Madsen finds more gold at Red Lake

Underground exploration drilling from the second level of the Madsen mine, southwest of Red Lake, Ont., has encountered a new zone with abundant visible gold and high grades.

Madsen Gold (TSE) is exploring and developing the former mine, which produced 2.4 million oz. gold between 1938 and 1976. The newly discovered zone, dubbed the No. 7 vein, was located after an exploration hole intersected gold mineralization grading 0.24 oz. per ton. Follow-up drill holes had grades that ranged up to 47.24 oz. per ton and the 7,500 tons of mineralized material now blocked out on the vein have an average grade of 0.31 oz. gold per ton after high assays are cut to 1 oz. per ton.

The zone, which measures 75 ft. in width, is open updip and downdip. Drilling continues on the vein, with the goal of increasing the vertical extent of the zone, currently estimated at 160 ft.

Madsen has selected four targets for underground exploration.

The largest of these comprises the two major areas of past mining, the Main and South Austin zones, which are still open down-plunge at a vertical depth of about 3,600 ft.

Another deep zone, the No. 8 zone, was mined briefly during the late stages of the mine’s life and is open both up- and down-plunge.

Underexplored

Two other zones, in the upper levels, are known to have mineralization but were never adequately explored in previous years.

The first 90 ft. have been dewatered, allowing access down to the fourth level of the mine. The company expects to have dewatered down to the fifth level by the end of March.

Prefeasibility studies are complete and reserves stand at 1 million tons grading 0.29 oz. per ton. A 500-ton-per-day mill from the Dona Lake property was moved to the property in October 1995.

Madsen also has a 10,000-acre land package surrounding the mine, in Heyson Twp., including several surface exploration targets.

Showings are reported in various rock types, from a felsic tuff unit (the Austin tuff), which was the principal host to the Madsen orebody, to mafic volcanics and ultramafic intrusive rocks. The showings all appear to sit in plunging structural zones; those near the Madsen mine share the eastward plunge of the mine zones, while those farther west plunge westward.

Other companies active

Another company with a land package in Heyson Twp. has started drilling.

East West Resources (VSE) is testing the Boyden showing, a silicified, 20-40-ft.-wide zone, which is exposed around a prospect trench from the 1930s. The company has conducted induced-polarization (IP) surveys around showings on the property, and it will test several IP anomalies after a 4-hole section has been drilled at the Boyden showing.

Recently, the junior intersected 20 ft. of disseminated sulphides followed by 20 ft. of silicified volcanic rock.

Northeast of Red Lake, Freewest Resources Canada (TSE) is drilling at the McCuaig property, on McKenzie Island. Five holes have been completed so far, and the company is awaiting assay results. All the holes intersected sulphide mineralization in strongly silicified rocks.

Meanwhile, Santa Fe Canadian Mining and Gold Canyon Resources (VSE) have released further results on their drill program at Springpole Lake, 70 miles northeast of Red Lake.

Grades are generally below 0.1 oz. gold per ton, but the intersections are generally long, ranging up to 100 ft. with a grade of 0.09 oz. One high-grade intersection was encountered in the recent phase of drilling; hole BL-172 cut 90 ft. grading 0.24 oz. per ton, including 11 ft. of 1.47 oz. per ton.