Access road to aid in development of Jualin property

Now that a 5.5-mi access road to the Jualin gold property in Alaska has been completed, partners International Curator Resources (VSE) and Granges Exploration (TSE) say work will continue year round and aid in the project’s eventual development. The property is adjacent to the advanced Kensington property being worked by Echo Bay and Coeur d’Alene Mines.

Granges is earning a 50% interest in return for a feasibility study by the end of 1990; it now has 40% of the project in addition to a 32.5% interest in the company.

So far this year, about $2 million(US) has been spent, including the construction of a permanent access road from the Slate Creek Cove deep water port to the Curator camp area on Berner’s Bay, 40 miles north of Juneau. A barge ramp, floating dock and fuel storage facility was built at tidewater at the road terminus.

During the past several seasons, operator International Curator concentrated work primarily on the Jualin shear zone which contains at least five separate parallel quartz fissure veins, all of which are open at depth an d along strike both to the north and south. The company says individual veins pinch and swell to widths of up to 40 ft, and average 7.5 ft of true thickness.

Over 30,000 ft of drilling has been completed to date on the Jualin shear zone, resulting in a drill-indicated and inferred reserve calculation (over a 1,200-ft strike length) of 1.05 million tons with an uncut grade of 0.403 oz gold per ton. Using a minimum grade of 0.1 oz, and cutting all values over 1 oz to a 1 oz maximum, the grade is 0.309 oz gold.

The company said current drill data suggest a geologic reserve of over two million tons of similar grade within the present drill-tested limits of the Jualin shear zone, while the shear zone remains open in three directions. Preliminary metallurgical tests indicate recoveries approaching 98% using conventional gravity and flotation methods, the company reports.

According to James Tocher, chairman, Curator’s plans for 1989 include a 800-ft decline for bulk testing, additional surface and underground drilling, as well as an expanded barge and float plane facility at the road terminus.

In addition, he said follow-up geological mapping, sampling and possibly drilling would be conducted on other exploration targets, all containing economic values in precious metals, which have been identified on the property.

Tocher said the most significant of these is the newly discovered Big Lake vein, a parallel system to the Jualin about one mile to the south. Chip samples collected along 1,200-ft of and estimated 3,000-ft of strike length are reported to have yielded an average grade of 0.445 oz gold.