Premier Gold Mines (PG.TSX), an emerging gold company which handily outperformed the Market Vectors Gold Mining ETF (GDX) last year reported additional high-grade drill results at its Hardrock Project in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. Shares of Premier Gold gained 158% in 2009 versus a 36.4% return for the GDX as the company continued to build more gold ounces at multiple projects.

Multiple deep drill holes have intersected broad zones of high-grade gold mineralization below the bottom level of the historically-mined North Zone at Hardrock. Premier Gold has been aggressively drilling and building ounces at Hardrock in order to demonstrate that the deposit contains a multi-million ounce gold resource. Highlights from the results include intercepts of 10.05 grams per tonne of gold across 24.2 meters (0.29 ounces per ton of gold across 79.4 feet); and 8.41 grams per tonne of gold across 22.9 meters (0.25 ounces per ton of gold across 75.1 feet). The Canadian-based gold company also stated that this drilling confirms that the North Zone deposit is wide open at depth.

Stephen McGibbon, Premier Gold’s Executive VP and COO, commented that “Hardrock continues to exceed even our optimistic expectations. These solid results bode well for our forthcoming resource estimate and our ongoing aggressive drilling program. During 2010 we are eager to continue to further outline both the open pit and underground potential of Hardrock.”

Premier Gold went on to say that ongoing work at Hardrock is testing both open pit and underground type targets. Furthermore, numerous potential open pit zones have been delineated to be incorporated into a NI43-101 compliant resource estimate that is scheduled to be completed early in 2010 (initial open pit resource). The Canadian gold company also stated that the focus of drilling has now moved towards defining underground-style zones that will be incorporated in an updated resource that is expected in the third quarter 2010.

The Hardrock discovery has the important benefit of solid infrastructure - a fact that will enhance the profitability of this future gold mine. The close proximity to the Trans-Canada Highway, Trans-Canada Pipeline, and major power lines will all contribute to a lower cost structure. The Hardrock project is one of a number of gold targets being drilled by CEO Ewan Downie’s team - with the company hitting high-grade gold in multiple districts. Blackmont Capital recently highlighted Premier Gold in a report titled, “The Next Tier in Golds: Ready to Respond” stating that the emerging gold company was poised to be a member of a new class of mid-tier gold miners. The Blackmont research team focused on companies that have the potential to host world-class multi-million ounce gold deposits.

Premier Gold Mines is a Canadian-based mineral exploration and development company with several projects and deposits in Northwestern Ontario, Canada and a joint venture in Mexico. Two of these projects are operated in the Red Lake gold mining camp, both joint ventures with Goldcorp. The Canadian gold company has active drill programs at its Hardrock Project and PQ North Project that are located on the main Musselwhite gold mine trend. Shares of Premier Gold were up C$0.08 to C$4.20, the GDX was higher by $0.79 to $48.50 while the gold price was up $4.09 to $1,124.65 per ounce.