Noront Res. busy on Olive-Preston

Dewatering and shaft rehabilitation is slated on the 59-claim Olive- Preston project as soon as possible, weather permitting, by Noront Resources.

The Toronto-based company can earn up to a 60% interest in the project, located near Mine Centre in northwestern Ontario from HSK Minerals by spending a total of $500,000.

Noront has just raised $200,000 via a public offering of 400,000 common shares at 50 cents per share through the facilities of the VSE which will be directed towards the project.

During this year’s season, surface exploration and metallurgical sampling using a small portable mill has yielded concentrates from selected vein material averaging 2.75 oz gold per ton.

Noront says it plans an underground exploration program as well as a surface diamond drilling program on the project which hosts the former Olive gold mine from which 3,572 oz of gold were produced from 9,400 tons of material.

The Olive mine encountered intermittent production between 1887 and 1942 and has an inclined 2-compartment shaft to a depth of 245 ft with three levels of underground workings.

Since HSK Minerals acquired the property in 1983, it has spent about $500,000 on geophysics, trenching and about 9,000 ft of diamond drilling. Remaining reserves in the vicinity of mine workings have been independently calculated at about 18,000 tons grading 0.34 oz gold per ton.

The Preston-Olive structure has now been traced by drilling and trenching for over 2,000 ft and the area below the mine workings remains open and untested.