Armistice prepares to deepen shaft at Virginiatown bet

With a new hoist and headframe in place and rehabilitation of the old shaft to 1,250 ft complete, Armistice Resources (ME) is forging ahead with a deep underground exploration program at its gold property here.

The exploration project, which will take 2-3 years to complete and which is situated next to the old Kerr Addison mine, is 3-4 months behind schedule. Company officials are confident, however, most, if not all, of the lost time can be made up.

In rehabilitating the shaft, which was sunk in the late 1940s, Armistice chose to replace the wooden rings with concrete rings. While the work went smoothly, project manager Meredith Armstrong said the contractor, Dynatec Mining, wound up replacing more rings than anticipated, causing a delay in the program.

Instead of two 4 1/2 x 5 ft timbered compartments, the shaft now contains two 6×6 ft concrete-ringed compartments, plus manway.

The Armistice program calls for exploration between 2,000 ft and 6,000 ft in a search for the down- faulted extension of the Kerr Addison orebody. This extension is believed to lie north of the Kerr fault, running through the Armistice property. The company is also investigating an intermediate target, parallel to the south side of the Kerr fault, from a drilling station on the 1,250-ft level. Deeper shaft

The new headframe and hoist will allow Armistice to deepen the shaft from 1,250 ft to 4,100 ft. The new 8-ft double drum hoist and headframe replace a temporary 30-ft headframe and small single- drum hoist which was used in the shaft rehabilitation. The new hoist will facilitate deep drilling from underground locations as well as accelerate drilling to evaluate the intermediate target between 1,250 ft and 1,750 ft.

Initial deep drilling of the Kerr zone is scheduled to get under way in late December from a drill station to be built at the 2,050 ft level. This station will allow drilling to below 3,000 ft. Purpose of the deep drilling is to extend a zone of possible reserves located in 1974 by two deep holes which penetrated the Kerr zone between 2,800 ft and 3,300 ft.

The company recently drilled 10 short and two long holes from a station near the 1,250 station. A widening of the shear zone from 200 ft to about 400 ft below the 1,250 level is reported. Among the better results: 0308,0109,0202,0109,0202, Width Grade Hole (ft) (oz/t) 12-W50-3 0.13 1.9 0.22 12-W50-12 6 0.16 12-W50-14 3 0.18

The refurbished hoist, which was built in 1948 in Sherbrooke, Que., and which has seen service at various locations, including in Newfoundland and Colorado, has a hauling capacity of 2,000 tons per day. Headframe extended

The headframe, brownish-red in color, was originally 80-ft tall, but has been extended to 105 ft in height.

Deepening of the shaft to 4,100 ft will likely take until late summer or early autumn, 1989. A further extension to 6,000 ft is contemplated. Armistice vice-president Stephen McIntyre described the deep-drilling project as “looking for a potentially elephant target.” The adjacent Kerr mine property, which belongs to Golden Shield Resources (TSE), has produced more than 10 million oz gold since it opened in 1938. Rather than build an office facility on site, the company bought the old cinema building (previously converted into a large workshop) in Virginiatown for its headquarters. The Armistice property, just off the main highway, is within walking distance of the new office headquarters.

Armistice, with about 11 million shares outstanding, reports it has substantially completed raising (mostly through flow-through financing) the $6 million in funding needed for its 1988 work program.