View from the West (July 29, 1991)

The Canadian exploration sector is now halfway through a very difficult year. In British Columbia, however, the news is both good and bad. The bad news is that financings of junior mining companies have continued their rapid decline. Vancouver Stock Exchange statistics to mid-year show that total financings are $169.1 million compared with $262.9 in 1990. Flow-through financings have plummeted to $7.1 million in 1991 from $65 million in 1990. .tDespite the lack of venture capital, many high prospective base and precious metal properties are being drilled. We can look forward to some good results and hope that several new projects will soon enter the mine development review process. We must keep in mind, however, that many of the current drill targets stem from mineralization discovered over the last 35 years. The level of venture capital available today is too low to generate the many new drillable prospects the ’90s will require.

Several sizable drilling projects are in progress in the Yukon. Loki Gold and Noranda Inc. continue to drill the Brewery Creek gold deposit; NDU Resources and Billiton the Blende lead-zinc-silver deposit; and Cominco Ltd. the Tom lead-zinc-silver deposit.

Pulse Resources is initiating a drill program on the Barb lead-zinc-silver deposit.

Northwest British Columbia continues to be one of two areas that will account for the bulk of the province’s exploration expenditures. Redfern Resources continues to drill the Tulsequah Chief zinc-copper-lead-silver-gold deposit. Across the river, Canarc Resources and its joint venture partners Suntac Minerals and Rembrandt Gold are drilling the Polaris-Taku gold deposit. Further south, Eurus Resource and Columbia Gold are drilling the Spectrum gold project. Kennecott Canada, with Hudson Bay Mining & Smelting and Cominco, is drilling the Galore Creek copper-gold deposit. The nearby Copper Canyon copper-gold deposit of Consolidated Rhodes and Canamax is also scheduled for drilling.

Important prospects being drilled in the Eskay Creek area include the Rock & Roll gold-silver-lead-zinc-copper project of Eurus Resource and Thios Resources. Newhawk Resources and Granduc Mines continue to explore the Sulphurets gold-silver property north of Stewart, and Placer Dome the nearby Kerr copper-gold project. In the Toodoggone area, El Condor and St. Phillips plan a major drill program on the North and South Kemess copper-gold deposits. North central British Columbia, in particular the Mt. Milligan area, is another active region. Most of the properties to be drilled contain low-grade, large-tonnage copper-gold deposits with published geological reserves.*

In the Taseko Lake area, southwest British Columbia, two bulk-tonnage copper-gold deposits are being drilled. The Fish Lake deposit of Taseko Mines and Cominco will be explored. Westpine Metals and Asarco will continue drill testing the Taseko Lake deposit.

In south central British Columbia, Fairfield Resources will drill the Elk gold deposit. Eureka Resources and Asarco will carry out underground bulk sampling and reverse circulation drilling on the Frasergold property. Cheni Gold and Equinox Resources continue to explore the J&L zinc-lead-silver-gold deposit north of Revelstoke. Minnova and International Vestor Exploration will drill the Chu Chua copper deposit.

Drilling on Vancouver Island is largely confined to exploring the new deposit located by Westmin Resources at the Buttle Lake mine and on the north island properties of BHP-Utah, Moraga Resources and Crew Natural Resources.** *Included in this group are the Swan project of Eastfield Resources and Candela Resources; Chuchi Lakes properties of Digger Resources and BP Resources; Col project of Kookaburra Resources and Asarco; Cat project of Lysander Resources and BP Resources, and the Tam project of Major General and Varitech Resources. Curragh continues to develop the Cirque (now Stronsay) zinc-lead-silver deposit. Habsburg Resources, formerly Teeshin Resources, plans on developing the Dome Mountain gold-silver deposit and trucking the ore to the Equity Silver mill for processing. Varitech Resources will drill test the supergene copper zone of the Big Onion project near Smithers. **The north island copper-gold deposits being explored are the Red Dog, Expo (Hushamu), Hep and Goodspeed zone, between the Red Dog and Hep deposits. Just north of the city of Vancouver, Minnova and International Curator are drilling the Seneca copper-lead-zinc-silver-gold deposit.