Push on to boost Izok Lake reserve

As the 1993 field season gets under way at Izok Lake in the Northwest Territories, a priority will be increasing the zinc-copper deposit’s reserve base, said Klaus Zeitler, president of Metall Mining (TSE).

“For a project of this size, which will involve talking to the government and to shipbuilders, . . . it will be necessary to have a secure base of 15-20 million tonnes,” he told shareholders at the annual meeting. Metall, which recently acquired a 100% interest in Izok Lake by merging with Minnova (TSE), expects to spend $350 million developing the remote deposit, 360 km north of Yellowknife, N.W.T.

An exploration and infill drilling program, completed last year, established probable reserves of 12.3 million tonnes grading 14.6% zinc, 2.5% copper, 1.6% lead and 77.7 grams silver per tonne. Another 1.3 million tonnes lie in the possible category.

But that may not be enough to justify construction of a winter road, a port facility at Coronation Gulf and the ice-breakers needed to transport concentrates to smelters in Europe or Asia (or both). Governments, and possibly other companies working in the Territories, are expected to help finance these facilities.

So the push will be on to find more ore this year. Current work includes drilling to bring the nearby Inukshuk deposit, where geological reserves stand at two million tonnes, into the mineable reserve category, said Vice-president of Projects and Acquisitions David Watkins.

The exploration team is also testing other targets near the main deposit and at Hood River to the north, added the former Minnova president, who was voted in as a Metall director at the meeting.

Meanwhile, engineering studies and permitting in prepartion for a mid-1996 start-up continue.

Metall’s first-quarter earnings quadrupled to $2.8 million (5 cents per share) this year as a result of cost reductions and productivity improvements at the Copper Range copper complex in Michigan, where the company is considering building a smelter.