Drills turn at Victoria mine

Vancouver — Partners Celtic Minerals (CME-V) and Inmet Mining (IMN-T) have launched a 2,500-metre drill program over the Victoria Mine, Sutherlands Pond and Hungry Hill base metal projects in central Newfoundland.

At the 2,053-ha Victoria Mine property, massive-sulphide mineralization was originally discovered in the early 1900s. High-grade ore was mined and stockpiled on-site but no processing took place.

Grab samples from the stockpiles returned grades of up to 7.5% copper, 2.4% zinc and 1.5% lead.

Celtic has delineated several drill-ready targets, including the copper/zinc-bearing Jig zone. Re-logging of core from this zone shows that a carbonate unit (immediately above massive sulphides) is present in the final few metres of the most easterly hole.

To the west, limited drilling cut a copper-bearing zone that remains open in all directions. The current drill program will focus on areas within 1 km along strike to the west of the nearest mining shaft.

Some 3 km to the southwest at Sutherlands Pond (a copper-zinc-lead prospect), crews have traced a 300-metre-wide alteration zone over a strike length of 1.3 km.

Drilling by Inco (N-T) in the early 1990s intersected widespread “stringer-style” zinc-lead mineralization in this area. Historic drilling returned a 0.37-metre section of massive-sulphide mineralization yielding 18.8% zinc, 2.39% lead and 5.19 grams gold per tonne. The partners aim to test the downdip extension of the zone.

The 7,050-hectare Hungry Hill property, 15 km southeast of the past-producing Buchans mine, is held equally by Celtic and Jilby Enterprises (JLB-M).

Hole 16, the highlight of previous drilling, intersected 10.8 metres grading 3.06% zinc, 0.16% copper, 20.9 grams silver and 0.81 gram gold. The partners also cut a 5.6-metre section of bedded, exhalative pyrite and high-grade base metal clasts. The current drill program will focus on the area to the northeast.

The project lies south of Millertown in the Victoria River volcanic belt.

Inmet is funding the program as part of its earlier agreement to earn 55% of the projects by spending $2.5 million and paying $120,000 over a five-year period.