Abermin underground program at Lara to cost $1.7 million -2 col 24

A major underground program is scheduled early next year at Abermin Corp.’s Lara property on Vancouver Island. The decline will explore the high grade Coronation zone “prior to final feasibility and a production decision,” says Roger P. Taylor, president. Abermin has a 65% interest in the project and its junior partner, Laramide Resources, holds 35%.

Besides providing a good bulk sample for metallurgical test work, the $1.7-million program will address mining conditions for production cost estimates and help delineate the Coronation zone which at present has the most production potential. Each partner will contribute its share of exploration costs which could reach $2 million, according to Mr Taylor.

The Coronation zone has been traced by eight diamond drill holes over a strike length of 530 ft across an average thickness of 11 ft. The weighted average grade for the zone was 0.24 oz gold, 6.71 oz silver, 14.9% zinc, 3.1% lead and 1.5% copper, he notes. The decline will reach the ore zone on three levels and provide stations for detailed drilling.

About 30,000 ft of drilling was completed at Lara this year and another 10,000 ft is planned this fall plus a further 15,000 ft next year. The 1987 program extended the Coronation zone to about 1,000 ft but the mineralization was not continuous to depth. Abermin’s exploration supervisor, Richard Bailes, says the spotty nature of the mineralization is not unusual for this type deposit, claiming it is analogous to Westmin Resources’ Lynx mine at Buttle Lake on Vancouver Island which has rich sections and lower grade in between. In any event, he feels the Lara project is “on the verge of becoming economic.”

Mr Bailes confirms that ongoing exploration has given a new structural interpretation for the zone. It now appears that the rhyolite host rock is repeated by folding and faulting and he cites a B.C. government mines official who predicts that 90% of the rhyolite in the area falls on the Lara property. Most of this is to the north of the Coronation zone. The joint venture wants to examine the property on a regional basis and indeed is contemplating a $500,000 expenditure for reconnaissance drilling alone next year.