VANCOUVER (Thomson Financial) - Northgate Minerals Corp. said diamond drilling in the Golden Gift 6 (GG6) exploration area at its Stawell mine in Australia has intersected high gold grades.

Drilling in the GG6 area has revealed two main mineralised zones extending over 270 metres along strike and over 130 metres in vertical height.

A third, previously unknown mineralisation zone was discovered just east of the main basalt contact zone, which could add significant ounces by providing secondary mining zones.

Northgate has allocated $7 million to its exploration program at Stawell for 2008, which will focus on numerous targets that have strong potential to increase mineable reserves.