Fishing buddies say `not yet’ to marriage of Hemlo, Crude

This is the first of a regular monthly column by M.R. Brown, publisher emeritus of The Northern Miner. Work and play can make a good mix, even in semi-retirement.

A case in point would have to be a visit I made to the Mishibishu area during the speckled trout season, to see the progress in development of the Eagle River gold project, that highly interesting joint venture of Central Crude and Hemlo Gold, both under the thumb of Noranda Exploration.

From Sault Ste. Marie, it’s just a short hop to Wawa via NorOntario and a half hour’s drive west along the Trans- Canada highway to Kabenung Lake, where Central Crude’s founder and president, Richard Nemis, owns a comfortable camp with the finest of cuisine.

On the door was a big sign — “Welcome to Central Crude’s First Annual International Fishing Derby.” And on the front lawn, two helicopters standing by to take guests to work or play.

My first day, of course, was a working one, with a 70-km helicopter hop to the mine site (now served with a good road). The unique white quartz vein itself is quite a sight from the air, stripped clean on surface for over a mile. Noranda, the operator, has established fine permanent camps here.

And it’s certainly doing a first- class job on development. Indeed we have seldom seen a more thorough one, for the evaluation of this particular type of deposit is no quick or easy undertaking. Rather, Noranda’s modus operandi is all-inclusive, with installation of a separate new 750-ton mill circuit for test purposes at its Golden Giant mine site at Hemlo, to which an initial 60,000 tons of development rock has already been shipped.

Little wonder that Nemis is so happy these days. Not only has he the best of operators, he has a unique and comfortable financing deal with cash-rich Hemlo Gold, which will likely provide all funds required by Crude to maintain its 40% interest. (In addition to a 60% direct property interest, Hemlo holds something like a 45% stock interest in Crude, and shooting for 50 plus.)

Too, he seems to enjoy a cozy business-hunting-fishing relationship with John Harvey, Hemlo’s president and chief executive officer and head of Noranda Exploration, who was present along with some of his senior staff, including geologist Garth Pearce, Noranda’s divisional manager from Thunder Bay.

Day two was devoted almost entirely to fishing.

Our first stop was the mouth of the University River where it flows into Lake Superior, billed as a great lake trout spot. But the water was a torrent — much too high and fast for fishing, so we stayed only a few minutes, choosing a smaller stream (on Noront ground) with long stretches of white water but enough pools to look interesting. And it was, for I caught my best fish on the very first cast — a beautiful looking speckled trout nudging three pounds.

But this was far short of the winning speckled, caught by Benny Schmitt from Parkdale, Ky. By the time it reached the taxidermist it weighed just a smidgen under eight pounds. It also won the trophy for the largest fish, for the best pickerel was only 2.5 lb., turned in by a 4-man team no less — Harvey, Denis Francoeur and Rod Squires of Noranda and Driffield Cameron of Gold Fields Mining. But, all told, our little party did quite well, landing at four separate lakes selected from an aerial map we carried.

Back at the lodge that night there was much friendly banter — both fishing and mining. In reply to a question on whether there were any plans for a direct marriage of Central Crude and Hemlo Gold, Harvey only smiled and responded: “Not yet.”