Augmitto anticipates 3m. tons at 0.16-oz gold

A $3-million private placement of shares and warrants with institutional investors in Europe will fund the final push at Augmitto Explorations’ gold property located five miles south of here. Arranged by Laurence Prust and Co., the issue will provide cash with which to carry out additional underground exploration on the Beauchastel Twp. project.

This work will include more drifting, raising and the sinking of a vertical shaft. “This work is starting now,” Augmitto President Norman E. Brewster explained during a tour of the project. “Engineers are laying out designs and a subsidiary company has purchased all the underground equipment.”

A shaft collar has been completed to a depth of 60 ft. “With funds in hand, we plan to complete the shaft to 1,200 ft,” Mr Brewster said. Another crucial turning point for this project is an updated reserve calculation which is being prepared by A.C.A. Howe International, a geological consulting firm based in London, England. David Patrick, a Howe geologist, has flown back to the U.K. and expects to complete a revised reserve figure before the end of March. Augmitto officials are anticipating 3 million tons grading 0.16 oz gold per ton.

The new calculation will incorporate data derived from more than 80,000 ft of surface and 10,000 ft of underground drilling, completed since August, 1986. Also, 3,000 ft of decline ramp to a depth of 500 ft, and drifting have also been completed. Based on previous work, Augmitto calculated probable reserves of 1.45 million tons grading 0.16 oz. Additional inferred reserves stand at 945,000 tons grading 0.16 oz.

A majority of the drilling, (the final hole was still in progress during The Northern Miner’s visit), was in-fill. This is required to improve the confidence limits of reserve blocks already outlined by wider-spaced holes. Drill spacing was on 50-ft centres. “The underground in-fill work has upgraded our surface data and allowed us to identify stacked (sub-parallel) zones,” Mr Patrick noted during a review of drill data.

Underground, the decline ramp has been driven parallel to the main lower and upper carbonate units. These zones are on strike with and immediately north of the Cadillac- Larder Lake Break; a major structural feature striking from Kirkland Lake, Ont., into Quebec.

Much of the gold occurs in the free state as fine grained disseminations. Larger blebs of visible gold are also evident. Preliminary metallurgical tests suggest a recovery rate of 95% using cyanide and carbon-in-pulp columns.

The zones appear continuous between the three crosscuts and drifts visited. A prominent fault, which acts as a convenient marker, was seen in each drift and marks the footwall of the mineralized carbonate unit. This highly altered unit pinches and swells in typical Larder Lake fashion and displays gross similarities to green carbonates found much further to the west at the Kerr Addison mine. Where the zone is above average in width, mine geologist John Kruse and mine manager Patrick Tremblay, have ordered slashing which has returned grades in the 0.15 oz-per- ton range from the particular drift toured.

If brought to production, the Augmitto mine will require a hands-on management approach due to the nature of the changing ore mineralization, specifically varying grades and thicknesses. “This will be a geologically intensive mine,” Mr Patrick agreed. “It will require close spaced drilling ahead of development drifts,” — a requirement typical of the Rouyn camp and others proximal to the Cadillac-Larder fault.

Also, several sections of drifting required substantial roof bolting and screening; especially in areas of weak graphitic argillite which are unstable. Other than these small areas, the drift walls and ceilings are competent. Mr Patrick also noted that few water problems exist.

Although reserves are being calculated to 1,200 ft., deep drilling has intersected the main zones to a depth of 1,400 ft. Exploration drilling 400 ft north of the main zones, resulted in the discovery, three months ago, of the Patrick zone. Possible reserves total 250,000 tons grading 0.2 oz across 900 ft of strike and to a depth of 600 ft,(N.M., Jan.26/87). Mineralization here is associated with a wide unit of intense carbonate alteration which strikes across the entire property. Mr Patrick feels the zone has good potential for building additional tonnage.