THUNDER BAY, ON, Dec. 1 /CNW/ -- PREMIER GOLD MINES LIMITED (TSX:PG) is pleased to announce that deep drilling has intersected multiple high-grade gold zones below the bottom level of the historically mined North Zone at the Hardrock Project in Northwestern Ontario. Highlights include an intercept of 39.20 grams per tonne gold (g/t Au) across 4.8 metres (m) or 1.14 oz/ton across 15.7 feet (ft). This hole has confirmed that the North Zone deposit is wide open at depth, with intersections as deep as 40 metres below the historic workings. Additionally, final work is being done in advance of releasing an initial NI43-101 resource calculation for Hardrock on open pit style deposits.

North Zone Deeps
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The first hole drilled to test the down-dip potential of the mine, MM050, has intersected multiple zones of high-grade gold mineralization immediately below the mined portion of the North Zone. Significant intercepts include:

-   39.20 g/t across 4.8 m (1.14 oz/ton across 15.7 ft) from 662.7 m to
667.5 m
-   3.65 g/t Au across 3.0 m (0.11 oz/ton across 9.8 ft) from 681.0 m to
684.0 m
-   4.03 g/t Au across 6.9 m (0.12 oz/ton across 22.6 ft) from 703.9m to
710.8m
-   Includes 7.90 g/t Au across 2.6 m (0.23 oz/ton across 8.5 ft) from
703.9m to 706.5m

Additional drilling to test the extension of the North Zone continues to intersect multiple mineralized zones including a broad mineral-rich section down dip from hole MM050. Figure 1 below, a 3D longitudinal section of the Hardrock Project highlighting hole MM050.

The North Zone was previously mined to a depth of 2,000 feet (610 m) with production of 2.97 million tons at a recovered grade of 0.22 oz/ton (7.54g/t Au). Mining in the West Zone, a part of the North Zone horizon, resulted in the extraction of 532,254 tons with a recovered grade of 0.23 oz/ton (7.85 g/t Au). Premier has completed a second deep hole, MM079, from which several wedge holes are planned to further define the depth potential of the North Zone.

Ongoing work at Hardrock is testing both open pit and underground type targets. Several potential open pit zones have been delineated to be included into a NI43-101 compliant resource calculation which is expected to be completed in Q4 2009 (initial open pit resource). The focus of drilling has now shifted towards defining underground-style zones that will be included in an updated resource that is expected in Q3 2010.

Significant potential exists for developing resources in several areas including:

-   Open pit-style mineralization in the main areas, the Tenacity, EP
(includes NN) and Kailey Zones.