Barrick’s Carlin drill hints at new discovery

Results from a deep drill hole at American Barrick Resources’ Goldstrike mine near Elko, Nev., seem to indicate that the Toronto-based company could be on the verge of another major discovery.

As reported (N.M., March 23/87) Barrick made the investment world sit up and take notice when it pulled 620 ft of 0.3 oz gold per ton from the 1,110-ft to 1,730-ft levels at Goldstrike.

Located on the famed Carlin gold trend, Goldstrike had averaged around 40,000 oz gold annually from open pit production between 1983 and 1985.

After acquiring the Goldstrike properties from Western States Minerals and Pancana Minerals in December, 1986, American Barrick began an aggressive deep drilling program almost immediately.

Exploration since March has so far defined two major deposits — the Deep Post and Betze — at 4 million and 3 million oz respectively and with deep drill rigs on site, Barrick has been aggressively searching for a third deposit.

While Barrick’s Goldstrike exploration manager Larry Kornze said it’s too early to draw any conclusions from a drilling on an ip anomaly located over 1,000 ft west of the Betze, he conceded that the prospects for another discovery are good. Assay Results

According to assay results released last week, the hole intersected 90 ft of 0.18 oz between 1,000 ft and 1,090 ft. “We could be at the edge of another major deposit,” said Kornze who is convinced that a deep sulphide orebody lies on Barrick lands north west of Newmont’s surface post claims.

“Anything’s possible with this system, it’s really exciting,” added Kornze. “If we find something there, we will call it Outpost.”

If Barrick is successful in finding another major deposit, it would provide further evidence that Carlin operators like Newmont Gold have literally been scratching the surface of a huge gold field.

With 27 million oz of gold contained in 21 known deposits, the 45-mile Carlin trend is now considered the largest gold formation outside South Africa.

However, until 1987, when Barrick began its deep drilling activities, gold exploration at Carlin focused on the first and second layers (to 1,000 ft) of sedimentary limestone host rocks where gold deposits are being mined from a number of low grade open pit operations.

American Barrick’s recent success from deep drilling at its Goldstrike property indicate that a third and much richer layer is waiting to be explored. Deep Drilling

To test that theory, a number of other companies are currently exploring (or preparing to explore) below 1,000 ft on their own Carlin properties.

For example, joint venture partners Cornucopia Resources and Galactic Resources have three deep drill rigs on site at the 100,000-acre Ivanhoe property.

Located at the north west corner of the Carlin trend, Ivanhoe’s huge Hollister deposit already hosts a 27-million-ton shallow deposit, containing 1 million oz gold at 0.041 oz.

However, according to a recent Galactic report, an 80-ft drill hole intercept averaging 0.343 oz suggests that those reserve estimates may be expanded.

Located 800 ft south of the southeastern Rowena/Asby portion of the Hollister deposit, Galactic says the drill hole encountered Paleozoic sediments at a depth of 1,150 ft with quartz calcite veining and extensive pyrite mineralization.

As part of what Cornucopia President Ben Johnson called a massive exploration campaign, the deep drill rigs will probe below 2,000 ft for another Betze style deposit.

Deep drilling is also being conducted on a group of claims belonging to Euro-Nevada Mining of Toronto. Located south of Newmont Gold’s Blue Star mine, the six Chicago claims are part of a group of exploration plays which Euro’s parent company Franco Nevada Mining of Toronto, acquired with its Goldstrike interests in 1985. The Chicagos

Franco-Nevada holds a 4% royalty and 5% net profit interest in the Post and Goldstrike claims, but following American Barrick’s discovery of the deep Post and Betze deposits, Franco-Nevada opted to spin out its non-producing assets (including the Chicagos) into a new company called Euro-Nevada.

As a follow-up to an ip survey indicating the presence of anomalies said to be similar to the Post and Betze, Euro-Nevada is drilling four 2,000-ft holes at the Chicago claim group.

As the holder of 80% of the gross land position at Carlin, Newmont Mining through subsidiary Newmont Gold will ultimately benefit from any new discoveries in the area.

However, since Newmont is currently overwhelmed with its many surface and second layer discoveries and prospective exploration targets, Newmont isn’t expected to join the hunt for third layer deposits until well into the 1990s.

Newmont has several potential deposits that have as yet no announced proven reserves. They include the Capstone, Bobcat, Tusc, Gnome and Lantern properties.