Drilling under way on Grizzly zone

Further drill-testing of the Grizzly zone is in progress at the Golden Bear mine property in northwestern British Columbia.

Owner North American Metals (VSE) plans to drill 4,200 metres in a 31-hole program. The first of these will be drilled 30 to 50 metres above and below the original discovery hole, which encountered 15.5 metres grading 14.4 grams gold per tonne.

The company is drilling fans of holes (three holes each) on sections spaced 50 metres apart from a recently completed 800-metre-long decline. Technical problems during surface drilling forced the company to complete the decline in order to test the new zone from underground. The decline runs roughly parallel to the zone, about 75 metres into the hangingwall.

Drill-testing is also planned on the Cub zone, a high-grade structure discovered in a re-mucking station about 500 metres down the decline. The zone returned 27 grams over a true width of 3.9 metres but is thus far little-understood.

If the drilling proves successful, Grizzly will enter the development stage. The zone is in the mountainside, just above the company’s existing 365-tonne-per-day refractory mill. Development costs are projected at roughly $6 million.

Last fall, heavy rains hampered construction of heap-leach pads, forcing the company to delay leaching until this year. Heap leaching on the Kodiak A zone is now expected to begin in the summer.

Wheaton River Minerals (TSE) effectively controls the Golden Bear mine through its ownership of 81.4% of North American’s outstanding shares and is owed more than $60 million by the company.

Wheaton has about $4 million in working capital and will have to raise an estimated $2 million in additional funding to get the leaching operation up and running.

Kodiak A contains an estimated 473,000 tonnes grading 4.6 grams, and the first-phase leaching of 325,000 tonnes is expected to net the company 46,000 oz. at a cash cost of US$225 per oz.