Falconbridge to exhaust reserves at Owl Creek bet

Open pit reserves at the Owl Creek mine near Timmins, Ont., will be exhausted by September, but according to Ferguson a stockpile of at least 250,000 tons grading 0.128 oz gold per ton won’t be fully processed until 1991.

The reason is that ore from both the Owl Creek and nearby Hoyle Pond mines are treated at Falconbridge Ltd.’s (TSE) Kidd Creek mill and smelter complex.

Higher grade ore from the Hoyle Pond mine gets priority and as a result only 50,000 tons of Owl Creek ore can be milled in any given year, Ferguson told The Northern Miner. “If we put Owl Creek ore through the smelter, we will get rid of it faster,” he said.

Recently issued to Falconbridge Ltd. shareholders as a dividend, Falconbridge Gold is planning to produce 65,000 oz of the yellow metal this year.

To determine if reserves below open pit level are sufficient to support underground production at Owl Creek, the 51%-owned Falconbridge subsidiary has begun a $3.5- million underground exploration program.

The program follows a surface drilling program that indicated gold- bearing mineralization to a depth of approximately 2,000 ft, according to Falconbridge Gold. Results included 7.5 ft of grade 0.467 oz and 10 ft of grade 0.584 oz.

Underground exploration of the down dip extension of the Owl Creek open pit will consist of over 3,600 ft of decline and level development and 50,000 ft of diamond drilling.

Meanwhile, reserves at the Hoyle Pond mine which contains 402,800 tons of grade 0.48 oz are sufficient for four more years of production.

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