Letters WHO FOUND CINOLA?

Further, an advertisement placed in the May/June, 1977, issue of Northwest Prospector by Consolidated Cinola Mines states:

“Discovered only seven years ago by well-known B.C. independent prospector Efrem Specogna, the Cinola claims are one of the Western world’s recent significant gold finds and have been determined the geologically youngest gold deposits of their kind in North America.”

Concluding, the Cinola discovery was in fact made by Specogna and Trinco; the feature “Debating the Discoveries” presents an inaccurate and misleading discussion of the discovery and development of this gold deposit. Richard P. Clark Bull, Housser & Tupper, Barristers and Solicitors. Saskatchewan Uranium I greatly enjoyed the feature articles dealing with uranium mining in Saskatchewan in the June, 1989, issue. Having worked as a mining engineering technologist with Amok Ltd.’s Cluff Lake project, I found your articles dealt with the technical aspects of mining uranium in the Carswell Dome region of Saskatchewan very clearly.

I would like to add to comments made by Dick Williams, uranium adviser at Energy, Mines and Resources Canada. He noted that “no company has attempted to exploit a high-grade deposit like Cigar Lake by underground methods.”

The mining of uranium at Cluff Lake is done not only on surface, but also on an extensive basis underground. The grades of uranium encountered underground at Cluff Lake were certainly “high” when I was there and the ground conditions were extremely difficult.

Several methods of mining the orebody were employed. In the region of the orebody known as Peter River, a cut-and-fill method was used. As the mine progressed onwards and deeper to other orebodies, such as the Dominique-Peter, undercut-and- fill became the method of choice. Because the ground was highly altered with fractures associated with the presence o f graphites, water and clay, cavities in such areas would collapse if they were left unsupported. That was the reason undercut-and-fill was employed.

Because of the relatively narrow widths of the orebodies (ore drifts were fewer than 2 m wide), equipment used in such areas had to conform to the reduced size of openings. Loading equipment in drifts consisted of electrically powered load-haul- dump machines, such as the Teledyne France’ loader, mucking the ore into millholes completed by raiseboring during preparatory phases of the stope. An Alpine continuous miner was also used at various stages to mine the orebody.

Ground support in waste areas, depending on the conditions, varied from Swellex rockbolts to steel sets. Steel sets were required in the poorest of ground conditions. Because of the ever-present hazard of radiation in the underground areas, ventilation was given priority in the design of the mine itself. This, coupled with the climate of the region, which is like the Sahara in summer and Siberia in winter, makes the existence of a mining operation in Cluff Lake even more remarkable. And it all makes the experience of underground mining at Cluff Lake applicable to the formidable obstacles yet to be faced at Cigar Lake and the Midwest project.

I hope my comments help give your readers a further knowledge of uranium mining in Saskatchewan. Rainer Semler, Mine Technologist, Echo Bay Mines Not in Decline I would like to comment on your editorial “In Decline?” which appeared in the July, 1989 issue. In spite of the current wariness of speculative investors to the stock market in general and base metals investments in particular, junior mining companies are taking a very prominent role in discovering and defining major new base metal reserves. Away from established mining camps, four of the largest reserve-creating projects in Canada are operated and financed by juniors. I am referring to Audrey Resources’ 1100 Zone copper/zinc/silver/gold deposit in Quebec, Continental Gold’s Mt. Milligan copper/gold discovery, Sulphuret Gold’s Kerr copper/gold discovery and Geddes Resources’ Windy Craggy copper/cobalt/gold/silver/zinc deposit in British Columbia.

All are characterized by significant values in other metals besides their primary copper or zinc. Combined 1989 expenditures on all those projects will be in excess of $20 million. None has been fully defined yet, but on the basis of preliminary announcements, the Windy Craggy deposit, hosting 1.9 million tonnes of copper in probable and possible categories, could provide the largest contribution towards restoring Canada’s proven and probable reserves to the 16-million- tonne level.

Geddes Resources’ investment of $25 million to date at Windy Craggy gives a discovery cost per pound of copper of six-tenths of a cent. Further capital investment will further increase that reserve. Gerald Harper, President, Geddes Resources Location Please] Re: “formidable expertise” in your August, 1989, issue. As expected, the article on Westmin Resources’ Myra Falls complex was interesting and informative. But * * *

I have been to Campbell River several times, and am aware of how things environmental are taken on Vancouver Island. I wanted to see more closely wher e the mine was, so I turned to my rather authoritative Atlas of Canada, 1981 edition, as published by Reader’s Digest in conjunction with the Canadian Automobile Association. Finding Buttle Lake was no problem, but Myra Falls, Thelwood Creek and Jim Mitchell Lake were strikes one, two and three in a losing cause. They just don’t exist in my fancy big atlas. Describing the mine as “55 miles west of Campbell River” was no help either, because Canadian maps have been metric for some time now.

I can live without knowing exactly where the mine is situated, but I suggest that in some cases a sketch should be included amongst those fine pictures. A. W. Scarfe, Box 91, La Ronge, Sask.

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