Holt-McDermott mine project gets green light from Barrick

The Holt-McDermott gold project has been flashed a green light by American Barrick Resources Corp. Located 30 miles north of Kirkland Lake, Ont., the new mine will pour almost 100,000 oz of gold per year, starting in the second quarter of 1988. Total capital costs for the mine, 1,400-ft shaft and 1,500- ton-per-day mill, are estimated by Kilborn Engineering at $50 million.

For American Barrick, which acquired the property in 1984 when Barrick merged with debt-ridden Camflo Mines, the Holt-McDermott project represents the first mine to be built by the company. Other mines in the company’s fold, which yielded 140,468 oz of gold during the first nine months of 1986, were acquired through cash purchases and mergers.

For M. E. Holt, Barrick’s vice- president of exploration, the mine represents a personal milestone. A past president of the Prospectors and Developers Association (1979- 1980) and well-respected by his peers in the Canadian mining industry, Mr Holt stuck with the project during the troubled times at Camflo. Despite marginal results from shallow drilling completed by Camflo in the early 1980s, he managed to keep the project alive by getting the cash-strapped and debt- burdened company to keep funding exploration.

However, the exploration picture began to change for the better by the latter part of 1983 when deeper drilling started intersecting sections averaging 0.2 oz gold per ton across true widths of 10-50 ft (N.M., Dec 22/83).

Since then, Barrick has completed more than 250,000 ft of diamond drilling which has outlined a large deposit hosting in excess of three million tons of reserve grading 0.19 oz. Uniform in nature, the gold mineralization occupies a wide zone, up to 90 ft in width. (In 1985, a drill hole intersected a true width of 90 ft grading 0.24 oz.)

Open below 1,500 ft at depth and along strike, the sheet-like mineralized zone will be mined by a combination of open and shrinkage stopes, Mr Holt says. Cash operating costs per oz are estimated at $190(US).

The Holt-McDermott project also underlines the need for perserverance in mineral exploration. First staked in 1922, the surface gold showings in Holloway Twp. were examined many times during the ensuing 60 years until Camflo entered the scene in 1981. From discovery in 1922 to the first gold pour in 1988, more than 66 years will have elapsed.