Maritime juniors in the search for gold

Exploration activity was up sharply in the Maritimes during 1986, and this year is shaping up to be even busier. More than 30 junior exploration companies are at work in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland, and nearly all of them are looking for gold. Flow- through funding has played an important role in generating the increase in activity. The highest profile junior down east is, of course, Seabright, Resources. With the recent gold pour at its Gays River processing facility 30 miles from Halifax, Seabright is poised to go into production, initially with ore from its Forest Hill property in Guysborough Cty., and later from the Beaver Dam deposit in Halifax Cty.

An offspring of Seabright Resources, Seabright Explorations’ known as Seabrex, has been evaluating several properties that were either rolled into Seabrex from its parent or which Seabrex itself has acquired. Key properties include the Moose River and Caribou gold districts. At Moose River, there have been encouraging results from drilling over the past two years. The claims at Caribou were acquired in 1986 from John A. Logan Enterprises. Seabrex is in the process of dewatering the Holman mine at Caribou, which

Coxheath Gold Holdings of Bedford, N.S., is continuing an underground program to evaluate its gold property in Tangier, Halifax Cty., 65 miles from Halifax. Diamond drilling results have confirmed the existence of m gold-bearing zones along strike for 9,600 ft and open on both strike extensions and at depth. The company will be bulk sampling 2,500 tonnes of ore from several veins exposed in a decline. President Michael Riddell says Coxheath plans to invest a further $5 million at Tangier during 1987.

The 4,880-acre Stirling property in Cape Breton, N.S., a former base metal producer, has been the object of Wilco Mining’s attentions over the past year. Wilco, one of the oldest companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange, has completed 10,000 ft of drilling around the old Stirling mine to explore extensions of the base metal mineralization below the mine and to test mine stratigraphy on strike to the north. The best intersection was several feet of 6% combined lead and zinc with anomalous silver and gold. Wilco’s management considers its exploration results highly encouraging and is planning a further exploration program costing about $250,000, which will include diamond drilling followed by down- hole EM surveys, as well as surface mapping and prospecting for new occurrences.

Wilco has also acquired an option to explore and, if feasible, to bring into production a 960-acre gold prospect at Wine Harbour, Guysborough Cty., N.S. The property, known as the Plough Lead, produced gold during two mining periods. Wine Harbour lies in the Meguma Terrain and its geology is similar to that at Beaver Dam, some 50 miles northeast of Halifax, one of Seabright’s key properties. Wilco has allocated about $500,000 in exploration funds for the Wine Harbour claims.

Four Seasons Resources of Vancouver has formed a Maritime exploration arm, FSR Maritimes Exploration. A proposed underwriting to raise $1.6 million will enable drilling to begin soon on Four Seasons’ Mitchell Creek silver property in northern N.B. The company also has claims of interest in Digby and Yarmouth Counties in N.S. Northeast Exploration Services of Bathurst, N.B., has been providing geological consulting to Four Seasons.

Greenstrike Gold Corp. of Calgary has also been active in the Meguma Group in N.S. The company’s major project is the Fifteen Mile Stream gold district which it options from Pan East Resources. MPH Consulting of Toronto has been managing the project for Greenstrike/Pan East/Novamin. In the last several months, Greenstrike has completed ground geophysical surveys and 10,000 ft of diamond drilling on the property. The drilling showed a tripling of the previous reserves, from 214,000 tons averaging 0.22 oz/ton gold, to 600,000 tons averaging 0.24 oz/ton. “Most of these reserves are within 350 feet of the surface, several gold zones are present, and the potential for increased reserves is excellent, as the gold zones remain open along strike and to depth,” says Greenstrike president Laurie J. Smith. Two drills are currently operating on the property.

Greenstrike also participated with Petromet Resources in a drilling program on the Boston Richardson gold property in the Upper Seal Harbour gold district, Goldboro, Guysborough Cty., N.S. Onitap Resources which holds the rights to the past producer, has resumed drilling there.

Jascan Resources drilled three N.S. gold properties in 1986, at Indian Path, Gold Lake and Dufferin Mines. All are former gold producers. At Dufferin, Consolidated Mining and Smelting mined during the 1930s and ’40s. Results from the limited amount of drilling done to date have been promising.

Acadia Mineral Ventures has been busy on its Renfrew and Mooseland properties in N.S., both of which were drilled last year. Emphasis has shifted to Mooseland, where three drills are working now. Acadia officials, for the deposit.

