St Andrew’s mill work awaits debt financing

St Andrew Goldfields is ready to start driving piles to support mill buildings and a surface crusher at its Stock Twp., gold property east of here. All that remains now is a favorable end to current discussions on a $15-million debt financing, President Warren Armstrong told The Northern Miner.

“We’re right in the middle of these discussions,” he said. “Once the financing is firm we’ll let tenders on driving the piles.”

The equipment that requires a long lead time, such as a 500-ton-per-day ball mill, cyclones and a thickener tank, has been ordered. The company plans an initial 500-ton-per-day operation with equipment that will allow it to crank up production through the mill to 1,000 tons per day.

An environmental assessment report on the tailings pond 1106 has been submitted to the provincial ministry of the environment, and the company now awaits the go-ahead from the ministry to begin pond construction. St Andrew is aiming for a late 1988 or early 1989 start-up.

On-site now is a headframe housing a shaft that’s been sunk to 884 ft, a hoistroom and a garage/workshop that contains administrative offices, a small assay lab and core shack.

Mill site preparation had been delayed somewhat while a surface diamond drilling unit probed the ground beneath for bedrock. Most of the area around the shaft and mill site is covered by about 50 ft of clay overburden, thus the need for support pilings to carry “everything that shakes,” the project supervisor Douglas Bryant pointed out during a recent visit. The crushing plant will also sit on pilings, he said.

The underground workings have been developed to the fourth level at 575 ft below surface. Drifts on the first four levels have been driven into the N-2 zone and a fair bit of raising and crosscutting has been completed. The N-2 zone, with published reserves of 1.5 million tons grading 0.183 oz gold per ton, sits between two faults, the Porcupine-Destor Break and a smaller one called the Minor Break.

The drifts have been driven through the Minor Break, which is about 60 ft wide, and this has caused some ground control problems. Various forms of ground control — including rebars and resin, timbers and screens — have been employed successfully, Bryant noted. “It’s holding up very well.”

About 15 people are working underground on a 2-shift, 5-day cycle exploring and developing the workings.

Above ground, three diamond drills are testing for new zones and extensions of the known Stock Twp. gold-bearing zones, said Harry Michie, vice-president, exploration. The zones near the shaft that have been well delineated include the M-1, M-2, N-1, N-2 and South zones. These areas of mineralization plunge almost due west. The current deep drilling west of the known zones will go down to a maximum vertical depth of 1,400 ft.

Top priority is being given to the Stock Twp. property according to Armstrong. However, with $8 million in the bank, St Andrew is aggressively exploring its Taylor Twp., property as well. On that property, which is about six miles east of the Stock site, a shaft has been sunk to 565 ft and some lateral work and raising have been completed on the Porphyry zone. The company is also exploring the Shoot zone to the west of the Taylor Twp. shaft.