Newmont budgets more work at True North

Newmont Mining (NEM-N) has proposed a 1998 exploration budget of US$3.6 million for continued work at the True North gold project in Alaska.

The budget calls for US$2.1 million to be spent on engineering studies within the main deposit and US$1.5 million for exploring targets outside the current resource area.

The engineering studies will include prefeasibility metallurgical work (finishing up much of what was started last year), including 10 large-diameter core holes on the Shepard and Hindenburg zones for column-leach testing, as well as two 25-ton samples for larger-scale testing. Newmont expects to be finished with this work by June, when it will begin a second round of large-diameter drilling and further bulk sampling.

Newmont will employ power auger sampling, which proved successful in locating two additional zones of mineralization — the Dome Creek and Murray zones — in 1997. Initial drilling there returned several intercepts of shallow oxide mineralization, as well as deeper sulphide mineralization.

Hole 738 hit 35 ft. of sulphide mineralization grading 0.07 oz. gold per ton at a depth of 205 ft. Hole 741 hit 20 ft. of 0.17 oz. gold at the same depth.

Additional drilling in the latter part of 1997 expanded oxide mineralization in the Central zone outwards by as much as 600 ft. Significant intervals from that program include hole 677, which hit 15 ft. of mineralization near surface grading 0.11 oz. gold. Hole 678 hit another 15 ft. of 0.11 oz. gold near surface, and another 40 ft. of 0.15 oz. gold at a depth of 200 ft.

Newmont is earning a 65% interest in the project from La Teko Resources (LAO-V). The deposit contains a 1.3-million-oz. gold resource within 18.2 million tons grading 0.07 oz. gold per ton.