 g/t Au & 2.2 % Cu from 25m downhole, including a higher grade interval of 18.3 g/t Au & 3.3% Cu over 33.4m from 79.8m downhole
HTD‐05: 82m @ 20.4 g/t Au & 1.9% Cu from 147m downhole, including a bonanza 13m @ 88 g/t Au & 2.5% Cu from 150m downhole

JV partner Lydia is earning in to a 70% in the Hot Maden project which is located in North East Turkey. A phase 2 drill program will commence in April and be fully funded by Lydia. Plans at the moment are for 10,000m of drilling with first results expected in May.

As a result of the good news Mariana had no problem raising GBP $1.8 million of equity and acquiring institutional support including Sprott Asset Management (6.8%).

Chief Executive Officer, Glen Parsons today said: “There has been significant interest in Mariana from both retail and institutional investors as a result of Hot Maden which, with the substantial drill program about to commence, is now our main focus. Hot Maden in Turkey has the potential to become one of the greatest high grade gold‐copper discoveries in recent years and consequently we have to maximise potential value whilst ensuring Mariana’s interest in the project is fully protected. We have reviewed our portfolio and adjusted our forward programme to ensure we can leverage this value from all our assets at the appropriate time. I believe the Company’s strategy with its geographically diverse and multi‐commodity portfolio will help to mitigate potential project economic risks and continue to allow for potential sustained ongoing value creation for shareholders. I look forward to updating the market on Hot Maden as well as the ongoing results and developments from our portfolio.”

The April drilling program will be exciting to watch to see if Mariana and Lydia are on to the next world class discovery or not. We filmed a video interview at PDAC with Brent Cook (Exploration Insights) and Mariana's Eric Roth which can be viewed here. At the time Mr. Cook expressed concerns of Mariana spending money on other projects instead of focusing on Hot Maden. It today's news release Mariana has announced officially Hot Maden is the focus and they will be scaling back work activity on other projects.

Read: First Quarter 2015 - Exploration and Ongoing Strategy Update

Columbus Gold - (CGT:TSXV) - Columbus Gold has announced plans for the 2015 drilling program at the Eastside project in Nevada. Management is very excited about the prospects of this project and has planned a 250 hole (64,000m) program commencing in May/June. This is one of the largest drill programs I have seen a junior mining company put together for 2015.

Columbus is just awaiting final permits before drilling begins which they expect in the second quarter. Columbus expects to have 45,000m done before the end of 2015 using up to 3 drill rigs. Several new targets have been found which will be drilled. Nine (CA's) have reportedly been signed on this asset. A initial resource estimate is expected in Q1 2016.

The main asset of Columbus is the 4.3 million ounce Paul Isnard project being worked on by JV partner Nord Gold. Nord Gold is one of the fastest growing gold companies in the world.

With two solid assets both being worked on investors can expect steady news flow from Columbus in 2015. In late February the company had $5 million in cash.

Read: Columbus Gold Outlines Two Additional Targets at Nevada Eastside Gold Project and Provides General Project Update

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This is not investment advice.All facts are to be checked and verified by reader. As always please do your own due diligence.

James Fraser

Mr. Fraser joined CEO.ca in October 2014. He is passionate about the mining industry. His passion led to co-authoring the e-book "Mining Stocks Investor Guide: A Guide to Investing in Mining Companies." He has a finance background and has completed his Canadian Securities Course (CSC) and Conduct and Practices Handbook (CPH). When Fraser is not "digging" up the latest mining stock, he can be found enjoying a wide variety of sports or travelling the world. More →

Twitter: @miningstocks

james@miningstocksguide.com

James Fraser

Twitter: @miningstocks

james@miningstocksguide.com

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