Catear gears up for pilot milling at Goldwedge mine

Pilot milling will commence in mid-May at Catear Resources’ (VSE) Goldwedge property in the Sulphurets gold camp, 35 miles northeast of Stewart, B.C.

President E. Kruchkowski says construction of the 120-ton ball mill is progressing rapidly. An 80-ton ore bin has been completed and work is progressing on the deister tables, mill alignment, conveyor belts and electrical wiring.

Plans call for milling an initial bulk sample of 10,000 tons, followed by another 37,000 tons this summer. Catear has submitted its Stage 1 prospectus to the B.C. government and plans full-scale production at a rate of 250 tons per day starting early in the fall. The company has two additional ball mills which will be installed over summer to increase milling capacity.

The project will cost around $4 million. Overland access will be possible in June and this will reduce production costs to $246 from $302 per oz. At a gold price of $550 (CDN), payback is expected in six months.

Kruchkowski says that the decline has advanced to intersect the Golden Rocket vein for the second time at approximately 910 ft. This intersection is 370 ft south and 60 ft lower than the first intersection. As well as drifting south along the vein, the company plans to start a manway and raise starting from the drift on the first level with the raise breaking up into the glory hole area.

Four zones have been identified on the property, but only the Golden Rocket vein has been drilled extensively. A 10,000- to 15,000-ft drill program will start in a couple of weeks to further test the Golden Rocket and Goldridge zones. Drill-indicated reserves are 146,437 tons grading 0.837 oz gold per ton and 2.56 oz silver (uncut).

The company has signed a letter of intent to purchase the 312-acre East Gold property, also in the Sulphurets area. This property produced over 1,400 oz gold from less than 1,000 tons of rock in some small stopes and provides a good target for a gold-silver orebody, Kruchkowski says. Catear must pay $200,000 over three years and spend $1 million on exploration to earn a 100% interest subject to a 2% net smelter royalty and 10% NSR from the tailings dump area.