Eastmaque aims to expand reserves at California mine

Until recently, Eastmaque had concentrated its efforts on bringing several open pit, heap leach deposits on the 7,800-acre property into production. The property is located in southeastern California near the Arizona border.

The initial $250,000(US) program is centred on an area located southeast of the Padre Madre West and East pits which are currently being mined. The program involves some 30 line miles of magnetometer and VLF survey and preliminary drilling and is designed to develop additional reserves to extend the life of the operation which is currently producing at the rate of 2,000 oz of gold per month.

Newmont carried out a 13-hole program in 1984 over the 50-acre area to be tested in the new program, and according to Eastmaque, all the holes were mineralized. Results include: 75 ft of 0.047 oz gold including 20 ft of 0.101 oz; 50 ft of 0.065 oz; 10 ft of 0.086 oz; 20 ft of 0.132 oz and 15 ft of 0.077 oz.

Present reserves at the Cargo Muchacho are reported as six million tons of open pit ore grading 0.049 oz gold and 1,230,000 tons of underground ore grading 0.233 oz gold per ton.

A new pit, the American Girl, is scheduled to be in operation (heap leach) by July 1989, and an underground mine and 500-ton-per-day mill by October, 1989. Ore from the underground B-zone orebody (and some high grade ore from the open pits) will be treated by a conventional gravity/cyanide plant.

By year-end, the company expects to be mining from three open pits and to have an underground mine and mill in full operation to produce an estimated 65,000- 70,000 oz in 1990. In June of 1988 Eastmaque officially opened its Kirkland Lake tailing operation in Ontario which is targeted to produce 2,000 oz gold per month.

]]>