Drilling by equal partners
Earlier interpretations had indicated that two of Doris North’s principal veins, Central and Lakeshore, were roughly parallel and between 2 and 25 metres apart, but recent drill results indicate that the veins are actually two limbs of a single, isoclinally folded vein that plunges to the north.
The western limb is represented by the higher-grade Central vein, which varies from 2.5 to 12 metres in thickness and terminates 10-15 metres below the Hinge zone. The Lakeshore vein, with a more variable grade, is typically 4-8 metres thick and persistent along strike and downdip.
Where intersected, the vein in the Hinge zone typically thickens to 8-13 metres, with higher grades occurring on the hangingwall side. The Hinge zone outcrops at surface to the south and appears to be faulted off to the north and south.
The latest holes drilled into the Hinge zone intersected true widths of 1.5 metres (from 49 metres) grading 126.4 grams gold per tonne in hole 210 and 2.2 metres (from 20 metres) of 5 grams gold in hole 202. Previously released holes drilled into the Hinge zone included true widths of 13.5 metres of 65.3 grams gold in hole 220 and 4.2 metres of 33.4 grams gold in hole 223.
The partners say the Hinge zone “potentially provides a source of early, high-grade mine feed, significantly enhancing the potential economics of the Doris deposit.”
Other new results from drilling at Doris North include shallow, true-width intersections in the Central vein of: 4.5 metres grading 55.5 grams gold in hole 228; 7.1 metres of 23.5 grams gold in hole 212; and 2.9 metres of 35.3 grams gold in hole 329.
Covering the northern, 1.2-km portion of the Doris mineralized system, Doris North is the partners’ priority area for surface infill drilling during the remaining 2000 season, though additional exploration is planned along trend to find additional hinge or structurally thickened zones.
The partners have completed 80 holes at Doris North this year, including 58 in the Hinge zone. Assay results have been returned for 41 holes.
Drilling is also ongoing at Doris Central, about 1.1 km south of Doris North, and results are expected to be released soon.
The larger Doris system comprises several sub-parallel veins that have been traced for more than 3 km along strike and to depths of 400 metres below surface. Although a diabase dyke intersects the Doris veins about 100-200 metres below surface, earlier drilling has confirmed that mineralized veins continue below the dyke. The full depth and strike potential of the Doris system has not yet been determined.
Cambiex and Miramar’s $12-million, 40,000-metre infill drilling campaign, launched earlier this year, centres on Doris and the Boston deposit, situated 80 km to the south in the Hope Bay greenstone belt, which runs south from the eastern arm of Bathurst Inlet, about 750 km northeast of Yellowknife, N.W.T.
The two deposits are part of a 1,200-sq.-km package Cambiex bought late last year from BHP Minerals, the Canadian unit of Australian-based
In the 1990s, BHP spent US$85 million at Hope Bay defining inferred resources of: 2.1 million tonnes of 17.8 grams gold (1.2 million oz.) at Doris (not including the Hinge zone); 5.7 million tonnes grading 13.1 grams gold (2.4 million contained ounces) at Boston; and 5 million tonnes of 4.3 grams gold (690,000 oz.) in the Madrid deposit.
For its half-interest in the project, Miramar paid Cambiex US$13.3 million and is required to spend another $2 million on work programs over the next six months. Miramar also must arrange for third-party financing (no less than 60% of the total funds) to bring a mine into production.
Cambiex is managing the exploration program, whereas Miramar will manage the feasibility and development phases, if warranted.
Meanwhile, Cambiex management has been busy carrying out several new deals, as outlined below:
The company has tentatively arranged a US$6-million term loan with Resource Capital Fund II, an investment fund managed by Continuation Investments Group, a company associated with the Rothschild family.
The loan is backed by 20 million share purchase warrants, each of which is exercisable at 45 until the loan expires on Dec. 31, 2003. Interest will be charged at the London inter-bank offer rate plus 2%, and Cambiex can repay the principal at any time, subject to a fee.
Cambiex says the financing will allow it to fund its portion of the Hope Bay project through the feasibility stage.
Cambiex has also raised $1.8 million by privately placing 5 million shares priced at 36 each with its chairman, David Fennell. In early April, Fennell sold 5 million Cambiex shares for 36 apiece.
Cambiex completed the purchase of
Cambiex will transfer half of the purchased interest in the leases to Miramar for inclusion in the Cambiex-Miramar joint venture. In consideration, an agreed-upon dollar value of the shares issued to Lexam will be credited against Cambiex’s funding obligations at Hope Bay.
Lexam, whose chairman is Goldcorp Chairman Robert McEwen, says “an equity interest was the optimum way to participate in the exploration potential of this large mineralized belt.”
Cambiex has also consolidated its land position in French Guiana in South America by way of two agreements with
In return for its interests in a group of properties in the Abitibi region of Quebec, Cambiex is acquiring all the shares of CBJ-France, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cambior that holds rights and interests in several French Guiana exploration permits.
The deal allows Cambiex to tighten its grip on a 40-km-long gold belt in French Guiana by increasing its control over the Montagnes Tortue and Maripa projects and by allowing the company to acquire a major interest in a group of properties contiguous with Montagnes Tortue.
Cambiex may acquire a 75% interest in the contiguous properties from a Cogema subsidiary by spending US$4 million on exploration over five years. Cogema and France’s Bureau de Recherches Gologiques et Minires carried out US$9 million worth of work on these properties and identified 11 anomalous zones of mineralization.
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