Buchans area heats up

Rumours about a major new base metal discovery in the Buchans area of central Newfoundland are rumours still, but activity in the area suggests there may be some substance to the buzz.

The stories have centred around a drill project now being conducted by Phelps Dodge (PD-N), whose exploration office has declined to comment about any find. PD did confirm that it is active in the island’s Central Mineral Belt, near the old Buchans mine, which produced more than 16 million tonnes of ore grading an average of 14.1% zinc, 7.8% lead and 1.4% copper, from five high-grade massive sulphide zones.

A source close to the activity said rumours that PD had pulled a 30-metre core that sported an average zinc grade of 22% were probably exaggerated, but that the company had definitely had some success drilling on targets in the Buchans River formation, host of all five of the producing deposits.

Rio Algom (ROM-T) also has an active program in the area, including work on the Hungry Hill property of Celtic Minerals (CME-A) and Jilbey Enterprises (JLB-M), about 30 km southeast of Buchans, across Red Indian Lake. Rio is currently testing geophysical targets on the property.

Billiton is mounting a drill program on another Celtic-Jilbey property at Buchans Junction, 30 km to the east, and has an option to earn a 70% interest in the Victoria River project, held by Altius Minerals (als-a). Billiton identified five conductors on the Victoria River property in a recent regional airborne electromagnetic (EM) survey, and has since covered the same area on the ground with an induced-polarization survey. There will likely be some drilling on both Victoria River and the Celtic-Jilbey property this summer.

Another Billiton program is on a large land position immediately surrounding the Buchans mine, held by Buchans River (BUV-A). Drilling got under way in May on EM conductors discovered in Billiton’s regional airborne survey, but no results are out yet.

There is one drilling program in the Mineral Belt that has provided regular results. Drilling at the Duck Pond property, 35 km southeast of Buchans, by Thundermin Resources (THR-T) and Queenston Mining (QMI-T) continues to intersect wide massive-sulphide mineralization in infill holes and near the edges of known mineralization.

Near the northern end of the main Upper Zone of the Duck Pond deposit, two new holes have intersected substantial mineralization and show potential to increase grades in that area. Infill hole 207 intersected a 33-metre core length that graded an average of 5.8% copper, 12.4% zinc, 1.9% lead, 93 grams silver and 0.8 gram gold per tonne. This intersection included a 6.8-metre interval that graded 15.1% copper and 5.5% zinc.

Hole 209, drilled on the strike extension of known mineralization, cut a 19.8-metre length grading 0.7% copper, 1.3% zinc and 0.3% lead, plus 24 grams silver and 0.4 gram gold per tonne.

The infill holes drilled so far indicate that average copper grades in the northern part of the Upper Zone — calculated in earlier resource estimates at 3% — may be as high as 5%. Zinc grades, previously estimated at 5.7%, may be up to 11%.

Infill holes drilled in the southern part of the same zone confirmed previous estimates of grades and widths in that area. Hole 208, which intersected 2.6 metres grading 5.8% copper and 1.7% zinc, was drilled in an area where the deposit was already known to thin out, and hole 210 intersected 24.5 metres grading 5.7% copper and 8.1% zinc, confirming the thickness and grade encountered in previous drill holes nearby. Both holes showed some lead and precious metal credits, as well as copper and zinc.

Farther to the east, about 9 km west of Grand Falls, Copper Hill (CUHL-C) is shopping around its Lemotte’s Lake property, where it has several surface gold and base metal showings. In a granite intrusion centred on Lemotte’s Lake, Copper Hill has defined a strongly altered granitic breccia with an overlying conglomerate unit that carries fragments of the granitic breccia. Airborne magnetic and electromagnetic surveys in 1997 indicated the Lemotte’s Lake granite likely covered a larger area than had been shown in earlier government mapping, and the presence of sulphide mineralization in the breccia zones suggests a possibility for continental-rift-style base metal mineralization.