Before Crown Butte began its 1989 work program, it had outlined a geological reserve of 2.3 million tons grading 0.111 oz gold per ton, 0.45 oz silv er and 0.7 2% copper in the Como and McLaren areas of the New World property.
David Rovig, president of Crown Butte and a mining engineer, said the focus of the original $1.5-million (US) 1989 program was primarily to delineate and drill out the Como and McLaren areas.
“As a secondary issue we were looking at some prospective areas we had identified the previous season,” said Rovig. “It turns out that one of those, the Mille r Creek area, turned out to be quite a significant discovery.”
The Miller Creek area is about 2,000 ft south of the McLaren mine area. A number of impressive assays were recently reported by Crown Butte from drilling in t his favorable area, now estimated to be at least 1,200×600 ft and open to the no rth, east and south.
Selected recent results include 35 ft grading 0.189 oz gold; 30 ft of 0.231 oz gold and 0.48% copper; 10 ft of 0.445 oz gold and 1.13% copper; 25 ft of 0.150 oz gold; 20 ft of 0.998 oz (0.370 oz cut) gold and 2.68% copper; 35 ft of 1.089 oz (0.385 oz cut) gold and 1.33% copper; and 100 ft of 0.260 oz gold and 1.87% c opper.
Silver assays are not yet available and copper assays are not available for all holes. Assays are pending for 10 additional holes varying in depth 100-400 ft.
Rovig said the new discovery now provides an additional focus for an expanded 1989 program.
“We are now looking to delineate the Miller Creek zone as well as continue work on the McLaren and Como areas,” he said. “We are going to drill un til the snow kicks us out.”
Some metallurgical test work has already been done which Rovig said showed the metallurgy to be “relatively simple.”
Rovig also noted that existing county roads allow good access to the property which is in rugged country at an altitude of 8,000- 10,000 ft. The property is a lso reported to be in an environmentally sensitive area. But Rovig stressed that the company expects to be able to permit the project.
Although more work remains to be done to prove up an economic deposit, Rovig said initial indications suggest the project would be a combined open p it and und erground mining and milling operation. Reserves at the Como and McLaren areas ar e mineable by open pit methods, but the Miller Creek and other recently discover ed zones would be mined underground.
A new reserve calculation incorporating work from the 1989 season is expected to be announced sometime this winter. This will include work on the Fisher Mount ain Breccia zone and on the Fisher Mountain zone where recent drilling encounter ed good grades over appreciable widths.
Results from the Fisher Mountain Breccia zone about 2,000 ft northeast of the McLaren pit are 10 ft of 0.325 oz gold, 60 ft of 0.357 oz and 40 ft of 0.130 oz. Results from the Fisher Mountain zone between the McLaren and Como deposits are 31 ft of 2.47 oz (0.362 oz cut) gold; 7.3 ft of 0.348 oz; 37.3 ft of 0.264 oz; and 5 ft of 0.430 oz.
As a result of the new discoveries, the company recently increased its land position. Crown Butte currently controls 84 patented claims, 34 unpaten ted mill si tes and 341 mining claims.
Noranda has an ongoing contractual right to acquire sufficient shares to bring its ownership of Crown Butte to 60% by funding 25% of the capital costs necessary to bring the New World project into production.
Crown Butte had announced a 600,000-unit financing that consists of one share priced at $3.75 and a warrant at $4 per share. With a share price currently well in excess of these prices, the company hasn’t been able to conclude this financing because regulatory approval has not yet been granted.
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