NovaGold Resources is in the process of raising $2.75 million to carry on work at its Fifteen Mile Stream gold property in Halifax Cty. and on i ts Cranberry Lake property in Guysborough Cty. Last year’s 10,000 ft of drilling at Fifteen Mile Stream outlined a mineralized zone that has been traced along strike for 2,000 feet. “We’ve noted visible gold associated with a group of quartz veins in a well-defined stratigraphic package,” says William Burton, president of Consultec, which does geological consulting for NovaGold. The mineralized zone dips north towards adjacent claims of Pan East Resources. “We expect the grade to be the same as on the Pan East property immediately to the north, about 0.24 oz per ton, says Mr. Burton. NovaGold is in the process of obtaining a listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Newcomer Scotia Prime Resources, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Petroco of Texas, is also looking for money, with a share offering for $1.6 million now in progress in the Maritimes. The money will be spent for exploration on seven gold properties the company now holds in the Meguma Group of rocks. Scotia Prime’s two main properties are the Lower Seal Harbour and Ecum Secum gold districts. At the former, at least 15 gold-bearing structures with widths of five ft to 30 ft and grades of between 0.10 to 0.30 oz/ton over those widths will be the top priority for exploration. All of the structures were opened up in the 1930s and ’40s and should be relatively easy to access through the existing shaft and winzes. The company plans to be drilling on both properties by late August, according to Scotia Prime President Craig Miller.

Dynamic Mining of Calgary will be focusing its exploration programs on the former Walton mine in Hants Cty., N.S. Dynamic acquired the rights to the property from W. Bruce Dunlop Ltd. of Winnipeg. The company plans to raise $2 million this year through a public financing and flow-through share issue. About $1 million will be spent in 1987 on the silver-barite- base metal prospect at Walton. Walton was once a high-grade barite deposit that produced 5 million tons. Over 4 million ounces of silver were produced from a massive sulphide body found beneath the barite. Other metal production included 36 million pounds of lead, 12 million pounds of zinc and 4.5 million pounds of copper.

Torene Gold Explorations of Dartmouth, N.S., plans more drilling on its Harrigan Cove gold property this season, as well as general exploration in Cape Breton and the Browns Mountain area near Antigonish. The company has budgeted $1.5 million for its current program.

Gordex Minerals, “New Brunswick’s first primary producing gold mine,” as it refers to itself, has expanded its operations to N.S. Gordex recently announced the acquisition of the Molega Lake gold property near Bridgewater. Earlier production from the property was 34,800 oz of gold from 33,700 tons of ore, a grade of 1.03 oz.

In New Brunswick, Shamrock Resources of Vancouver has taken over the Nigadoo mining property in the northern
part of the province and will be spending $100,000 this summer to evaluate it for precious metal potential. Work directed by Northeast Exploration Services of Bathurst is expected to start in a few weeks, as soon as approval has been received from the Vancouver Stock Exchange for Shamrock’s flow-through share issue. Mapping, geochemistry and geophysics, and drilling are planned.

Shamrock is also developing a biological leaching process and is looking for ore deposits in Canada, the U. S. and along the Pacific Rim which would be amenable to bio- leaching. Many sulphide deposits don’t respond well to attack the sulphur, breaking it down and exposing the gold. Shamrock h as identified about 80 deposits thus far. Shamrock was formerly known as Yucana Resources.

Mineral exploration in Newfoundland continues at high levels, following the 1985 record-breaking year for claims held. The exploration activity has been fueled by the discovery of the Chetwynd deposit, which is now under development by Hope Brook Gold, and the Cape Ray deposit of Dolphin Explorations, where 991,600 tons of ore grading 0.185 oz gold have been outlined. The increased work has paid off with the discovery of several new gold occurrences. Although the majors have a dominant ground position in Newfoundland, juniors have played an important role.

Westfield Minerals will spend up to $750,000 on claims in the Little River area of Baie D’Espoir, after encouraging results from last year’s drilling program. The gold mineralization has been described as stratabound with a strike of 2.5 miles. Other juniors with claims in the area include South Coast Resources, Golden Hind Ventures, Tillicum Resources, Shear Exploration and Legion Resources.

Juniors have also been active in the Hope Brook area of the southwest coast region. Companies working there include Varna Resources, South Coast, Gold Texas Resources and Golden Hind.

In the Baie Verte Peninsula, Noranda has staked almost the entire Baie Verte lineament that contains several ultramafic bodies spread over a distance of 37 miles. Noranda discovered two gold occurrences in chlorite schist and quartz veins close to the lineament. As announced recently, Noranda has optioned its ground in four separate deals involving Galveston Resources, International Wildcat Resources and Impala Resources, all associated with Murray Pezim, and with Muscocho Explorations and its affiliate, Tashota-Nipigon Mines.

With so many juniors at work in the Atlantic provinces this year, there are bound to be additional discoveries in the months ahead.