Atlantic Report Stratabound gets polymetallics

Stratabound Minerals of Calgary recently acquired two New Brunswick properties in the Bathurst camp containing substantial reserves of copper, cobalt, gold, silver, lead and zinc.

The Captain and Taylor Brook massive sulphide deposits are surrounded by the Heath Steele, Stratmat, Wedge, Nepisiguit, Brunswick No 6 and Captain North Extension orebodies, which are controlled by the Noranda Group and Cominco.

The Captain property consists of a mineralized zone up to 500 ft long, 80 ft wide and 1,200 ft deep associated with a southwest- plunging drag fold. Following a 26-hole drill program in 1956, reserves were estimated at 2.66 million tons grading 0.174% cobalt, plus an additional 802,000 tons at 1.15% copper and 0.174% cobalt. Following another drill program of 15 holes in 1965, ore reserves were reported to consist of a central core of 343,000 tons grading 1.33% copper, 0.017 oz gold and 0.28 oz silver.

The Taylor property contains massive to disseminated sulphides traced in six drill holes over a strike length of 1,300 ft and to a depth of 300 ft. The mineralized zones are up to 14 ft thick. The drilling, done in 1977-78, has inferred reserves of 325,000 tons grading 2.3% combined lead/zinc and 0.4 oz silver. The best intersection contained 5.8% zinc, 1.26% lead and 1.24 oz gold over 3.3 ft.

On the company’s Shear gold property south of Fredericton, gold values of up to 0.068 oz and zinc assays of up to 3.9% have been obtained in grab samples from four zones. Gold-bearing quartz stockworks cut pyritic hornfels mineralized by chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, arsenopyrite, pyrrhotite and gold.

Stratabound’s shares trade on the Alberta Stock Exchange, symbol SB.

Claim staking in New Brunswick has surged in the wake of the PDA convention in Toronto, where the New Brunswick branch of the PDA hosted a promotional suite with drill core on display. Companies such as Lacana (TSE), NovaGold Resources and Riocanex, which has a regional office in Fredericton, have picked up claims in the Rocky Brook area 40 miles northwest of Bathurst. Other companies are expected to stake claims in the same area.

The interest is also attributable to geologist Don Burton of the New Brunswick mines department, who did some of the first work in the region and has been promoting it for several months, says Terry Mersereau of Northeast Exploration Services of Bathurst. “The staking has shown that the potential for gold in New Brunswick is excellent and has been widely overlooked until now,” Mersereau says. “There have been five or six new gold finds in the Bathurst area in the last year and it’s good to see outside companies taking an interest in this part of the province.”

A small community along the eastern shore of Nova Scotia widely known for smoked salmon is once again poised to figure prominently in the mining history of the province. The province’s gold mining industry began in Tangier, Halifax Cty., 60 miles east of Halifax, in 1862 with the province’s first commercial gold production of 865 oz from a small mine there. At the recent annual meeting of Coxheath Gold Holdings (ASE) of Bedford, N.S., President Michael Riddell announced plans to place the Tangier property into commercial production by early summer. If current bulk testing results are positive, final confirmation of this decision should be made in late May.

Coxheath recently held an open house at the Tangier operation. Visitors toured the mill complex, the analytical lab facilities which run 300 fire assays daily, and the underground development headings. Although the mill was processing development muck to tune up the system, coarse-grained gold continually moved across the gravity tables.

“The furnace has been installed and we expect to pour our first gold bar by mid-April,” Riddell says. “We have 35 to 40 men in camp now and the large ball mill, which has a capacity of 250 tons per day, is turning.”

Detailed sampling is continuing underground. “We expect to start mining again bymid- to late May,” Riddell says. “We’re now working on a 20,00 0-ton backlog of ore at surface.”

The underground workings at Tangier are a maze of drifts and raises from which bulk samples have been removed for on-site metallurgical testing. Several sights of gold were visible in one raise on the Marker vein. “Some of the best material encountered so far from the underground work has come from an area where drilling indicated little of interest,” Riddell says. The Marker vein was noted in the past for its gold crystals.

Coxheath completed 11,000 ft of underground workings on three main levels at Tangier in the past year. The company has also drilled 40,000 ft in 144 holes since acquiring the property two years ago.

Production from Tangier is forecast to be 9,700 oz of gold to Sept 30, Coxheath’s fiscal year-end. From Oct 1 to Sept 30, 1989, production is projected to be 35,860 oz, and thereafter, 41,310 oz annually, all at a rate of 500 tons per day. Coxheath’s cost of production before taxes is projected to be $330(C) per oz during the first six months, decreasing to $208 per oz thereafter, due to increased production, an improved recovery rate and Coxheath’s own employees taking over the mining,

Ore from the Tangier mine will be milled on site, using a recently completed gravity concentrating plant equipped to produce base bullion. The initial milling rate will be 250 tpd, increasing to 500 tpd by the end of the year. Mill recoveries are projected to be 85% at first, rising to 90% after the first six months of production.

Proven and probable reserves from the main block at Tangier are sufficient for a mine life of 5.5 years to a depth of 600 ft. When possible reserves are added, mine life increases to 14.5 years to the same depth. “The probability of additional reserves along strike, to depth and in parallel zones leads us to expect larger production and a longer lifespan,” Riddell says.

Ore reserves for the Tangier main block include 235,000 tons of proven ore opened up underground; 315,000 tons of probable ore currently accessible underground; and 1.35 million tons of possible ore. Coxheath has calculated the average grade of the in-situ proben and probable ore reserves to be 0.3 oz per ton gold and the indicated grade of the possible reserves at 0.265 oz. Average grade for total proven, probable and possible reserves is 0.276 oz.

All of the ore reserves are in three parallel vein structures to the explored depth of 600 ft. There are also another 41 parallel zones across a true width of 1,400 ft that have not been explored in detail.

Acadia Mineral Ventures (TSE) of Toronto has met all of its obligations relating to a 1986 mineral rights option agreement signed with Tri-Explorations Ltd., a privately- held Nova Scotia company. Acadia has exercised its option to acquire a 100% interest in 72 claims at Mooseland, Halifax Cty., subject to a 3% net smelter return royalty retained by Tri-Ex. Acadia has in turn optioned the property to Hecla Mining of Canada, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hecla Mining of Idaho, which can earn a 60% interest by bringing the property into production. Acadia recently estimated ore reserves of some 2.05 million tons grading 0.39 oz gold for the property.

The Canadian Diamond Drilling Association will hold its 45th annual general meeting and convention April 20-22 at the Halifax Sheraton.

The technical program will include talks on the continental drilling program by Prof J. Hall of Dalhousie University; large diameter coring and deep drilling by Percy Wicklund of Rockwell International; and drilling activity in Nova Scotia by Pat Phelan of the N.S. mines department; as well as presentations on the FMD long stroke hydraulic drill by Les Ateliers Val d’Or, Que.; introduction to underground drilling for new employees by N. Morissette Canada, and introduction to surface drilling for new emp loyees by Philippon Diamond Drilling.

Further information is available from the CDDA in North Bay, Ont., telephone (705) 476-6992.