“Spectacular” results at B.C. silver find

Exploration companies have been known to succumb to the “herd instinct,”which probably explains their almost total obsession with gold. But the successor to Corporation Falconbridge Copper, Minnova Inc., has taken a much more independent tack over the years and it’s paying off.

Minnova has dramatically enhanced a previously known massive sulphide discovery in the Adams Lake area, 28 miles north of Kamloops, B.C. The property is held under option from Vancouver- listed Rea Gold Corp. which can back in for a 30% working interest at feasibility. (It recently acquired an additional 5% net smelter interest from the property vendor).

An earlier reserve estimated by Rea to contain 1.1 million tons grading 0.042 oz gold, 21.2 oz silver, 2.89% zinc, 3.2% lead and 1.2% copper has been drilled on tighter spacing and the results have been spectacular. Noting the preliminary reserve was based on six widely- spaced holes (150-175 m spacings), David H Watkins, Minnova’s vice- president exploration, confirms that spacing has since been reduced to 50 m.

Unlike the Rea Gold Discovery zone, which Minnova gave back a few years ago, the new find contains only minor amounts of arsenopyrite but extremely high silver values. Mr Watkins says that petrographic and metallurgical test work are under way to ascertain what exactly they are dealing with. A variety of minerals are present including galena, sphalerite, tetrahedrite and chalcopyrite. Describing the deposit as a “stratabound massive sulphide zone with unusually high grade silver,” he informs The Northern Miner that the zone has been exposed on surface by three trenches — so there is good open pit potential.

By month-end Minnova will have spent $2 million on the property which will give it a 100% interest subject to the back in clause with Rea. Exploration will wind down in the next few weeks and after digesting the data Minnova will decide what to do next. The mineralization is associated with an extensive alteration zone which is open to the north and at depth. Anomalous values have been noted along that horizon so they may do some step-out drilling.

Mr Watkins notes that Minnova’s exploration emphasis has always been on high potential areas. The company was attracted to the area by the number of metal occurrences reported over the years and a volcanic package of roc ks. So when the area started to heat up it had a good data base. Being so close to Kamloops, the property is near infrastructure which should impact favorably on feasibility.