Carlin drill rig shortage delays Skylark’s Pan plans

Partners Skylark Resources and Pic Prospectors International say deep drilling will not begin at the Pan property at Carlin, Nev., until mid-April. The program was originally scheduled to begin this month. Due to the number of major deep sulphides discovered recently along the 45-mile Carlin gold trend by American Barrick Resources and Newmont Gold, a drill rig won’t be available until next month, said Skylark’s corporate affairs manager Frank Kelly.

Skylark is planning to drill a 1,600-ft hole at the 4-sq-mile Pan property where eight distinct anomalies were recently identified by ip and ground magnetometer surveys.

Located southeast of Galactic Resources and Cornucopia Resources’ Ivanhoe gold deposit at the north end of the Carlin trend, the Pan property is held 60% by Skylark while Pic Prospectors holds the remaining 40%. Skylark President Herb Shear says three ip depth profiles place the tops of the eight anomalies from 1,200 to 1,600 ft below surface. The first four anomalies measure 800×1,200 ft, 500×4,000 ft, 600×1,400 ft and 400×3,000 ft.

The last four cannot be measured accurately because of interference from power transmission lines on the property, said Shear. When drilling begins, Skylark will test for fault-related deep sulphide gold deposits like the ones discovered recently by Barrick and Newmont.

Meanwhile production began in December at Skylark’s 50%-owned Skylark-O.B. gold-silver mine near Greenwood, B.C., where Viscount Resources retains a 50% interest.

After raising $2.3 million for the 1987 exploration program, the partners sank a 1,721-ft decline designed to access more than 50% of the drill indicated H zone.

Reserves at the H zone stand at 86,500 tons grading 20 oz silver and 0.08 oz gold per ton across a diluted width of 5 ft. Drifting and a raising on the H zone vein is steadily converting those reserves to the “proven” category while providing access to stope areas for mining.

“An additional 30,000 tons of 30 oz silver and 0.1 oz gold in `possible’ reserves remains unchanged,” said Shear.

While a new mine level, off a point near the bottom of the decline has been established, Skyline is currently drifting towards a “Serpentine” zone drill intersection which returned 30 ft grading 0.367 oz gold.

Skylark is mining 120 tons per day, five days per week and shipping the ore to the 200-tpd Danco mill at Keremos, B.C. The initial mill rate is 120 tons per day, week round, said Kelly.

The Vancouver company is also involved in 11 exploration projects in British Columbia and Manitoba. They include the Firesteel project in B.C.’s Toodoggone gold district where Skylark can earn a 50% interest.

During initial exploration at the 49-claim property, a number of gold and silver geochemical soil anomalies and new gold-silver showings were discovered. Combined properties in Toodoggone gives Skylark the second largest land position in the area behind Energex.

“One of the better zones was 300 ft wide and grab samples assayed as high as 0.11 oz gold and 3.5 oz silver,” said Shear.

The Skylark issue was trading recently on the Vancouver Stock Exchange at $2.35 in a 52-week range of $3.55 and $1.75.