SOUTHEAST ASIA SPECIAL — Nord Pacific drills hit more gold on Tabar Islands

Drilling by Nord Pacific (NASDAQ) is extending oxide gold mineralization at several prospects on its wholly owned Tabar Islands gold project in Papua New Guinea.

The Tabar Islands are four in number: Simberi, Tabar, Tatau and Mapua. Nord Pacific has been involved in the project for more than 12 years and, in late 1993, bought the interests of its two co-venturers (Kennecott and Niuguni Mining). More than US$20 million has been spent on the project to date.

The company’s current reverse-circulation program is testing oxide deposits at the Sorowar, North Samat and East Samat prospects on Simberi Island.

Results from 30 holes at Sorowar include 41 metres grading 2.6 grams gold per tonne, 11 metres of 4.6 grams and 2 metres averaging 45 grams. The new holes are south and east of the conceptual pit. An expanded pit is being designed, which will include these additional gold resources.

At East Samat, 38 holes were driled to test an area that returned encouraging trenching results. Assays are in hand for the first six holes; significant results include 40 metres of 1.3 grams and 34 metres averaging 1.3 grams.

At North Samat, two holes were drilled in one of the conceptual pits, returning 7 metres of 3.8 grams gold and 3 metres averaging 40.2 grams.

Nord President Pierce Carson says feasibility studies are on track for the Tabar Islands project and a production decision is expected in the third quarter of this year. “If a positive decision is made, we believe initial production may be achievable 12 to 18 months later,” he states. “In addition, there is the potential for eventual development of high-grade sulphide deposits which underlie the oxide gold deposits.”

The feasibility study will update a previous study (1995) which indicated that the Simberi oxide gold mineralization had potential to produce 25,000-40,000 oz. gold annually at a cash cost of about US$210 per oz.

Capital costs were estimated to be in the range of US$15-20 million.

Nord recently started drilling on Tatau Island to test the large Daramba copper anomaly. This work will be followed by drilling of the nearby Tugi Tugi gold anomaly where values of more than 1 gram were obtained in soil samples from a 300-by-200-metre zone.

A new prospect was discovered at Talik Creek, 1 mile northwest of Daramba.

Two anomalies (0.5 and 1 sq. km in area, respectively) have been defined by soil values of more than 250 parts per million (ppm) copper, 5 ppm molybdenum and 0.1 gram gold per tonne.

Exploration continues to test these and other anomalies on Tatua Island.