Detector drilling at Pistol Lake

Diamond drilling has begun on Detector Resources’ (ASE) Pistol Lake gold project, 90 km west of Thunder Bay, Ont.

The 1,300-metre, 6-hole program will attempt to define the downdip extension of the Contact zone. Measuring 10 to 50 metres wide, the zone has been drill-tested along a strike length of 750 metres and extended 300 metres further east by surface sampling.

Gold mineralization occurs in a fractured and brecciated area at the contact between a quartz feldspar porphyry and volcanic rocks. Values from previous drilling include 0.086 oz. gold per ton over 51.2 ft., 0.14 oz. over 9.3 ft. and 0.54 oz. over 2 ft.

Expenditures are budgeted at $120,000 and the program is qualified to receive a grant of $35,000 under the Ontario Mineral Incentive Program (OMIP). In other news, Detector has postponed work on its Randall Lake gold project in northwestern Ontario, owing to a delay in receiving a work permit from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Detector was to have begun a $400,000 program of geophysics and diamond drilling in early December. (This project is also qualified to receive an OMIP grant, of up to $58,000). Under a new approval process, work permit applications are circulated to aboriginal groups situated near proposed projects, and in mid-November, MNR received an objection to Detector’s application. The North Caribou Lake Indian Band expressed concern over the impact of proposed line-cutting and diamond drilling (which is limited to a small portion of the total claim area) on its traditional hunting and fishing activities. Detector maintains that its helicopter-based program will have minimal impact.

The MNR has yet to make a final ruling on the work permit, but the long lead times required to implement a winter drilling program have effectively blocked the company’s exploration program.

Detector and joint-venture partner Wiscan Resources (ASE) say they are pursuing remedies to the situation.