Mazarin Mining looks to Haitian mineral prospects

A Quebec-based asbestos company with a large share of that province’s production has expanded into exploration for gold and base metals overseas.

Mazarin Mining (MAZ-T) has obtained the option to acquire three mining concessions 150 km northwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. To do so, it must spend US$300,000 over two years.

The concessions cover 250 sq. km and are readily accessible, by road, from the town of Gonaives. The main concession, Meme-Casseus, hosts the past-producing Meme underground mine, which yielded an estimated 1.5 million tonnes grading 2% copper and 2 grams gold per tonne. The remaining reserves are estimated at 2 million tonnes.

The Meme-Casseus concession also hosts the Casseus deposit, which is estimated to contain more than 6 million tonnes at 0.9% copper. Mazarin will also investigate the area’s gold content; recent sampling there yielded between 0.3 and 1 gram gold.

The Meme-Casseus concession also contains several other gold and copper showings. The skarn-type mineralization is hosted by Cretaceous limestones next to quartz-monzonite intrusive bodies.

Meanwhile, Mazarin has acquired, for $1 million, a manufacturing process that will enable it to produce calcium aluminate from a mixture of calcium carbonate and the byproducts of aluminum refining. Calcium aluminate is used by steel mills as a slag-creating agent in molten steel.

Mazarin has also concluded a long-term byproduct supply agreement with Alcan’s Guillaume-Tremblay aluminum plant in Jonquiere, Que.