Aur considers deep hole to test deposit (November 20, 1989)

After releasing the latest batch of drill results from the Louvicourt Twp. property east of Val d’Or, Que., operator Aur has increased its re serve estimate to 36 million tons of grade 3.11% copper, 1.34% zinc, 0.55 oz silver and 0.025 oz gold per ton.

That represents a significant increase from Aur’s previous formal reserves estimate of 20 million tons grading 3.5% copper, 2% zinc and 0.04 oz gold. Assays from eight new drill holes show that the deposit is getting richer as Aur moves toward the 3,000-ft level and a deep drill hole is now being “seriously considered,” Aur President Jim Gill told The Northern Miner.

The new estimate helps to justify industry comparison between the Louvicourt tonnage potential and the rich Kidd Creek, Ont., zinc/ copper deposit where current proven and probable reserves stand at 55 million tons.

The Louvicourt reserve figure is based on a 2% cutoff for copper or 4% for zinc and a tonnage factor of nine cubic feet per ton, according to Gill.

If the cutoff factor for copper and zinc is increased to 4% and 6% respectively, potential reserves would increase to 17.4 million tons grading at 5.64% copper, 2.27% zinc, 1.05 oz silver and 0.044 oz gold, the company says.

Drilling so far has been too widely spaced for reserves to be classified as proven and probable.

Rights to any future production will depend on the outcome of a legal dispute which Aur says gives it the right to increase its interest in the project to 75% from 50%. Louvem has launched a counter-suit in a bid to defend its right to a 50% project interest and to have the original joint venture agreement struck from the records.

Having completed about 100,000 ft of drilling (including 31 holes in the key drilling area), Aur is following the thickest part of the deposit down plunge to a depth of about 3,000 ft.

From now until Christmas, the company will be exploring below hole 74C, which yielded the widest massive sulphide intersection encountered on the property so far.

One of a batch of holes released recently, it intersected 334.8 ft of grade 3.59% copper, 0.15% zinc, 0.31 oz silver and 0.01 oz gold (including 71.1 ft of grade 10.44% copper) at a depth of 2,160 ft.

While hole 74C suggests that the deposit is wide open and getting bigger down plunge to the east, there are still many questions to be answered by a surface drilling program that will likely continue well into 1990. A 4,500-ft hole may answer some of those questions.

The joint venture partners are still a long way from determining the size of the Louvicourt Twp. discovery which is 800 ft south of the old Louvem copper mine’s No 6 zone.

Results from the latest round of drilling mean that the joint venture is no nearer to determining the deposit’s centre of gravity — the point at which an underground exploration shaft would be located.

“We think that the deposit is trending down toward the east, so that is where we will go,” said Aur Vice-President Howard Stockford as he prepared to give a lecture to a Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy luncheon in Toronto.

Analysts and mining executives in the audience were told that the discovery occurs within a mile-wide unit of felsic pyroclastic volcanic rocks that has been traced for a strike length of 25 miles.

“We consider this to be a geological discovery in that it is a blind deposit found through geological reasoning and teamwork,” Stockford said.

What Stockford and Gill know so far is that a high-grade band of copper-zinc mineralization exists within a single massive sulphide lens, the upper limits of which are about 1,000 ft below surface. Striking for about 2,500 ft, the Aur zone dips at an average of 70-80 degrees to the north.

“We don’t know what the irregularities are because drill holes are so far apart,” said Stockford, who claims that his company has found no structural complexities that might disrupt the continuity of the deposit. “A lot more drilling is also needed before the zoning patterns are determined,” he said.

Thanks to a private placement agreement with Vancouver resource giants Teck Corp. (TSE) and Cominco Ltd. (TSE), Aur has about $50 million available to finance its share of drill costs. The Vancouver companies now hold about 19% of Aur’s outstanding shares.

Aur is also well equipped financially to fight a future Louvem court battle that Gill predicts will not interrupt exploration at Louvicourt Twp.

Even though Louvem was originally scheduled to become project operator as soon as the partners elect to go underground, he believes there would be no advantage for any of the partners if exploration halted.

“I think it is fair to say that Noranda (which holds 11% of Louvem) doesn’t want to see the program stopped and we hope everyone will try to keep the project on strike,” he said.

Meanwhile, the encouraging results, which Aur is obtaining at depth, wouldn’t prevent identical intersections from being found elsewhere on the Louvicourt property.

Future targets may include the area below the old Louvem mine’s No 4 zone, one of five zones that were mined out during the 1970s. All of those zones were above a depth of 1,000 ft.

“We are in a very fortunate position in that we own most of the land in the Val d’Or area,” said Gill.

Table

Hole Depth Interval Width Cu Zn Ag Au No.Section(feet)* (feet) (feet) (%) (%) (oz/t) (oz/t) 64A 93+30E2330 3325.6-3385.5 59.90.19 4.650.42.01 incl. 3372.5-3385.5 13.0 0.5711.270.53.03 3420.0-3635.0215.0 2.26 0.070.14.02 incl. 3420.0-3446.4 26.412.52 0.070.87.01 3665.0-3672.3 7.3 0.07 7.190.44.01 69102+30E2100 No significant Assays 70 77+10E1645 1902.0-1929.0 27.0 1.35 0.180.06trace 71 94+20E1530 No significant Assays 72B 75+25E1450 1749.5-1768.0 18.5 0.03 1.880.23.01 74C 97+60E2610 3215.1-3549.9334.8 3.59 0.150.31.01 incl. 3228.6-3319.6 91.0 3.44 0.180.40.01 incl. 3247.9-3267.4 19.5 6.38 0.050.70.04 and 3341.8-3369.0 27.2 3.42 0.100.53.02 and 3478.2-3549.9 71.110.44 0.010.46.02 incl. 3497.7-3536.0 38.315.81 0.010.73.03 *The depth is to the mid-point of the sulphide intersection.

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