Geddes’ Windy Craggy geometry more difficult than expected

Discerning the geometry of Geddes Resources’ (TSE) Windy Craggy deposit has been more difficult than anticipated — even from underground mine workings. The company has been drilling fan holes to straddle a gold zone which returned 201 ft grading 1.2% copper and 0.29 oz gold. But it hasn’t managed to find the zone yet.

President Douglas Little notes that the gold values occur in a chert carbonate zone which underlies and is conformable to a large massive sulphide zone. The gold- bearing intercept occurred in hole No 14 which was drilled from surface and its collar location is very uncertain, he admits. And Little says they can’t get back in to re-survey the hole. So the exact location of the intercept at depth, taking into account drill hole deviation, is even more difficult to determine, he tells The Northern Miner. The company’s exploration budget is open-ended for 1988 and will probably involve at least $7-$8 million in expenditures, he says. To meet their ventilation requirements, a 3,000-ft drift will have to be driven to daylight. Raising through to surface isn’t possible because of ice cover.

The mineralized copper/gold structure appears to plunge steeply and it exhibits a distinct zoning which is characteristic of vent deposits, he notes. But he concedes it will “take time to unravel the history of it.”

Little says Geddes is carrying out corridor surveys for road access and he estimates the Haines road, which is paved, is about 50 miles away. It’s about 150 miles to Haines, Alaska, which is on tidewater and concentrate would be shipped out from there. “We’ll need both gold and copper to make this thing pay,” he concludes.